Rock Shox Unveils 2011 Line

New Reverb Drop-down Seatpost and 120mm, Thru-Axle, Tapered Steer Tube SID on the Menu

Report and images by Jordan Carr

(May 16, 2010) DURANGO, Colo.—High mountain air, good food, epic riding on high mountain singletrack and a bonfire at a mountain bike legends ranch may seem like the recipe for a sweet summer vacation. But it is all in a days work when checking out the new product offerings from Rock Shox. This May, the company chose to make Durango, Colorado for their media “Base Camp.”

Unveiling some new suspension products along with their new hydraulic height-adjustable seatpost, the “Reverb”, Rock Shox gave us a chance to check out the new stuff first hand. Pushing the market with a variety of forks from the ever so versatile Revelation to the freeride/downhill oriented Lyric thru-axle models have become the norm for the 2011 Rock Shox line. With light weight bigger travel bikes becoming popular they even introduced a new 120mm SID that also has tapered steertube as well as thru-axle options. All thru-axle forks will also see an updated Maxle system that is lighter and more user friendly than previous versions, allowing for a much stiffer front end while keeping weight low.

The newest product in the works for Rock Shox in 2011 will pull suspension technology over to the adjustable seatpost market. The Reverb height adjustable seatpost has 125mm (4.9in) of adjustment, with a hydraulic bar -mounted remount for on-the-fly adjusting. Offering

Long climbs with technical rocky descents is what the Rocky Mountains are known for, with Rock Shox product development is based in Colorado Springs, CO this type of riding has pushed the company to contribute many new lighter weight long travel suspension options. The updated Lyrik features a variety of options with travel ranging from 115-160mm on the 2-step models. In a shorter travel fork the Revelation has become the fork to have for all day epics, offered in a new World Cup model this fork will be taking the market by storm with a 3.28lbs 150mm travel fork paired with a tapered steertube and Maxle 15/20mm thru-axle system.

Having the opportunity to ride these new products, I must say that Rock Shox is pushing back hard after the Fox invasion of the market. With lots of development coming from racing legend Greg Herbold and a team of other racers, mountain bike suspension has been pushed one step further.

The new Revelation World Cup, with its new lightweight Keronite color scheme displayed on HB’s custom cowhide fork stand.	The new Maxle Lite brings the lightest, easiest to use thru-axle system to your ride. Available in both 20mm and 15mm options.	Getting the bikes all dialed-in at the start of Day 1, which included a sweet loop of singletrack on the famous Ridge trail along with many others.
Rock Shox sweet marketing rig. I wonder what that thing gets for gas mileage?	Newly introduced prototype of the Reverb height-adjustable seatpost, offered in 30.9 and 31.6 sizes. It will use a two-bolt clamping system for maximum adjustability.	The new Reverb seatpost is sleek and well designed with a remote lockout.
A weekend of sweet riding was topped off with a trip to Greg Herbold’s personal test shop, which includes a museum of Rock Shox suspension and an assortment of other human powered and gas-powered toys. The crew had a great time realizing how difficult it really is to drive a high power RC car.	Allowing for easy height adjustment, the X-loc hydraulic remote also allows for on-the-fly speed tuning, or the “slap or tickle adjustment” as Rock Shox product Manager Jeremiah Boobar refers to it.