Hopefully the Last Teaser of the new RockShox RS-1Inverted Fork

Where do the disk brake calipers fasten on?

Great…another axle standard!

Time will tell if this attempt is successful, but others have tried and failed.
In fact, inverted forks have had very little success in MTB. Even in DH manufacturers who tried, ended going back to the traditional design.
SRAM is a big fish,however, and if they put all their marketing effort in making it succed, they’ll get it.

@Ilikeicedtea, that’s a league on its own…

Looks interesting, I’ll have to give it a try. I hope they offer a white option

@Ady The brake mount [post] can be seen sticking out from behind the left fork leg.

The Predictive Steering technology represents a game-changing development in the world of bicycle directional accuracy. With current [dare we say “primitive”?] standard steering mechanisms, the user can choose the direction of travel with no infallible, 100% guaranteed method to assure that the vehicle will move in the desired vector. Predictive Steering is a new paradigm that will take mountain bikers, and perhaps all of humanity, in a new direction, toward a better tomorrow.

The thing is, though, new technology can make old designs compelling. We will see many approaches come, go, and come back again–each approach falling in-and-out of favor by an advancement in this technology or that technology.

Those look like cable guides on the left leg, and the mount sits behind it at an angle. I’m not sure what flexing over such a tight radius will do to a cable, or what having a mount that sits so far out will do to rigidity.

@Pasabaporaquí. i agree.

i’m not in the xc market, but my two cents- that thing looks terrible and cheap all at the same time. sorry rock shox

as far as a lefty “that’s a league on its own…” here is my take:

a lefty suspension fork is like a one legged man in a butt kicking contest,
i would not bet on either.

Hey all….K11 knows what he’s talking about. He’s a huge name in suspension design and one of the leading names in composite technology. We really all need to listen to him. He’s the man to follow on these threads, on Pinkbike, and MTBR. MIT genius type.

Whoops, sorry. That’s K12 I’m thinking of. My bad. Ignore the above comment.

And a tapered steerer…. I still like my steel Xcode from the 90’s rocky altitude full xtr v brakes prestige ultralight tubing…. It’s all I need

a pic of the new rock shox in real life:

Not necessarily new technology. It’s been 20 years since the Halson Inversion fork first appeared so the patent is up. There are probably key BASIC technologies that are up for grabs now that make an inverted fork practical without having to pay a royalty fee.

We can probably expect other companies to jump into the inverted shock market. Wait until the Headshox patent is up.

I need 120mm

Finally. The last single crown inverted fork was made by Maverick, I believe. Before that, Marzocchi. They made the Shiver inverted single crown fork about 10 years ago, or more, maybe 15. Supposedly, neither were any good, but if someone actually threw some real money at developing one of these, it should work. Way less unsprung weight, seals are less sticky. There’s gotta be a reason every performance motorcycle on and off-road, uses this design. I’ll be this will be the standard for all MTB disciplines in 5 years. With dual crowns, there’s no reason why not. They’re stiffer and lighter. I’d love to see Fox’s answer to this.

@ anyone who invokes motocross forks: those have two crowns, and this has one. That’s a huge difference.
Most designers who make USD forks, heck, sometimes even dual-crown USD forks, end up doing extra stuff to shore up torsional rigidity. Maverick- upper legs bulge out to the size of baseball bats; huge 24mm axle; upper crown is welded to legs. For the carbon version of the fork which didn’t make it to market before Maverick folded- they made the upper legs still larger. Forget who it was- keyed, dropper post style interface between inner and outer legs to prevent twisting. Halson Designs- huge (for the time) hyper-rigid tubular fork brace. Manitou- hex-shaped thru-axle to prevent twisting. DVO- colleted fastening between crown and legs (this feature was abandoned because it was too expensive), leg guards which double as an actual fork brace (albeit a long and flexy one). And of course Cannondale- square legs, needle bearings instead of bushings; integrated leg-axle.
Long story short- a lot of these features could be used (and have been used) even on normal forks. USD forks, unless they have two crowns, are gimmicky and greatly benefit from weird design features to up stiffness. Because otherwise, single crown USD forks don’t cut it.
Wonder what RS is going to do make this design sort of work.

On the Pic seen on drunkcyclist’ facebookpage, it looks like there is a cable (remote lockout?) exiting from the top left part of the crown!

@deboat

If you ever read anything about dt swiss froks and previously USE forks, you will know that it was quite an issue indeed. Motocross forks have lik half a liter oil, sweetheart, and bigger everything, and are not made of carbon fiber… it’s not the inverted design the issue with heat disipation, is carbon fiber. As far as I know it would be very stupid to use a carbon fiber heat dissipator, they are all aluminium or copper.

do your homeworks next time.

Lefty’s are good when new, after 500km they start sucking big time. They are sh!t for enduro use and removing the front wheel is a big mess. they are expensive and mainteinance is also expensive and 10 times more frequent than fox or rockshox. (deleted)

@Melol – That’s all bollocks about lefties, isn’t it?

DOI – I’ve got about 2000 miles on mine with no probs; removing the front wheel isn’t that much of an issue (though clearly it does require undoing a whole three bolts), and the oil change interval is 3x that of Fox forks. But yes, they are expensive.

heat dissipation: 100mm travel, damper may possibly be located in the lower. then the exterior wall is aluminum. still, not much of an issue for xc use. downhill and similar, i’d be concerned, but not for xc. for example, most cartridge style dampers in forks leave an air gap between fork leg and cartridge, practically insulating it. manitou used a micro sized damper in their r7 (or whatever it was called in 2008) to save weight.
the key will be how they address directional control concerns, be it with keyways in the lowers or axle or something else entirely.

Brattercakes – if you know your RockShox history, RS-1 is actually a very cool name. Or at least one that carries a lot of expectation and pressure to be industry-changing. RockShox has been pumping out some great stuff for the past few years – I’ve no doubt that this fork will perform adequately. Now….living up to the hype or it’s name? Who knows.

Looks like fork isn’t just for pure light weight XC since the pics appear to be on a Camber so should be 110mm travel for that frame.

@ andy @ felix

1000Km on a lefty, wow!!! that’s a huge amount of km’s!!!!! congrats!! My current SID has 10.000Km’s My SID from 1999 went ten years and 50.000Km’s with no mainteinance… no lefty can say that.

Nowadays flats do not exist with latex. But to put the bike in a car, to remove front wheel in a lefty you have to remove the front brake caliper, and then install it again and center it again. So easy and fast… that fork eats the needle bearings and it steers better to the right than to the left when it’s needing service. But still, it’s a great living room fork, for people who calim it’s going well after 1000Km’s

LOL!!

I still think this RS-1 may work. I won’t be buying it before 2020. You can be the guinea pigs.

there is no real need to unscrew the Frontwheel every time
there a quite some options for Quick-Releasing Fronthubs from
leonardi-racing
http://fcdn.mtbr.com/attachments/cannondale/553273d1277928392-lefty-hub-quick-release-imgp1811q.jpg
alchemist
http://brimages.bikeboardmedia.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/alchemist-lefty-mountain-bike-front-hub.jpg
…