So Fox have released an electronic adaptive suspension system to their lineup.
https://www.ridefox.com/content.php?c=livevalve-bike
https://www.pinkbike.com/news/review-fox-live-valve-suspension.html
Tech sounds quite interesting, and the reviewer seems to like it. A couple of passages made me think of e-Biking arguments:
"the system responds so quickly that the hand-off between open and closed feels seamless. I was lulled into believing that nothing was going on until I realized that every root and rock that I was rolling over on my way up the mountain felt like it was the same size. They weren't."
"Live Valve opens when G-forces hit its preset threshold with such precision that all initial impacts feel about the same. I was banging into an array of rocks and roots ranging in size up to five inches, but at the grips, my 36 fork's four-G threshold setting made the bike feel like I was rolling over a continuous web of small, two-inch-diameter (50mm) roots."
"It took a while before I stopped pausing momentarily to transfer my saddle position forwards at the onset of every climb. That was no longer a necessity. The only times I needed to break my pedaling cadence and move my weight around on the saddle was for more technical ascents or steep, punchy climbs - and even then, the stability the system added to my already sharp climbing Mach 5.5 was remarkable. I also could pedal more smoothly up chunky section because the controller allows the fork and shock to respond independently in climb mode, which keeps the rear wheel driving, and the front of the bike tracking, instead of skipping over the chunder."
Given quite a few anti e-Bike arguments centre around de-skilling and dumbing down the riding experience by making it easier to power over obstacles, do we feel this sits on the side of better suspension performance, or sanitising the ride?
https://www.ridefox.com/content.php?c=livevalve-bike
https://www.pinkbike.com/news/review-fox-live-valve-suspension.html
Tech sounds quite interesting, and the reviewer seems to like it. A couple of passages made me think of e-Biking arguments:
"the system responds so quickly that the hand-off between open and closed feels seamless. I was lulled into believing that nothing was going on until I realized that every root and rock that I was rolling over on my way up the mountain felt like it was the same size. They weren't."
"Live Valve opens when G-forces hit its preset threshold with such precision that all initial impacts feel about the same. I was banging into an array of rocks and roots ranging in size up to five inches, but at the grips, my 36 fork's four-G threshold setting made the bike feel like I was rolling over a continuous web of small, two-inch-diameter (50mm) roots."
"It took a while before I stopped pausing momentarily to transfer my saddle position forwards at the onset of every climb. That was no longer a necessity. The only times I needed to break my pedaling cadence and move my weight around on the saddle was for more technical ascents or steep, punchy climbs - and even then, the stability the system added to my already sharp climbing Mach 5.5 was remarkable. I also could pedal more smoothly up chunky section because the controller allows the fork and shock to respond independently in climb mode, which keeps the rear wheel driving, and the front of the bike tracking, instead of skipping over the chunder."
Given quite a few anti e-Bike arguments centre around de-skilling and dumbing down the riding experience by making it easier to power over obstacles, do we feel this sits on the side of better suspension performance, or sanitising the ride?
