The RockShox fork and shock absorber specialist has developed an electronic mountain bike suspension control system that adjusts the firmness in real time depending on the terrain encountered.
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The mountain bike suspensions have made constant progress, becoming for the most elaborate among them jewels of precision and efficiency. Today, the most upscale forks and shocks offer many settings (low and high compression speed, rebound …) and three-position locking systems that make it possible to harden / soften the suspension according to the terrain you are walking. But it is clear that in use, the mountain biker does not necessarily use these settings wisely, because it is not easy to let go of the handlebars in full action to go maneuver a wheel on the fork and the shock absorber as soon as the terrain requires it or simply because it forgets to do so.
It is precisely to extract the quintessence of a suspension that RockShox has developed a steering system that automatically actuates the most suitable firmness for the shock and fork. The system Flight Attendant consists of three modules that communicate with each other over an AXS wireless link from SRAM (which owns RockShox). There is a sensor inserted in the crank axle, one on the rear shock absorber and one on the fork.
Available on Canyon, Specialized, Trek and YT ATVs
The algorithm developed by RockShox analyzes the terrain and the cyclist’s pedaling every 5 milliseconds and activates on the fly one of the three firmness positions: fully open for downhill or on big shocks, intermediate to harden the suspension while keeping traction, closed for very fast sections where maximum pedaling efficiency is needed. RockShox promises more efficient and enjoyable use of a Mountain biking.
The rider can customize the Flight Attendant system to favor a mode, manually activate one of the three positions or turn off autopilot. The fork and shock modules are powered by rechargeable batteries whose autonomy varies from 20 to 30 hours while the pedal sensor uses a button cell CR2032 supposed to last 200 hours. The adjustments can be made from the fork module or via theapplication mobile SRAM AXS.
For the moment, the Flight Attendant kit is only available as original equipment on certain enduro bikes of the brands Canyon, Specialized, Trek and YT. It is compatible with RockShox Pike Ultimate, Lyrik Ultimate and ZEB Ultimate forks, RockShox Super Deluxe Ultimate shock and SRAM XX1 and X01 165mm, 170mm and 175mm cranksets with 30, 32, 34 or 36 teeth chainring.
SRAM has not communicated on the price of the Flight Attendant kit. We can assume that eventually it will also be available for purchase for the aftermarket.
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