Around Sea Otter, virtually every brand has at least one new thing to show, and that turned out to be the case for these three suspension brands. Ohlins kept it short and sweet with only one new item and the promise of another. Above, their RXF36 Coil spring fork will be coming in 27.5” size soon, probably first of July.
What’s actually available now is a trunnion mount version of the TTX 22 M. This gives anyone with a modern frame built around the metric shock sizing standards an upgrade option. Perhaps bigger news on this unit is that they’ve developed new coil springs that decreased the weight by 25-30%. They get external hi- and low-speed compression adjustments and low-speed rebound adjustment.
X-FUSION MANIC GRAVEL DROPPER SEATPOST
Built for aggressive gravel riders that wanna go where no normal road bike should, the upcoming X-Fusion Manic 50mm dropper seatpost gets a unique drop bar remote that works whether your hands on on the tops or drops.
It’s a bit of a reach to get it from the tops as they had it positioned here, but you could likely bring it a bit higher on the bar without interfering with the brake or shifter levers. That said, it might be optimized for 1x drivetrains since the shift paddle might hit it as you pressed it inboard to shift.
It’ll have an oil-and-air system with IFP, all contained in a removable cartridge for easy service. Total length is 330mm, with a 110mm minimum insert depth and internal-only routing. The short travel gravel post will be 27.2mm only (shim it for bigger seattubes) and weighs 410g. Retail price is not set yet, coming later this year.
KS SUSPENSION HIDDEN DROPPER SEATPOST
We showed off the KS Suspension integrated dropper seatpost on this Bold Unplugged enduro bike, but thought it worth a closer look.
The design does require certain frame details to be made from the bike brand. The bottom of the post bolts into the frame, and then you cut the stanchion to length. Max drop in this iteration is 150mm, but here’s the upside: It’s based on a standard seatpost diameter. So, if you want a longer drop or just want to swap brands, you simply remove this and put any dropper post you want in there.
The benefit to an integrated system is cleaner overall appearances and no need to over tighten the seatpost collar, which can cause stiction.
It uses KS’ regular release mechanism and should work with any of their remotes. Word is they’re already in talks with several frame manufacturers, and obviously Bold is on board.
