TIMELINE

Some notable moments in the 31-year history of RockShox

1989 RS-1 (RockShox 1)

This is the fork that started it all. Back when the RS-1 came to market there weren’t forks designed for di erent disciplines, so this 60mm-travel ‘beast’ with its 1in-diameter steel stanchions and canti brake mounts would have been used for everything from XC to fireroad bombing to DH.

1994 Mag SL Titanium

The RS-1 was superseded by the Mag (with magnesium lowers) in the early ’90s. The Mag21 used a combined air spring and damper – it wasn’t until the Judy came along that the two were separated. There were several iterations of Mag forks, including this one with titanium hardware.

1998 SID

Introduced in 1998 as a lighter weight alternative to the Judy, the SID has always had an XC focus, but back in the era of early full-sussers, before through-axles and tapered steerer tubes, RockShox were searching for ways to make a sti er, more precisesteering fork. The result was the SID XL, a 100mm-travel triple-clamp fork that wasn’t designed for downhill but rather aggressive XC/trail riding, long before that was the in-thing.

2000 SID-NEY

Since XC racing was included in the Olympics, RockShox have made several commemorative forks, including the ‘SID-NEY’ – created for the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games. The Beijing Olympics edition from 2008 is another interesting one, which featured a carbon fibre arch bonded to magnesium lowers. Keep an eye out for something unique and limited edition at Tokyo 2021.

2001 PSYLO

One of the first hardcore single-crown trail forks to hit the market, the shiny gold Psylo may not look much by modern standards, but in its heyday the 32mm stanchions and 125mm of travel seemed pretty burly. Essentially a predecessor to the modern Pike, it featured an early version of RockShox’s Maxle bolt-through axle, which was named the ‘Toolio system’, after the retractable QR lever used to lock it.

2004 BOXXER

The triple-clamp BoXXer has probably won more DH world titles than any other fork. While the earliest 1998 model had just 150mm of travel, that soon increased to 180mm and then the current 200mm. As part of the BlackBox race programme, all sorts of BoXXers with one-o internals have been built. The one pictured above is Steve Peat’s from 2004 – the year he won the World Cup overall title on an Orange 223.

2007 TOTEM

This 180mm-travel, 40mm-stanchion monster only enjoyed a short spell in the RockShox line-up, as the niche for single-crown huckers was pretty small. But, given the way enduro bikes are going and the fact that Fox have just come out with their new 38, we wouldn’t be surprised to see a fork like the Totem back in the RockShox catalogue soon. This particular sample is a prototype, with machined rather than cast legs.

2013 PIKE

Named after Pike’s Peak in Colorado, near where RockShox are based, the Pike hit the market in 2004 as a tough, do-it-all single-crown. In 2013 it received a big overhaul, going up in stanchion size and travel, and accommodating 650b wheels, which were just starting to take o . It was also RockShox’s first fork to feature a Charger damper. The DebonAir spring came a few years later in 2018.

2019 BOXXER

During the 2018 DH World Cup season we saw a new BoXXer on the front of the pros’ bikes, painted in classic RockShox red. Housing an updated Charger 2 damper inside a redesigned chassis, this fully air-sprung fork marked the tipping point to 29in wheels on downhill race bikes.

2021 LYRIK

Since its introduction in 2007, the Lyrik has become RockShox’s flagship enduro fork. In 2015 it was followed by the Yari, which has proven itself a super-capable, cheaper alternative. This April saw the release of the 2021 Lyrik. The top-of-the-line Ultimate model has the latest and greatest in suspension tech, including a revised DebonAir spring and the latest Charger 2.1 RC cartridge. The 2021 Pike has the same updates.