2022 Pinkbike Awards: Suspension Product of the Year Winner
Throughout the year, the team of Pinkbike editors were treated to riding the latest and greatest springy attachments in the world of mountain biking. We could go on and on babbling about our favorite picks and discussing the nuances between 35 and 36mm stanchions, but we'll spare you the banter. Our list of possible nominees for the 2022 Pinkbike Suspension Product of the Year was shorter than in the past but no less difficult to choose a winner.
Possible fork contenders were found in the single crown department, and multiple air and coil shock options were discussed. We even threw in a chain-isolating gizmo that eventually made the cut to the nominee list. Within those nominees, there was a set of components to suspension to fit either end of the bike that bore the RockShox name.
The finalists for Suspension Product of the Year included the beastly EXT Arma downhill coil shock, a buttery RockShox Lyrik trail fork, O-Chain's Active Spider to suppress chain feedback, and last but not least, RockShox's limitless Super Deluxe Ultimate air shock.
SUSPENSION PRODUCT OF THE YEAR
RockShox Super Deluxe Ultimate
One shock to rule them all.
RockShox Super Deluxe Ultimate
One shock to rule them all.
Although there are tons of perfectly adequate suspension pieces out there, the new RockShox Super Deluxe Ultimate air shock really stood out on the trail where it matters the most, and takes home the 2022 Pinkbike Suspension Product of the Year award.
The first chance we had to ride the Super Deluxe was back in March, 2022 on a Santa Cruz Tallboy. Although we had a full day to come to grip with the shock, it took very little time to get sorted. The Super Deluxe Ultimate also proved to work superbly on longer-travel test bikes too, like the Trek Fuel EX-e and the Specialized Stumpjumper EVO.
The first chance we had to ride the Super Deluxe was back in March, 2022 on a Santa Cruz Tallboy. Although we had a full day to come to grip with the shock, it took very little time to get sorted. The Super Deluxe Ultimate also proved to work superbly on longer-travel test bikes too, like the Trek Fuel EX-e and the Specialized Stumpjumper EVO.
Another highlight of the Super Deluxe Ultimate is the air spring, which can be easily modified to suit linear or progressive bikes. By choosing a large or small air can, the spring curve can produce a flat or ramped rate to pair with the bike’s specific leverage curve. From there, further tuning is possible with the addition of volume reducing tokens.
If that’s not enough to convince you of the Super Deluxe Ultimate’s tuning range, there is an optional hydraulic bottom out dial that slows the shock’s descent into the last millimeters of travel. This is a damper control not typically found on an air shock. Although it reduces hard bottom outs, it doesn’t affect the spring curve like adding tokens would.
Given the range of rider weights and tuning options, the Super Deluxe Ultimate covers pretty much all aspects of riding, from the 250x75mm size for downhill bikes, all the way over to a stubby 165x37.5mm cross-country dual suspension steeds. Considering it's $599 USD price tag, its performance is competitive with other aftermarket shocks at twice the price too.
Out in the wild, there really wasn't anything that held the Super Deluxe Ultimate back. The climb switch on the trail version shock is plenty firm, with a solid lock position. When opened up and pedalling through meandering singletrack, the shock remains supple while seated under sag and always seems to be floating through its travel. Neither mega-long alpine descents, clusters of wet, old-growth tree roots, or repeated square-edge hits on steeps that had me questioning my line choice ever posed issues for this redesigned air sprung damper.
We have to hand it to RockShox, the Super Deluxe Ultimate supplies one heck of a ride - the gentle breakaway into the beginning stroke, smooth transition from the compressive to rebounding directions, and consistent ride control across multiple suspension platforms - the whole package leaves little, if anything to be desired from a rear shock. For those reasons it receives the Suspension Product of the Year award.
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Primo
Flagship
(I still can't believe it wasn't a worse result)
www.pinkbike.com/news/interview-university-student-designs-oleo-shock-with-titanium-shaft.html
They are selling like this
Rebound tune: Linear
Compression tune: L
- Manitou Mara Pro: very good
- EXT Storia: extremely good
- Rockshox Super Deluxe Ultimate
Well, that settles it then...
"If that’s not enough to convince you of the Super Deluxe Ultimate’s tuning range, there is an optional hydraulic bottom out dial that slows the shock’s descent into the last millimeters of travel. This is a damper control not typically found on an air shock. Although it reduces hard bottom outs, it doesn’t affect the spring curve like adding tokens would."
"The finalists for Suspension Product of the Year included the beastly EXT Arma downhill coil shock, a buttery RockShox Lyrik trail fork, O-Chain's Active Spider to suppress chain feedback, and last but not least, RockShox's limitless Super Deluxe Ultimate air shock."
EXT Arma - Poppet valves and HBO. Too digressive but HBO goes some way to putting a sticking plaster over that.
Rockshox Lyrik - Under damped on compression, good for carparks and showrooms, unsupportive while charging.
O-chain - Doesn't do anything....Genuinely doesn't do anything to your race times, unless you are running a high pivot and no idler.
Super Deluxe Ultimate - The rear shock equivalent of a lyrik. Tuning options are extremely limited (you can buy shim packs in s/m/f but thats about it...) The adjustment range on the ls dials goes from completely locked to essentially wide open in a very small amount of clicks. This means that all but 1 click will be basically useless to any given rider, and the click the rider is stuck with probably isn't quite right. Spares support is non existent (8 months wait on a damper body anyone?)
How the hell did you choose the finalists/winner here pinkbike? Cos you couldn't have got it more wrong if you were specifically trying to be as wrong as possible. Unless you picked like a garmin mount as the winner or something
EXT Shocks specifically have progressive damping, so not sure where you got that from. They also definitely don't use poppet valves. Directly from Mojo: "You can rest assured that the tapered, progressive damping, where most of the oil flow goes through demand valves rather than adjuster valves...".
The 2023 RS forks that use the charger 3 damper are way more damped than the old models and way more damped than Fox. Personally I prefer the Fox feel, but you're wrong saying the 2023 Lyrik is underdamped and unsupportive, it's quite the opposite.
Personally I think EXT shocks are incredible, but what do I know - I've only owned and ridden two of them and compared to most of the rivals?
Yes, the HSC adjustment does preload a separate shim stack in the piggyback, which is for final adjustments to the level of HSC you get. It's nothing like a genuine poppet valve as seen on twin tube designs (e.g. Fox X2s), which has a major effect on the HSC.
I've had a Storia V3 on a Firebird and agree, they're incredible at keeping composure over everything you can throw at them. The HBO is also amazing. The only thing I wasn't keen on was the rebound tune I had was a bit firm making the bike less poppy than before, but the control the shock provided was well worth it. Also only added about 100g compared to the stock air shock, a Fox Float X2 .
Damping force does increase with shaft speed yes. Of course it does, as there can be no damping force at all when the piston is stationary. However this isn't described as progressive damping. It would be described as linear. It would also ride terribly if there was no high speed blow off to add some digression into the curve.
A preloaded shim stack is very much like a poppet valve. Because it's essentially the same thing...
If, as you claim, the lions share of the compression damping is done by the midvalve in an EXT Arma, then they would have serious issues with cavitation. Which they don't as they are quite good shocks. The only real issue with them is the poppet valve making them a bit too digressive, and the hbo having to work against that. It'd be a nicer shock with a less agressive transition into high speed, and then being able to ditch the hbo, which really shouldn't be necessary.
If you're genuinely interested then have a google about how EXT solve the cavitation issue. Clue: it's nothing to do with making the piggyback do most of the damping.
Maybe when they bring out a coil version of the Fox 38 (ideally called the 66).