Digging through patent documents can sometimes offer hints at what we might be riding in a few years' time. Many of the weird and wonderful designs don't see the light of day, but even then it's interesting to see what ideas the bike industry's brains are working on. Here are a few that we've spotted lately from Fox, Specialized and Shimano.
Fox suspension adjusterFox seems to be working hard towards expanding the scope and capability of their electronic suspension offerings. Here are two patents they've published recently.
A
patent was published in their name in April called "Methods and apparatus for suspension adjustment". To boil it right down, it covers a broad concept of using various sensors to determine how a bicycle's (or other vehicle's) suspension is performing, feeding those data into an algorithm and then outputting suggestions to a user interface (which could be a display or an app) so the user can make the appropriate adjustment. and the system could make damping adjustments for you, including "throttling" a valve between open and closed on the fly, depending on the roughness of the terrain the sensors detect.
A possible shock layout includes a sensor (5b), and an electronically-controlled compression valve, which could be operated via an algorithm taking information from multiple sensors.
These sensors could include many things. The patent says "[the] measured characteristics may include at least one of position, velocity, acceleration, stroke, sag, compression, rebound, pressure and temperature of the vehicle suspension." A pedal sensor is also mentioned.
As usual, the patent is written in such a way as to keep Fox's options as open as possible, so it's not clear exactly what any future system would be measuring or what it would do with the information. But one application mentioned in the patent is simply measuring sag and suggesting an appropriate spring rate and rebound setting. That may sound disappointingly basic, but for many riders that alone could be a huge benefit. On the other hand, it could be much more advanced, perhaps including on-the-fly, adjustments to damping settings.
Fox wireless active suspension systemLast August we got
the scoop on some prototype electronic suspension from Fox which they were testing with Jesse Melamed. In March this year, they published a
patent that might shed more light on where they're hoping to go with this tech.
The wireless sensors depicted in the patent look a lot like the ones we saw back in August.
Like the system we saw in real life, it includes wireless sensors mounted on the brake mounts of the fork and swingarm; a handlebar-mounted remote to control the modes and a suspension controller to control the shock (and/or fork) damping, firming it up or softening it depending on the terrain.
Those sensors would most likely include accelerometers. The patent specifies that they are to be mounted on the unsprung part of the bike (fork lowers and/or the swingarm), where an accelerometer would need to be to detect bumps. It also claims that after hitting a bump there is about a 15-millisecond window for the suspension to open up before the rider starts to "feel" the impact, and when we saw Fox's prototype in real life, they claimed the system could react "within 3 milliseconds". Besides, in the version we saw, only the rear shock was active, and an accelerometer in the fork could tell the shock to open up long before the bump reached it (if you're going at 45 kph, it would take about 100 ms for the rear wheel to pass the same bump that the front wheel hit).
On the other hand, the patent also mentions a sensor that could scan the trail in front of the front wheel and tell the fork and/or shock how to react before the
front wheel hits it. There's even talk of a lead vehicle sending signals to the following ones to tell them how to set their suspension. But personally, I think if this type of system does come to market on a mountain bike, it's likely to be simpler than that at first.
In terms of how the output of the system's algorithm would affect the damping in the shock, here's how I think it works. The patent shows a possible damper valve with a spring-loaded conical "nipple" which controls the oil flow, and therefore the damping firmness. The spring pushes the cone (412) against the valve port (402), shutting off the oil flow from the compression side of the damper. When the damping oil pressure behind the conical valve is high enough (for example when you hit a bump), the cone is pushed back and the oil is able to flow past from port 402 to 403, allowing the suspension to compress.
The spring can be preloaded via an external adjuster (408 ), which pre-sets the amount of damping pressure required to "crack" open the valve and allow oil flow.
In terms of the active part, to the left of the spring is a fluid-filled chamber (407) and a piston (406). The fluid pressure can be set by one of a number of solenoids (475) which push on a plunger (465), pressurising the fluid. The fluid pressure moves the piston, changing the preload on the spring (415). Presumably, different solenoids (or combinations thereof) could provide different fluid pressure or volume, and so different amounts of preload on spring, and by extension, different damping firmness. In this configuration, the conical valve (412) could also act as a check valve, preventing oil from flowing back from the rebound side (403) to the compression side (402), so all of it has to go via the rebound valving.
Shimano brake lever & pistonIn a patent called "
Piston assembly for human-powered vehicle", dated April 2023, Shimano illustrates what could be a new design of brake lever. The patent mostly refers to the design of the piston assembly, which slides through and seals against the master cylinder, forcing oil through the hose to the caliper. The piston assembly may include a resin primary seal that slides easily but seals tightly against the cylinder. This piston assembly is depicted in a lever body which is quite different from Shimano's current offerings.
Most obviously, the lever body sits flush against the handlebar, and the brake hose connects to the lever body in such a way that it could be run parallel to, or inside, the handlebar. This is something
we've seen before. But also, in this case, the piston assembly is driven by a pair of counter-rotating links (numbered 24 and 42 in the drawings above) which in turn drive a connection rod (44), whose path is determined by a pair of cam guides (46), which are shaped to manipulate the leverage ratio between the lever blade and the piston assembly.
In Figure 4, where the brake is applied, the connection rod contacts the cam (42) closer to its pivot point (P2), so there's a greater mechanical advantage over the system and so more braking force than when the brake lever is relaxed (Figure 3). The purpose of this is presumably similar to Shimano's
Servo Wave technology, but the architecture is a little different, with the cam mechanism here sitting outboard (further from the handlebar) of the lever blade pivot.
A reminder of how Shimano's current levers look, with the master cylinder inboard of the lever blade pivot.
So perhaps Shimano has a new lever design on the horizon that sits closer to the bar, with (arguably) neater hose routing and a new design of piston and cam mechanism.
Specialized's internal-routing steering-limiter headsetHere's one for the through-headset-cable-routing fans out there (both of them). A
patent published in March this year by Specialized Bicycle Components shows a headset that combines routing for multiple control lines (brake hoses and gear, dropper cables etc.), alongside a steering limiter to prevent damage to the cables and to the frame. Specialized's
recently released Epic uses the design shown here, so this is more of a glimpse into the present rather than the future. Still, it is interesting to see how exactly one would go about patenting a cable routing design.
trekalized
Damned plastics people. (Former mould tech, turned mould maker here)
In mountain biking, since bikes are human powered (!!!!) and weight is critical, what is holding suspension performance back isn't electronically reactive damping, its stiffness, stiction, binding under load, spring curves, durability, service intervals, etc. Suspension damping is in a pretty good spot right now for bikes, and from what I can tell this is the only thing that electronics can help with.
My idea that I'd love to make is a simple electronic lockout thats retrofitable to any rear shock that can accept a remote cable lockout. The innovation/difference is that it just listens to your ANT+ signal from your power meter and at a preconfigured wattage threshold locks/unlocks your rear shock. Thats it. Thats all it does, except MAYBE have an accelerometer that can also detect grade, such that you could configure it to never lock out on descents. If the price could be kept under $300 this would be a winner in my book.
No, you're not the only one. Keep those the batteries off my bike.
Mani-poo and Ohlins have figured this out but they get no OEM.
That said, I'm not sure whether people don't really understand the adjustment. It is more that they might not want to go through the whole process of finding the perfect setup when they know they'll gain more on working on their skill and fitness and will have more fun just riding their bike and don't agonize about the dials. I for one read through those manuals and understand that you're supposed to modify one of those dials at a time and realize loads of your test runs are going to be shit. I set sag to about where I want it to be, set rebound as fast as possible without losing control and just ride it like that. I don't like the low speed compression and just add more high speed compression when I use too much travel. Call my setup shit, I know I'll always gain more working on my riding skill than on my dial twisting skills.
It is ok for Sunday rides, but it is not anywhere good enough for serious terrain and racing.
Also, don't get me started on all of those batteries that will need to be re-charged and then contribute to pollution, and most of those will be sold to people who could ride an old RST and it wouldn't make them any slower... Makes me quite angry seeing how many roadies and MTBers are such hypocrites - so much hate towards cars and motor vehicles - "because they pollute!! Climate change!! yada yada..." and then they buy all of those battery powered components that never needed any batteries and in some cases (electronic derailleurs) it is even a downgrade compared to a non-electronic counterpart.
look at the MSRP of Flight attendant. Is it really that hard to figure out?
Even the Polaris team here does not use Live Valve shocks on their RZRs for racing and I have not seen any serious team/privateer using them, and I am talking about guys who also race huge rallies like the Dakar... and win . We found them very inconsistent and unpredictable at times. They're good enough if you want to just enjoy the ride and not bother with setting up your suspension (or you don't know how to set it up), but they have serious downsides when you start pushing it, and correctly set-up and valved 'traditional' shocks behave way better in those racing conditions.
there wasn't really much noise about the old XT/Saint 4 pistons with regards to the wandering bite point and the new 2 piston SLX/XT/XTR don't really suffer from it that much (they still do but not as bad as the 4 piston caliper ones)
Currently on the M7100 SLX 4 piston and its bad once the brakes get up to temp. I might try out swapping the hoses to BH59 (the old one) and see if that'll help with it. If worse comes to worse I'll just jump on the TRP train with everyone
Putoline apparently makes a 2.5W damper oil that works very well as brake fluid. Intend uses this in their new brake too.
Are they more like Shimano that I like, or more like SRAM that I don't like?
But I've readin some Aston site about the various brakes he tests, the dominions seems to be a taiwanese "copy" of the diretissimas, as they work as good as those.
He also praises the new hope t4e4 with steel braided hoses, more than dominions.
Are you not having fun on your bikes now?
You are actually okay with needing professional mechanics to service your bike, and to be dependant on software updates and all that? Weird.
Give me my old, simple bike any day of the week.
The adjustment screw sets the limit of the how far the valve can open, where as the electronics will preload an IFP which provides resistance to the conical valve piston.
Interesting,
Offroad external bypasses are sloppy as hell for low speed damping and the preload would be a band-aid to add that support rather than isolating the circuit.
This design like external bypasses would likely include a flow path of position sensitive damping and be noisy/click to boot.
This likely has something to do with the RAD development, which included in car adjustments to bypass tubes via cables, then air preloaded bypass adjusters, eventually moving towards fully electric bypass adjusters with a smart controller. I am surprised to see it on bikes considering its been scrapped in R&D 3-4 times. I remember seeing the first electronically controlled external bypass in like 2012.
What a time to be alive
good luck with that :'D