Rockshox fork range

Rockshox is a popular choice for bicycle forks. Although SR Suntour are far more popular on new bikes, because of their cheaper forks, Rockshox is seen as more premium, although this isn’t always the case.

As with SR Suntour the range is differentiated by dampers, lighter materials used, as well as air springs. A main difference with SR Suntour is that the damper is not a disposable cartridge, but can be rebuilt.

25.4mm forks (1990s vintage)

The first Rockshox fork, the RS-1 had 25.4m stanchions. This was followed by the Mag and the Quadra. These models were made until 1997.

28mm forks (historical)

Judy was a 28mm series produced in various quality levels. with 28mm stanchions between 1995 and 2006. The Indy was a lower quality model, replaced by the Jett.

By the time Judy was phased out in 2007, its replacement, Dart, was very low-end. Dart was later renamed XC28.

SID was a 28mm lightweight high-end racing model between 1998 and 2008. It was replaced by a 32mm SID model in 2009.

Pilot was based on SID, hence higher than Judy. However it was sold only for 3 years, 2003–2005, as its 28mm stanchions were getting dated.

Dampers

While the left side of a suspension fork contains the spring (either coil or air), the right side contains a damper, or more likely, two dampers. The compression damper sits on to of the rebound damper, and the compression damper determines the compression of the fork in response to bumps. The rebound damper functions to return the fork to normal position smoothly (not too fast, not too slow).

Rockshox TK or Turnkey damper refers to a system with a basic compression damper, as pictured below:

This is from a Recon TK (Turnkey). Turnkey refers to the lockout on top of the compression damper. The silver tube is the rebound damper, and the black cylinder the compression damper.

This shows the Recon MotionControl damper. The rebound damper is the same, but the compression damper is more sophisticated. MotionControl was introduced in 2004.

Whereas the dampers above are emulsion dampers, meaning that air and oil are mixed, RockShox released a closed air-less system called the Charger, for the 2014 model year. The key feature is a rubber bladder that can expand under compression. Since there is no air in the system, foaming is reduced.

The damper is therefore supplied as a cartridge rather than separate rebound and compression dampers.

The rubber bladder can be seen at the top of the damper, while the space between the bottom of the compression damper and the top of the rbound damper is inside the black tube.

Charger versions

Springs

Modern air fork contain an air spring with positive and negative chambers. As both chambers are pressurised, the negative chamber provides assistance to the compression of the spring during the first part of the stroke.

Most Rockshox forks have ‘Solo Air’ springs. The Solo Air replaced the early Dual Air, where negative and positive chambers could be separately pressurised, and is instead self-equalizing.

Solo Air designs vary:

DebonAir is essentially an upgraded SoloAir with larger negative air chamber.

XC/trekking forks

30mm (XC30, Paragon, 30, Judy)

Rockshox 30mm entry-level forks are:

• XC30 — 30mm steel stanchions, coil spring only, no rebound adjustment (earlier models had this, and a SoloAir option). Introduced in 2012 when the entry-level Dart brand (28mm) was cancelled and replaced by XC 28 / XC 30 / XC 32 models
• Paragon — 30mm stanchions, introduced 2015, trekking model (50 or 65mm travel).
• 30–30mm stanchions, rebound adjustment, introduced as a slightly higher-end XC30
• Judy — Rockshox felt the need to give the boost hub version of XC30/30 a different name. It spans the two models, as the Judy TK lacks rebound adjustment.

The specific model designations, though not all are available for every fork:

• Silver — steel stanchions
• Gold — alloy stanchions, in addition the SoloAir spring appears to be slightly better than in the Silver
• no designation — means Silver, except on the Sektor where it means Gold

Current options are :

• TK — turnkey damper
• RL — MotionControl damper.

Spring options:

• Coil fixed travel at purchase, but coil can be replaced. 100mm or 120mm options, varying firmnesses. 50 or 65mm coils on the Paragon.
• SoloAir, air spring. There are several travel variants. The fork may be pre-configured to a certain travel that is not the full capacity. Variants follow:
  1. the 100mm in Judy/30 26" forks, reduce to 80mm with spacer.
  2. the 130mm fixed travel spring in 2021 Judy Silver 130mm forks only
  3. the 120mm to 100mm or 80mm , in other 30/Judy forks, plus pre-2020 Recon Silver and some pre-2021 Recon Gold
  4. the 150mm reducible to 140/130mm found in some pre-2021 Recon Gold.
  5. the 150mm reducible to 140/130/120/100/80mm in 2020–2021 Recon Silver
  6. the 65mm reducible to 50mm in the Paragon
• DebonAir, on Recon Gold since 2021, and Sektor Gold since 2019. Two variants, 150mm (can reduce to 140 or 130mm) and 120mm springs (option to reduce to 100 or 80mm). The DebonAir springs can be adjusted with the addition of 1 or 2 bottomless tokens, to reduce air volume to change the ramp of the spring.

32mm

• Recon & Sektor — 32mm stanchions, rebound adjustment. The Recon was introduced in 2006 with trail (longer travel) and XC (shorter travel) models, but the Recon TR was renamed Sektor in 2011.
  Originally Sektor and Recon had similar specification options, but since 2019 only one Sektor, the Sektor RL is available. The 2021 Recon Gold RL is identical to this in that the spring is adjustable between 150mm and 80mm.
• The Tora was introduced in 2006 slightly below the Recon. It was replaced by the XC32, which was itself discontinued in 2015. The main difference is the steel stanchions were slightly heavier than in steel Recon models

SID/Reba/Bluto

The SID is the top-of-the-range 32mm XC fork. It’s tuned for light weight.

The Reba is a lower-grade version. As it is not a ‘flagship’ model, it will generally have a lower end damper, slightly heavier fork crown, or similar features. However it is largely the same fork.

SID A chassis (2008–2014)

The Sid A chassis replaced an earlier grossly undersized 28mm model.

Damping details for the first 2008+ 32mm model:

• Race (2008–2010), RLT (2011) — threshold adjustment on the compression damper. Standard rebound damper.
• RL (2012-) — (threshold is adjustable by hex key)
• Team (2008–2010), RLT Ti (2011), RLT (2012-) , World Cup (2008–2011) — as Race, but with upgraded rebound damper with separate beginning/end stroke rebound damping.Compression damper has separate high and low speed compression circuits.
• RCT3 (2012-), World Cup (2012-) —three set threshold positions, pedal/lock/open
• XX , World Cup XX— lightweight model. Same rebound damper as the Team, but lightweight non-adjustable (lockout only, by remote) compression damper.

The World Cup designation means that there is a carbon crown saving around 100 grams. Otherwise this fork weighs around 1.6kg.

SID B chassis (2011-), Reba (2012–2016), Bluto (all)

SID (2017–2019), Reba (2017-)

This brought a new chassis & other performance improvements

Damper/air:

2017 — Motion Control, Solo Air

2018 — Charger 2, DebonAir

2019 — Charger 2, DebonAir

Models all have rebound knob, and:

• RL— lockout adjuster knob
• RL R / XX—remote lockout
• RLC /World Cup— lockout adjuster and low-speed compression adjuster

World Cup model is lighter due to use of carbon fibre.

2020 model

The 2020 model year was a new model, with four spec levels:

• Select — Charger RL damper (IFP type, doesn’t use bladder, so cheaper than Charger 2), rebound adjust, lockout adjust
• Select+ — Charger2 damper, rebound adjust, lockout adjust
• Ultimate/Ultimate Carbon — Charger 2 damper, rebound adjust, lockout adjust, low-speed compression adjustment

For 2021 the SID was split into two models, the 32mm SID SL and the 35mm SID. Models are the same

• Select — Charger RL (cheap version like 2020), rebound adjust, lockout adjust
• Select+ — Charger 2, rebound adjust, lockout adjust
• Ultimate — Charger 2 Race Day version, same as Select+ but lighter, smaller damper with less oil saving 100g+. Weight just over 1.3kg Rebound adjust is by allen key to save weight. Lockout adjust knob

The fork casing was also redesigned again.

The travel is 100mm for SID SL, 120mm for SID, and weight for the Ultimate is 1.3kg+ and 1.5kg+.

Mid-range: Reba/Bluto

Reba is the XC level between Recon and SID, while Bluto is the fat tyre version of Reba.

Model History is:

• 2005 — U-Turn (travel adjustable by dial, slightly heavier), coil, or Dual Air fork. Team version and World Cup are identical except for carbon crown. World Cup model came with remote, and is no lighter than Team as a result. Motion Control damper. Most models were RLT (rebound adjust, lockout dial, and threshold dial for sensitivity of lockout)
• 2009 — new model improved Dual Air system. Team version given higher grade ‘Black Box Motion Control’ damper.
• 2012 — new model using new (2011/2012) SID chassis but different crown, so the two models were then almost identical
• 2013 — switch to Solo Air
• 2015 — Bluto introduced
• 2018 — update of Reba (but not Bluto) to use 2017 SID chassis.

Unlike the lower-end SoloAir springs, Bottomless tokens can be added (3 for Reba, 4 or Bluto) to change spring ramp.

Unlike the cheaper forks, the travel is not adjustable. Models using the

The Bluto, only, has a RCT3 model, which adds threshold compression adjustment. Earlier Reba forks had higher-end compression options, but these have been deleted, so the adjustment on the Reba is similar to the Recon, even though the dampers (both compression and rebound) are more advanced. Howerver, both forks await an update to the DebonAir spring.

RS-1

The RS-1, released in 2015, is an up-side down fork with a high pricetag requiring special hubs. It doesn’t seem to have anything to commend it over 2017+ SID models, but if the price was right, it could be a good choice, even if RockShox haven’t bothered to update it and probably won’t.

It uses the SID Solo Air cartridge.

Models:

• RL Remote— Charger2 damper, rebound adjust, remote lockout
• RLC — Charger2 damper, rebound adjust, low-speed adjuster, lockout adjuster
• Xloc — Accelerator Damper (like Charger R/Charger RC with IFP and no bladder), remote lockout

Trail forks

35

The 35mm line-up starts with the 35 fork. This was introduced in model year 2020 to cater for an increasing demand for budget 35mm stanchion forks.

Silver and Gold refers to the stanchions — silver or alloy.

Models are:

• Silver R — coil fork, rebound damper, compression damper is the Turnkey without the lockout
• Silver TK coil — coil, same rebound damper, Turnkey compression damper
• Silver TK SoloAir — with SoloAir spring
• Gold RL — DebonAir spring, Motion Control damper

The air forks are adjustable between 100mm and 160mm with spacers, and also take 0–4 bottomless spacers to reduce air volume.

Sektor

As discussed above, the Sektor RL is just a 2021 Recon Gold RL. It has a similar spec to the 35 Gold RL, but 32mm stanchions. There are two springs, 120mm (adjustable to 80mm/100mm) and 150mm (140mm/130mm)

Pike/Revelation

The Pike is a 35mm fork introduced in 2014. The earlier 32mm fork was discontinued in 2011

The Pike was introduced to counter the Fox 34, and was a very successful and important release for RockShox, and introduced the Charger damper. The Charger 2 damper was introduced, and Charger 2.1

The 32mm Revelation was introduced in 2006 as the top-of-the-range trail fork, but was supplanted by the Pike. In 2018 the 32mm Revelation was replaced by the 35mm Revelation, which is merely a rebadged Pike with lower grade damping etc.

The model range all feature a DebonAir air spring (since 2019), which has received minor annual updates, but is same on given year between Revelation & Pike.

Discontinued air cartridges:

• Dual Position Air (2014–2018)— travel can be reduced using dial on top of the air leg
• Solo Air (2014–2017) — Solo Air cartridge

The Charger versions are:

• Charger (v1) 2014–2017
• Charger 2 2018–2019
• Charger 2.1 2020+

Charger RC is not really a Charger, since it lacks the bladder design, but instead uses an internal floating piston design

This image shows the three basic damper types:

The DebonAir versions are:

• 2018 — v1
• 2019–2020 v2, increased air volume, improved seal
• 2021 — moved piston into positive/negative dimple, improved seal for better equalisation

All models feature rebound dials and either low-speed compression dials or remote lockout (R models).

Models:

+--------------------------+----------------+------------------+
|          Model           |     Damper     | High-speed comp. |
+--------------------------+----------------+------------------+
| Revelation RC/RC R       | Motion Control |                  |
| Rev Charger/Pike Select  | Charger RC     |                  |
| Pike RC/RC R/Select+     | Charger        |                  |
| Pike (Ultimate) RC2/RCT R| Charger        | adjustable dial  |
| Pike (Ultimate) RCT3     | Charger        | open/pedal/firm  |
+--------------------------+----------------+------------------+

Dirt-jump forks

The Argyle was a 32mm DJ fork sold 2007 to 2017. As a niche product it did not get many updates.

It was cancelled because of the 35mm Pike DJ, introduced in 2014, and not updated since. Is uses the Charger 1 damper with Solo Air air spring.

Enduro forks

Lyrik/Yari

The Lyrik is a 35mm all-mountain fork. It was introduced in 2007 alongside the lower-end Domain (discontinued in 2016). It was RockShox first 35mm model.

In 2016 the old coil Lyrik/Domain were discontinued in favour of an air spring model. The Lyrik/Yari are similar to the Pike (so see above), but has thicker stanchions, thicker crown, and different air spring with higher air volume. The weight is just over 2.0kg. Yari is the ‘cheaper damper’ version.

Air springs:

• 2014–2017 — Solo Air
• 2014–2018 — Dual Position Air
• 2018 DebonAir v1
• 2019–20 DebonAir v2
• 2021 DebonAir v3

All models have rebound dial and either low-speed compression dial or remote lockout.

Models:

+---------------------------+----------------+------------------+
|          Model            |     Damper     | High-speed comp. |
+---------------------------+----------------+------------------+
| Yari RC                   | Motion Control |                  |
| Yari RC '19/Lyrik Select  | Charger RC     |                  |
| Lyrik RC/RC R/Select+     | Charger        |                  |
| Lyrik (Ultimate) RCT3     | Charger        | pedal/firm/open  |
| Lyrik (Ultimate) RC2/RCT R| Charger        | dial             |
+---------------------------+----------------+------------------+

ZEB

The ZEB is a 38mm fork introduced for 2021 model year. Weight is 2.2–2.3kg. It is similar in concept to the 40mm Totem (2007–2014), which was a heavier, downhill fork.

Although it is a ‘signature’ fork, Rockshox released two models with cheap dampers, the RC, similar to the Yari & Revelation, the even cheaper R. The R model has a choice of Dual Position Air or DebonAir springs, the others only DebonAir. The R is the same IFP design as the RC, just without the compression adjustment on top.

Models:

+--------------+------------+-----------+------------------+
|    Model     |   Damper   | Low-speed | High-speed comp. |
+--------------+------------+-----------+------------------+
| R            | Charger R  |           |                  |
| Select       | Charger RC | x         |                  |
| Select+      | Charger    | x         |                  |
| Ultimate RC2 | Charger    | x         | dial             |
+--------------+------------+-----------+------------------+

Downhill fork (Boxxer)

The Boxxer is a 35mm stanchion downhill fork, since 2010. Although the stanchions are smaller than some other forks, it’s heavily built and there is 200mm of travel. The weight is around 2.6kg.

The current model dates from 2019, the previous model with coil spring option discontinued in 2018.

The Domain Dual Crown was a lower-end Boxxer with coil spring until 2017.

There are only two Boxxer models since 2019, the Select aka Boxxer, with Charger RC damper, and the (Ultimate) World Cup with Charger 2 damper. Both models have rebound & compression dials, the Ultimate/World Cup adding high-speed compression.

Shocks

RockShox introduced their first shocks in 1997, the Deluxe (Super Deluxe and Coupe Deluxe were higher grade versions). The SID shock was introduced in 1999. The Pro Deluxe was introduced in 2000 as a piggyback design. The Bar dates from 2003. Later models include the Ario, Pearl, MC3 and Kage.

Current models are

Monarch / Deluxe

The current Monarch dates from around 2014, though there were earlier models.

The Deluxe, introduced 2018, is part of SRAM/Rockshox drive to develop new standards that make old bikes obsolete. This was the introduction of ‘metric’ measurements, which are said to be better because of bigger air cans. Essentially if you have an old bike they want you to scrap it and replace it for the incompatible new system. Hence Monarch is old measurements, and Deluxe is new measurements and the two won’t fit on the same bike. The Deluxe introduced a negative spring ‘counter measure’ working against the damper, which was already used on the Vivid.

There are two air can choices:

• DebonAir — separate internal chamber for larger negative spring, plusher
• High Volume/Solo Air — for bikes not designed for the standard tune

The possible features are:

• a rebound dial
• a lockout lever (open/closed positions) OR a threshold lever (open/pedal (2), or open/pedal/lock (3)) positions
• low-speed compression dial

The following shows the internals. Note only the Ultimate (RCT) and Nude have the lock piston.

Models:

+------------------------+---------+-----------+--------+-----+
|         Model          | Rebound | Threshold |  Lock  | Low |
+------------------------+---------+-----------+--------+-----+
| R/Select               | x       |           |        |     |
| (Select+) RL           | x       |           | x      |     |
| (Select+) RT           | x       | 2         |        |     |
| RT3/Nude               | x       | 3         |        |     |
| XX/RLR/Ultimate Remote | x       | 2 (remote)|        |     |
| Ultimate               | x       | 2         |        | x   |
+------------------------+---------+-----------+--------+-----+

The Nude is a slightly lighter model built for Scott.

SIDLuxe

The SIDLuxe is essentially a lighter Deluxe, new for MY 2021. It is a lightweight race XC shock, as light as possible and not plush.

It has a lockout (not threshold) lever or remote lockout. Weight is 227g. Marketing claims to feature counter measure spring, but technical documentation says otherwise.

Although there are Ultimate and Select+ versions, these appear to be Retail/OEM colours, not actual differences.

Monarch Plus/Super Deluxe

This is the piggyback model. There are DebonAir and Solo Air variants, which will suit different suspension designs. This is around 100g heavier than the Monarch, at 350g.

The Super Deluxe is the ‘metric’ version. Like the Deluxe it improves on the Monarch Plus design with the ‘counter measure’ negative damper spring. There is also a coil version of the Super Deluxe.

The dials/levers on the shocks are:

• rebound dial — all models
• threshold lever with either open/lockout/pedal, or open/pedal settings
• low-speed compression dial

+---------------------+---------+--------+-------+------+
|        Model        | Rebound | Pedal  | Lock  | Low  |
+---------------------+---------+--------+-------+------+
| R/Select            | x       |        |       |      |
| Select+             | x       | x      |       |      |
| RC3                 | x       | x      | x     |      |
| RTR/Ultimate Remote | x       | remote |       |      |
| RC/Ultimate DH      | x       |        |       | x    |
| Ultimate            | x       | x      |       | x    |
+---------------------+---------+--------+-------+------+

Vivid

The downhill/enduro piggyback shock, the current model dates from 2014. It is a heavier version of the Monarch Plus. Metric users will have to use the Super Deluxe.

The coil version weighs around 1kg, and the air version 600g.

The Vivid features two separate high- and low-speed rebound dials (which control the rebound speed during small and large impacts respectively, i.e. the first 1/4 and last 3/4 of the travel), and the counter measure spring.

The compression dial goes between fully open and closed.