Video: Culture Shock - Russell and Chris on the RS-1

Apr 3, 2014 at 10:26
by SRAM  
Different dudes. Same agenda. At least sort of, anyway. Bring XC champ Russell Finsterwald and weekend-warrior champ Chris Dewar together to some posh digs in Palm Spring, California, and some stuff is going to happen. Late morning shuttle or pre-dawn pedal, it doesn't really matter - although the dawn patrol, uphill, asphalt commute to the Idyllwild trails deserves a nod. When two like-minded mountain bikers come to check out some exciting new trails, limits are pushed and some dirt is sure to fly.




RockShox RS-1 Photo by Adrian Marcoux

RockShox RS-1 Photo by Adrian Marcoux

RockShox RS-1 Photo by Adrian Marcoux

RockShox RS-1 Photo by Adrian Marcoux


Photos by Adrian Marcoux
Video by Mindspark Cinema
www.sram.com

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Member since Apr 1, 2011
178 articles

61 Comments
  • 28 0
 I like the fact that this article was't plastered with buzzwords. Just some dudes riding their bikes, i can dig it
  • 17 0
 This might be the best marketing campaign done by any bike parts manufacturer ever. (Except maybe the DVO Emerald, since they had us on the edge of our seats waiting for product for what seemed like forever.) Rockshox isn't even trying to sell these forks in these videos, they are just selling the lifestyle, and the forks are just a part of it. Or using their words, "the line," and I think it is going to work to move a ton of these forks.
  • 4 0
 Great point, i should have called it an advertisement. That is what it is, good point locks.
  • 7 0
 Yeah I'm actually kinda surprised at that. I was figuring they'd go the elite performance type of route for this, but it's been 100% lifestyle so far.
  • 17 0
 Certainly a change of wind after their arrogant 3% vivid 2014 campaign
  • 4 0
 ^ I was going to say the same thing. "What? A weekend warrior using and not at the top 3% ?"
  • 2 2
 XC just got a whole lot whackier.
  • 3 0
 And a lot more bromantic. Loving the xc vibes.
  • 1 0
 What i really enjoyed about it is it wasn't a movie of world cup xc slow mo shots as they thread their way down a grassy hill. it connected to how the majority of people ride xc. also the music was chiller so big points. Im normally a fox suspension kinda guy but this looks like a winner!
  • 3 0
 I am so annoyed with all the hate on WC XC. I would like to see you ride half the stuff they do on those 4" bikes. Tell me that this is just "riding down a grassy hill"

www.youtube.com/watch?v=PP163I0puCk
  • 1 0
 I would gladly do that. Challenge accepted.
  • 1 0
 Those rock gardens look awesome. Plus those guys hit them at pretty high speed on super stiff bikes with legs and lungs burning... when I'm pushing it as hard as they do my tech skills go to hell quickly haha. That course looks pretty fun actually!
  • 16 1
 Thats quite a house for someone who rides bicycles for a living...
  • 6 0
 That's what I thought!! Sugah mama? lol
  • 2 1
 Vacation rental...
  • 2 0
 Uh, that's Chris's place. He races in Master's classes so he's not a young guy. Probably a lawyer or surgeon or some other profession that affords him lots of free time to keep with a guy who gets paid to ride bikes.
  • 1 0
 A lawyer might afford the house, but not the free time. Can't speak for surgeons...
  • 2 0
 Ditto for surgeons......more a hedge fund head honcho dealing in "NINJA" housing loan bonds.......
  • 1 0
 No idea what Chris's job is so I don't want to make an assumptions. I also am not entirely sure that he's house. It may be a vacation home.
  • 1 0
 Sorry didn't mean to insinuate that Chris was actually a scumbag financier.....more to say no way would many surgeons have the time nor inclination to mountain bike given their livelihood (hands) are pretty exposed and that other professions have time and don't need hands as much. So any offence created by above statement I unreservedly apologise......and acknowledge that not all hedge fund operators or financiers/bankers are scumbag arseholes.
  • 1 0
 It is Idyllwild, not the OC. Homes are cheap out there, relatively speaking.
  • 11 1
 when I read "XC" at pinkbike I'm like: "oh yeah, some All-Mountain riding with cool shorts and jerseys" and then when I'm back on a german biking website and read "XC" there it's like "yeah, guys with tight lycras powering up the hills with hardtails and riding it down without any dropper post"
This XC, All-Mountain, Enduro crap is just a point of view.. Guess the guys in the video were having 100mm of travel, riding even better than some guys with the sickest enduro bikes..
But anyways.. sick video - makes me wanna go out with my lycras and shred some trails and do kilometers Wink
  • 3 0
 Oh you must not have heard this style of riding actually falls under the category of Shred-country or SXC for short,
(shredding on XC trails) Wink
  • 2 0
 Yes SXC is different to XC in that the bike has 100mm of travel, slightly wider handle bars (~730mm), the optional inclusion of a dropper post and the liberty of wearing baggies and if you do desire a dropper post. Its been the rage, since, well mountain biking
  • 14 2
 I'm shivering with excitement.
  • 10 0
 I resent how fast those guys are descending with their seats sky high and their asses in the air.
  • 1 0
 yeah and one of those guys had a mechanical/hydraulic seatpost...
  • 6 0
 Yay, a rockshox promotional video without Jeremiah Boobar in it.
  • 4 2
 Now I'm confused. It's a 100mm (?) travel fork and they hire some guys in baggy shorts and TLD gear to pretend that it's cool to rip it over some dusty singletrack... So shaving legs isn't cool?
  • 2 0
 In all fairness, that's a orange TLD ace jersey that's intended for XC use. I have one and it's awesome.
  • 1 0
 When I visit the Marzocchi repair center. There is this decades old fork. A carbon fiber U.D. fork with a one piece crown and legs. I always looked at this fork and thought one day this fork will make it in to production.
  • 1 0
 The RAC or something like that.
  • 1 0
 my dinosaur brain remembers Halsons fork
  • 4 0
 WHEN DO WE GET A RS-1 / LEFTY / MONSTER-T SHOOT OUT REIVEW?
  • 4 0
 oh look mountain bikers riding mountain bikes on a mountain bike trail
  • 2 0
 Dang, what will they think of next!
  • 2 0
 mountain bikers riding mountain bikes on mountain bike trails with mountain biking friends having a mountain biking of a good time?
  • 1 0
 Great video, but I have to admit I was cringing at the idea of riding behind someone in all that dust without eye protection.
  • 1 0
 not being sarcastic or cynical, I've got an honest question...what are the advantages of an inverted for over a regular single crown fork? Looking to be enlightened here.
  • 1 2
 Hmmmm...
If they're gonna build a usually heavier(than traditional) USD fork, why not at least first build an AM/Enduro so the weight gets buried in the travel, and you won't get beat up by all the weight weenies because it weighs 3 grams more than their 20mm travel SiD?
No matter how light you make a USD, it'll always be heavier than a traditional fork.
Plus, methinks an XC bike is the LAST one that could use more stiffness up front(or anywhere else for that matter).
Heck, MAYBE a downhill bike would benefit from the advantages of a USD, but the more I think of it, the more I'm thinking it's just a marketing ploy.
Motorcycles have been using USD forks for, well, forever, because of their WEIGHT and the punishment MX bikes go through, the brute power and plane FORCE road racing bikes put through their forks when braking from 190 down to 20mph, and needing the suspension to help keep a combined weight of 450-500lbs sticking to the ground via a 2x2" contact patch while leaned over.
Then, at the opposite end of the spectrum you have the combined weight of Hardly rider(250lbs) and his wife/old lady(220lbs) sitting on top of the 700lbs or more 'bike', which all have to be slowed/stopped/kept under control by the suspension.
USD's are a necessity in these situations.
I'm gonna be keeping an eye on what SRAM does here, and what they do to mitigate the HUGE downside of using USD forks on such a light platform, and how they turn all of it into quicker times down the mountain.
  • 1 0
 So glad to see that those trails survived the fire! Love that place. Great vid.
  • 1 0
 I'm the only one who sees a failure?, the bars should carry a shield against scratches and bumps
  • 1 0
 My fuel ex 9.9 forks great with the fox float.
Do u guys think a switch to the rs-1 makes sense?
  • 1 0
 Wow is XC the next Enduro? sick.. Hey Dewar, when your back from living the high life i got some electrical work for ya!
  • 4 3
 I still think this fork is an April fools joke...
  • 3 0
 Totally agree.
  • 1 0
 That is a lot of effort and money for a joke.
  • 1 0
 Major concern.... How are the lowers not going to get battered?
  • 2 0
 The same way moto forks and leftys and dorados do it. It isn't an issue, and it hasn't been an issue for 30 years in other disciplines.
  • 1 1
 not a whole lot of dirt gets down there. most of the stuff that builds up on the regular set up is kicked up by the tier.
  • 2 1
 One problem with this design is scratching of the stanchions, my old DUC 32 accumulated a lot of scratches on the fork guards, dust was never an issue with the maverick, the biggest problem with inverted fork is the tendency for exploding and they are flexier than cooked spaghetti
  • 3 0
 I dunno, i rode mine to starbucks for a double non fat soy latte hold the soy, and they didn't get one scratch!
  • 1 0
 Another concern would be to have a seal go and drop oil on your rotor...
  • 1 0
 Oil on the rotor could happen, but it happens with conventional forks as well.
  • 1 1
 I have never had a conventional fork spill oil onto a rotor, the oil in a conventional fork is not being pulled towards the rotor by gravity in the same way an inverted fork is, in order for a conventional fork to poor oil onto a rotor it would need to have a hole in the lowers otherwise there is no way the oil could get through metal lowers and onto a brake rotor. Inverted forks just have to bypass seals on a maverick fork they were prone to blowing out seals some other versions like the Manitou Dorado were much better at not exploding oil everywhere I guess thats why maverick is out of business and Manitou is not
  • 1 0
 Let me just be a bit clearer. I mean lowers as stanchions.
  • 2 0
 I understand, I think that scratches on the stanchions are one of the many problems with this product based on my experience with inverted forks, but I am no engineer so maybe Rock Shox has figured out how to make an inverted design work well. I will be interested to see how this fork holds up long term and how it rides, if it uses the Charger dampener oil spillage will be less of an issue and stanchion damage will be their main concern
  • 1 0
 I have been using inverted forks for a couple decades, and have had to replace one, repeat that ONE!!! slider due to damage. This really isn't as issue. This was debated in the moto world in the late 80's, just as people worrying about bent discs ruining a ride was a major reason to resist disc brakes. It really isn't an issue. For reference a single slider is about 1/3 the price of a crown and pair of sliders on a conventional MTB single crown fork.
  • 1 0
 @Willie1 Most inverted moto forks I've seen as well as most inverted mtb forks use some king of a guard, DVO, Manitou, Maverick, and Cannondale all use some kind of a guard to protect the stanchions, this design not using a guard seems to go against conventional wisdom.
  • 1 0
 I vote that last sunset pic for POD!







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