If you come from a motocross background you’ll be familiar with the advantages of an inverted fork. It keeps the fork seals constantly lubricated which allows for better small bump dampening. But the traditional issue with inverted mountain bike forks has been reduced torsional stiffness – or the lower part of the fork twisting, not something you want while navigating a rock garden. The RS-1 overcomes the torsional stiffness issue with a massive 27mm through axle. That means it needs a special hub too…
The hub/axle/dropouts combine to produce something that RockShox call Predictive Steering; it’s designed to be stiff enough for trail riding but light enough for XCO racing – the complete package then. The fork’s steerer tube, crown and legs are integrated into a single carbon chassis, which reduces weight and improves stillness. The RS-1 weighs in at 1666g, offers 80/100/120mm of travel, is 29er specific for now (27.5 is in the pipeline) and because of the inverted design is only available with remote lockout. Expect to see the RockShox RS-1 in SA by mid-June this year.
