Rockshox hunkered down for six years in their Colorado R&D facility to recreate their Vivid rear shocks. They redesigned their air and spring shock versions to be the most supple and capable rear shocks available today. Maximizing traction and control was their goal and we will find out soon if they have achieved it.
But alas, there is a catch. You need to have a professional downhill racing license to buy it. We checked the date and it is not April 1 so we’ll just have to take their word for it.
Key Details:
- Counter Measure negative spring
- Rapid Recovery damping
- Ergonomic adjustment dials
- Better oil flow paths
- Adjustments: separate beginning and ending stroke rebound, compression
- Weight: Vivid Air – 402 grams, Vivid Coil – 520 grams
- MSRP: Vivid Air – $674, Vivid Coil – $430
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So I take it they’ll sell like 10 shocks?
Brilliant marketing. Make a new product, then top if off with an arrogant release telling 97% of your customers that they suck at riding… Then chose to not sell it.
Even if it’s all a joke to make people want to buy it. It’s stupid.
Uh yeah super lame! I just bought last years, and would be happy upgrading to the new dials if possible and so would the rest of the owners I bet. How many pro’s actually pay an amount for their parts that would net a profit on parts let alone pay for the NRE (non-recurring engineering) costs. I’m guessing it’s initial hype, Media attention is great whether positive or negative. I’ll still try to get piece parts when they are available to upgrade ahahaha.
Hmmm, horrible idea of a Pro only shock. I hope they make up the six years of R&D costs else where.
Awesome! I will continue to buy Fox or Cane Creek. Thanks Rock Shox for telling me I’m not worthy of your ‘pro’ level equipment. It’s like saying, even if I have the money, I can’t buy a Ferrari because I’m not an Indy race car driver. Dumb.
Lame. RS can keep there “pro” gear and Ill keep my money.
Does anyone really think these won’t be available to the masses through some channel that will make you feel ‘special’ that you were able to score one?
Apparently they are not able to mass produce a shock that can be used by a person without a spare and a mechanic to install it.
And lame marketing buzzwords (OMG, a coil negative spring..) do not cover up the fact they are not as good as CCDB(A), or BOS, or XFusion Vector (Air) HLR, and I suspect DVO will be decent as well.
Fox DH capable air shocks are not tremendous though.
Six years to add more adjustments and valve it correctly, wow! RS is at the top of yesterday’s game.
While it is true, that the majority of riders cannot take advantage of the high end components, the level of pretentiousness displayed by the company in this video almost cancels out the level of pretentiousness that the people who insist on buying all the high end cycling components and gear that the pro riders have.
I am honestly at a loss who to hate more in this situation.