When we spoke to Fox Racing Shox, they were staying tight-lipped about the two new prototype shocks they were displaying at Interbike 2013.
First up is the air shock we’d spotted aboard Steve Peat’s and Josh Bryceland’s bikes at the first round of the downhill World Cup race in Fort William. This particular shock also graced Mick Hannah’s bike during the world championships in South Africa, where it helped him to his strong second place.
Fox were reluctant to divulge any details, but did go as far as saying that Mick loves the feel of the air shock – which, aesthetically at least, shares many similarities with their latest trail bike shock, the Float X. There’s no CTD lever, but there is what appears to be two dials to adjust high- and low-speed compression along with a rebound adjuster (tucked away just as it is on the Float X).
The coil-sprung shock was actually used on Greg Minnaar’s race-winning bike from South Africa, where he secured his third World Championship title.
Fox pointed out that generally, team riders will test prototype products on their usual setup – which they know inside out – before handing them back for completion. But it was different with Greg: having practised on the shock, he then asked to compete on it because he liked it so much.
Again, there were no details about the shock itself but from our observations, it appears to feature both high- and low-speed compression adjustment, along with high- and low-speed rebound adjustment.
We’ll have more on these as soon as we find out, so stay tuned!
