2023 Pinkbike Awards: Suspension Product of the Year Winner
2023 brought exciting products and patents to the suspension world, particularly in terms of various ways to double up on air springs, both on paper and in production shocks too.
A serious amount of time was focused on reviewing suspension components this season. We debuted Shock Week, Seb tried decreasing the progression on air sprung forks, Dan Roberts took a whirl on Ohlins' new cross-country suspension, and Henry dove into the world of telemetry.
In the end, we narrowed down the candidates to Cane Creek Tigon, an air-charged coil shock, RockShox’s Boxxer fork and Vivid rear shock, their downhill centerpieces, and Ohlins TTX2 Air shock which put a spin on the usual damping adjustments.
SUSPENSION PRODUCT OF THE YEAR
RockShox Boxxer Ultimate
The cherry on top.
RockShox Boxxer Ultimate
The cherry on top.
Finally, after nearly two years of seeing Rockshox’s Blackbox dual-crown fork under their elite athletes, the Boxxer Ultimate was released in July, delivering on all accounts and taking home the 2023 Pinkbike Suspension Product of the Year.
What won us over with the redesigned Boxxer were the major improvements over the previous generation, namely, the plush and consistent nature of the air spring. That’s not to say that the prior version was a miss - there were plenty of RockShox fans, including World Cup winners, that loved it - but until now, the Fox 40 and Ohlins DH38 overshadowed it. Adding to its five-star ride impressions were the ease of setup and performance through long service intervals.
Bolting on and dialing in a Boxxer Ultimate takes little time. The Charger 3 uses more meaningful clicks than the prior damper and the air spring is said to work best without needing to add tokens - a shorter setup means more time riding.
Since our First Ride back in July at Crankworx, the Boxxer Ultimate has been hammered at race events and seen plenty of park laps. Over that period of time, it’s never let out a peep or a weep. The damper is nearly silent, if that’s of concern for you, and the seals have remained silky smooth.
Overall, Rockshox's premier downhill fork is an extremely polished product that is more than capable for the in-tune racer or the set-and-forget weekend warrior. In essence, it rides like a bigger, badder fork, yet somehow comfort and control hides behind the chiseled looks. The improvements are night and day from the previous generation, which warrants the Boxxer Ultimate taking home the 2023 Pinkbike Suspension Product of the Year.
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"Since our First Ride back in July at Crankworx, the Boxxer Ultimate has been hammered at race events and seen plenty of park laps. Over that period of time, it’s never let out a peep or a weep."
I don't know man, it sounds like a few people have tried it out?
In addition, Matt Beer has put a bunch of additional time on the fork since the initial First Ride article was published.
I run mostly Fox stuff but ran Charger 3 Lyrik on one bike this year and found good compliance and decent rebound at -10 setting. I am heavy though, 200lbs. My guess is the stock rebound shim/and needle settings will work for most people, but you might need a custom shim stack. I love the Fox stuff but Grip 2 settings are too hard to understand, setup, and change for most of the riding population.
That is called circular reasoning. Pretty hilarious that 28 others upvoted you for a fallacy.
We see you. D.O.S.
My fork has got a crown, and a lowers arch.
DH forks have double crowns, and a lowers arch. Except the Dorado, just 2 crowns.
My 2 cents.
just sayin.
I tried to gang up and downvote myself too ,
But PB says props already given. Who knew.
I think I'll ignore the clamp nomenclature, keep calling my single crown fork a single crown.like always, and call DH forks dual crown, as most frame manufacturers do when when indicating whether or not they void the warranty.
Single crown, or dual crown. Looks like I need things to be dumbed down for them to make sense to me.
Not that many to choose from and it's hardly an outrage that the Boxxer was picked (the price is outrageous though).
Every other fork is trying to catch up with the zeb. (I have fox 38 and they are garbage compared)
Binga Bing A Bang A Bong Bong Bing Bong Bing Banga Bong is far superior too, but if you can't easily purchase it, who gives a f*ck?
Nice one jokers.
There are media outlets out there that charge money for inclusion in awards or ‘best of’ articles, but that’s not the case here - I wouldn’t work for Pinkbike if that was happening.
The award nominees and winners are chosen solely by us, the editors who’ve tested the products over the course of the last 12 months.