ROCKSHOX ZEB ULTIMATE AND SUPER DELUXE ULTIMATE MY23
All-new forks and rear shocks from Rockshox have raised the bar for suspension performance while still undercutting the competition
£1,119 Zeb Ultimate • £578 Super Deluxe Ultimate • Rockshox.com
back of the lowers to release trapped air, and Buttercups at the base of each leg to reduce high frequency trail buzz.
Many of us are familiar with excess pressure bleeders from recent Fox forks, but the Buttercups are a new concept worthy of greater explanation. Much like you’ll find in your car’s suspension top mounts, or, as Patrick Bateman would probably testify, the buffers in a chainsaw, rubber is used to help isolate the operative from vibration.
In this case, the ends of the air spring and damper shafts sit sandwiched between two rubber donuts, which are housed inside gold anodised cylinders. The donuts allow a small amount of vertical movement (4mm) and reduce the severity of small, high-frequency vibrations by over 20%. Specifically between 6-10Hz, or 6-10 times per second – think the off-road equivalent of driving over cat’s eyes, or as Rockshox suggests, riding over horses’ hoofprints in dried mud.
Rockshox has increased the lower bushing length by 53%, maximising overlap and minimising friction. The uppers and lowers remain better aligned through their travel, binding is reduced and they run more smoothly.
Going back to the drawing board has allowed the engineers to look closely at the desired spring curves, with the new forks gaining an updated Debonair+ air spring. Nylon parts have been replaced with machined alloy, improving precision and maximising air volumes, while extensive work has gone into the design of the air spring seal head and the dimple that balances the positive and negative air chambers.
A new shock-inspired seal assembly helps reduce friction and improve consistency, and along with other changes, is said to give the air spring a softer initial response while still giving good support and access to all the available travel. In terms of ride feel, the new air spring sits somewhere between the original (soft) 2018 Debonair and the last generation (2020) version, with its higher ride height.
Arguably the most significant development – and this applies to Lyrik and Pike as well as Zeb – is the Charger 3 damper. Completely new from the foot nut up, Charger 3 moves to an internal floating piston pressurised by a coil spring instead of the bladder system used by the Charger 2.1.
In fact Rockshox has entirely moved away from the old bladder design on all MY23 forks. This is because the IFP brings a more consistent pressure to the damping circuit, it’s self-bleeding – making it more consistent over longer periods – and doesn’t require such tight sealing, allowing for reduced friction. It’s worth noting that Fox’s Grip2 damper, found on its Factory and Performance Elite forks, also uses a coil-sprung IFP.