TPE17: X-Fusion teases inverted long-travel gravel suspension fork, plus $200 dropper seatpost & more

Yes, this is the world’s first full suspension gravel road bike, created by A Pro as a showcase for their frame manufacturing expertise. Providing the bounce was an existing ultralight X-Fusion rear shock and an all-new, possibly 2018 inverted suspension fork called the Ranger.

The uppers are full carbon fiber, one piece with the steerer tube. It’s showing external compression and rebound controls and inside uses the same tech they developed for the Revel X inverted XC suspension fork. Weight and pricing are unknown, but we did get a few more details from them, along with pics and specs on a few more new products…

Ranger shown here has 32mm stanchions and 80mm travel, which we’d consider “long travel” for a gravel bike, and there are 50 and 60 options planned. It’s looking more and more like what you could do by simply putting drop bars on an old 29er to create a sweet monster cross bike.

The dropouts clamp on, same as with the Revel X, and they say that allows them to ensure each side is perfectly aligned, which keeps the legs moving in perfect, linear parallel for the smoothest action.

X-Fusion’s people say they’re planning to have OEM samples delivered to customers by Eurobike.

While the inverted fork was their show bait (which, oddly enough wasn’t even in their own booth), the real show stopper was their new Manic dropper seatpost. At just $199, it brings the cost of entry for adding an adjustable height seatpost way, way down. And should the insides fail, they offer a drop-in $25 replacement cartridge that replaces everything internal.

The cable pulls a linkage-driven system, a unique feature among mechanically actuated posts, which results in an incredibly light feel at the lever.

For now, it’s a 125mm travel post, but there’s a 150mm coming. Lest you think the price dictates quality, they say it’s tested to withstand five years of tow-hour rides five days per week. Think that should cover it?

It’s just about the quality of drop, either. They used an easily adjustable seat post clamp, with bolt angles fine tuned to avoid seat creaking at the saddle rails, which is something they had on the Hi-Lo post. And the remote lever can mount on top of bottom and you can adjust its angle thanks to a simple ball joint mount. Weight is 630g, available in 30.9 and 31.6 diameters.

Back to forks: You’ll find black anodized stanchions on their forks now, as well as the rear shocks. It’s purely cosmetic, but is sticking with modern tastes and just started shipping like that this year. For entry level, the RC32 (shown) is OEM focused, and gets 9mm QR dropouts. It’ll be available for the Asian aftermarket customer, everywhere else is OEM only.

XFusionShox.com

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