Electronic suspension tailors your fork and shock settings in real time to the specific terrain
Electronics are ubiquitous. From the smartphone in your pocket to the fuel injection pump in your car, algorithms analyse data and perform complex tasks without us ever having to lift a finger – electronic voice commands have seen to that. There are even AI fridges with cameras that can scan what’s inside. Sounds like the stuff of science fiction, but then again, it wasn’t that long ago that video calls on a handheld device were just that.
Even the humble mountain bike is gradually making the switch to digital. First it was electronic shifting, now it’s intelligent electronic suspension that tailors your fork and shock settings in real time to the specific terrain, so you never have to give it a second thought.
Keep both hands firmly on the handlebar and let the algorithm figure everything out, firming up the suspension for climbing and pedalling, then opening it up again faster than the blink of an eye on anything rough. Sounds amazing, right? And the best part is, you’ll never drop into a trail again and immediately have to pull over because you forgot to open that pesky lockout.
But given how much is going on beneath your tyres from one corner to the next, let alone the variation in rider inputs, intelligent suspension is a much more difficult problem to solve than simply replacing a gear cable with a wire and battery, or better still making shifting totally wireless. Two brands that are tackling that problem head on, or even head to head, are Fox and Rockshox, both offering electronically controlled suspension with promises of new horizons in performance.
Fox Live Valve has been around for a couple of years now where the technology was developed in its Advanced Product Group for off-road vehicles like side-by-sides and the Ford Raptor, then adapted for mountain bikes. The latest version is Live Valve 1.5 and it now has Bluetooth connectivity and more setting options with a dedicated app. All of the component parts are still hardwired together, and with Fox having such close ties with Shimano, the system uses Di2 couplings that make it possible to remove the fork or shock for ease of servicing.
DIFFERENT STROKES
Rockshox has taken a slightly different approach with Flight Attendant. If anyone remembers the Lapierre Ei Zesty that was launched in 2013, you’ll already know that Flight Attendant isn’t Rockshox’s first electronically controlled suspension system. But nine years is a lifetime in electronic tech, and after SRAM pioneered wireless shifting, it should come as no surprise that its sister company Rockshox would go the same route with Flight Attendant.
With no wires or dedicated frame mounts required, Flight Attendant can be sold in kits that you simply bolt on. Albeit, rather expensive kits as you’d need a dedicated Flight Attendant shock, a Flight Attendant Charger damper with the Control Module attached to plug into your Rockshox fork, and the appropriate chainset with the pedal sensor fitted. Still, you can see the obvious attraction for brands offering
Flight Attendant equipped bikes. Currently there are four of them offering Flight Attendant bikes: Canyon, Specialized, Trek and YT. Where Rockshox offers Flight Attendant forks at Pike, Lyrik and Zeb levels, so it covers everything from lightweight trail riding to enduro racing. And while Fox Live Valve has been around for longer, uptake has been slower, with Pivot and Giant the only current partners with Fox Live Valve 1.5 equipped bikes. That could all change, however, as we expect to see more brands adopting it, especially with the introduction of E-live Valve.
And it’s not just the components being hardwired or wireless that differentiates both systems, there’s also fundamental differences in the default setting. With Live Valve the default mode is firm, where information from the suspension sensors and pitch of the bike are used to determine when to open the suspension. Flight Attendant is the other way round. Also Rockshox’s Flight Attendant has three suspension modes, Open, Pedal and Lock, whereas Fox Live Valve has two, open or firm.
Obviously there are multiple tuning options within each system that let you bias the suspension more for climbing, pedalling or descending. But which system works best and do either live up to the electronic hype? To answer that question we’ve got the brand new Giant Trance Advanced Pro 29 1 with
Fox Performance Elite level suspension and
Live Valve 1.5 going head to head with the YT Industries Jeffsy Uncaged 6 with the new Rockshox Flight Attendant Ultimate kit.