SR Suntour Launches Tom Pidcock's Olympic Winning Electronic Suspension for €4999 - Eurobike 2023
The SR Suntour stand handily had some very reflective glass.
After years of testing, multiple World Cup wins and even an Olympic gold medal the electronic suspension from SR Suntour is finally available to purchase.
The new suspension is currently going to be sold as a package for its launch with riders able to spend the not insignificant amount of €4999 to acquire the same fork and shock being used this year by Tom Pidcock and Pauline Ferrand-Prevot on the Inoes Grenadiers team. The only difference we were told with the retail version is the battery is stored externally as part of the bottle cage rather than the fancy internal solution given to the Ineos race team.
The system onboard Pauline Ferrand Prevot's race bike.
While mainly aimed towards XC racers who will see the most significant benefit of rapid changes in suspension compression and simplified race tactics allowing them to focus on putting down the watts and not what their suspension is doing, we were told it is still pretty fun for the more casual rider.
When it comes to the tech the new TACT suspension from Suntour uses a similar concept to past examples of electronically controlled suspension where sensors analyse data collected from the trail and then open or close the compression to hopefully react in the best way to the current riding challenge. SR Suntour's approach was to contain pretty much the whole system inside the fork with only a battery pack and wires needed to connect the fork and the shock. Interestingly, when it comes to sensors we were told most of the work happens in the fork - it sends a signal back to the shock telling it what to do.
The only external parts of the new system are the wires and the battery.
SR Suntour's take on the electronically controlled suspension is not just either open or closed; they have developed a system where the compression damping can be adjusted by the system across three positions. For launch, these are either closed, open or a medium damping setting. One advantage we were told about the internal system they have created is the performance is not affected by the weight of the riders and none of the pretty rapid reaction times are changed for heavier riders.
The rear shock paired with the new electronic controller is also the only twin-tube design available from SR Suntour at the moment.
While riding they estimate a change in compression setting can happen within four to five milliseconds. Impressively, the decision after assessing the sensor data can be made in just one millisecond meaning the fork and shock can change settings within five to six milliseconds. At this year's Nove Mesto World Cup SR Suntour found that on his way to the win Tom Pidcock's suspension was adjusting itself between 150 and 200 times a lap, a feat that wouldn't be possible if it was being done mechanically. While the actual raw advantage of this isn't exactly testable it is interesting to see Nino Schurter experimenting with his own electronic suspension and even taking the win with it in Lenzerheide.
Alongside the suspension, SR Suntour has created an app where you can connect with the suspension and adjust the setting across eight levels from a more comfort-based setup to one that feels more sporty.
We were told that SR Suntour is taking orders from today as the first day of Eurobike marks its official launch. We don't currently know what the exact availability will be or worldwide pricing, but at the show, the fork, shock and everything else you will need is set to retail at €4999.
Author Info:
Must Read This Week
With that said, from a marketing perspective, jack up price sky high, cue the outrage and chatter, as PT Barnum said "All publicity is good publicity"...that's my take.
nice
Right!
Ok, is there not a laser sensing the contour of the ground off the fork? In what would be a modern take on “active suspension”.
If not, then WTF justifies the $5.5k+ price tag?
I do not agree with the concept of all publicity being good publicity, unless you think it's working out well for Andrew Tate.
This is the neatest of the three. One external battery and two wires. Also has 3 positions for compression, and 200 adjustments for every 16 minutes?
Sure the price is high, but the refinement is there.
Well I’m the guy that says there’s no such thing as spending too much money on a two wheeled machine. As long as you ride it.
But that price is ludicrous..
But, if it’s the difference between winning and losing a bike race..
..right
Maybe we should revisit this topic at the end of the race season.
I’m trying to reply to the below threshold comment, but the forum doesn’t let me open it!
Either way, I got your back bro..
AK77 and you. I love you guys, I’ll up vote anything you say, just don’t leave..
Dude, This technology transcends friction. You could replace your bushings with sandpaper and still walk all over the competition.
It's like Pinkbike is setting the ball on the tee for overweight dentist jokes.
Didn’t know this was going on outside the automotive/motorbike world.
Kinda cool..
This is what jacked up the price of motocross bikes in the 80’s. I think it was called “The Production Rule”. No more one off factory works bikes. They had to run production frames and suspension, possibly engines too.
The parts looked the same, from the outside!
Everything has to be viewed and approved, then made available to the public within 12 months. You can get extensions but that's the base timing.
They have approval processes for everything from wheels to helmets.
That sounds more like formula one than the example I just gave..
How times have changed! Probably for the better. Safety was in the dark ages when I was a kid.
Including F1!
I'd just expect the serious mountainbikers to look past these marketing tricks. Winning Rampage, winning the WC DH series, that's impressive stuff. What makes these people here agonize over what goes on cheap bikes and ignore the champions? Only to go ape-shit when they see the price tag of the latest stuff someone won the Olympics on?
As for the arguing, you consciously chose to exclude WC DH racing I see. Either way, I can't tell about the other ones really. The amount of travel you're left with for XC and 4X should be decent quality to make it through the roots and rockgardens I'd say. Slopestyle and pumptrack may be a different story but I didn't mention those. As for Rampage, as long as you stick everything perfectly on your prepped line, maybe you don't need the best traction and sensitivity. But if you wander off a little, it might still save your ass. I have to admit I have never ridden Rampage (only because I haven't been invited yet, of course) so we need the riders word on that.
They probably do very well for themselves because of it.
It's basically one off high end, high performance kit. It's so f*cking tiresome listening to people complain about the price of stuff like this.
(Disclosure: my roadie is 10 years old, my MTB is 5.)
To put it into perspective buy a high-end fork buy a high-end shock custom tune. Add all electronics and computersThat price does not seem too far off
Outside: Please buy a polarising filter for Ed.
Stop being hopelessly pessimistic. Any time something normal comes out, this crowd complains about how normal it is. Any time a new company tries a new thing, we shit on them for being "pleb level" or some idiotic shit.