Subaru-Trek rider Sam Schultz provided a sneak peek at one of RockShox's new products for the 2012 model year: a Monarch XX rear shock featuring the same XLoc hydraulic remote lockout technology as found on the company's current XX-level forks.
"That's something we're working on, using the same XLoc technology we use in our forks," RockShox product manager Jeremiah Boobar told BikeRadar.
Boobar declined to provide more detailed technical information but based on what we know about the analogous forks, we expect the hydraulic fluid to actuate a small plunger inside the shock's damper unit while also providing the side benefits of a lighter, fully sealed system as compared to conventional mechanical setups.
The advent of the hydraulic rear lockout also brings with it the enticing possibility of a purpose-built single XLoc lever controlling both front and rear ends. Given that RockShox plan to launch this technology at Eurobike, Boobar was expectedly noncommittal on whether this possibility would manifest into an actual product. "The one you see on the team bike only controls the rear shock – one lever to a rear shock, one to a fork," he told us.
"I'm not prepared to talk about what projects we may or may not be working on. We're not revealing a ton about it right now just because we have to get it out there and we have to get it tested. We'll be more prepared to talk about it at trade show time."
Boobar did say that spectators attending the upcoming World Cup round in the Czech Republic will likely see more of the prototype rear shocks used by other SRAM-sponsored riders. "Keep your eyes open at the World Cup," he said. "I know a lot of people have them but I don't know who is actually going to be using it. We provided them to a number of riders to try out but we don't know who's going to jump on board and who's going to stick with what they know."
Unfortunately, one rider who likely won't be using it – ironically – is Schultz himself, who reported his bike stolen late Friday evening out of his hotel room.