It’s been a long time coming, but RockShox’s electronically controlled suspension is finally available to cross-country whippets. Indeed, the news won’t come as a surprise to anyone familiar with the SRAM-owned company’s longer-travel product offerings or those who followed the 2023 World Cup season, during which Nino Schurter won his record 34th World Cup on the stuff. Still, the flashy suspension is now available to buy, and yes, I’ve ridden it.
With this release, you can expect a tsunami of new cross-country bike releases or at least an expansion of premium model options. I’ve been testing the new electronic system on the new Yeti ASR, and you can bet we’ll see many others.
Good stuff: It turns any mediocre-pedalling bike into a weapon without needing another remote to push, an impressively hands-free and care-free riding experience, manual mode is superior to a cabled lockout, SRAM’s app and connectivity are an industry benchmark.
Bad stuff: Batteries to charge, an added cost, zzztt-zzztt all the time, a minor weight penalty, the auto setting is not always perfect, and there is little for mechanics to do other than replace in the event of a problem.
Price: From US$1,349 / Є1,499 / £1,339 within a fork, and US$849 / £949 / £849 in a rear shock. Extras may be required, or an existing 2024 fork could be upgraded.
Flight Attendant, an intro
The dynamic nature of mountain bikes means engineers have always fought between keeping suspension active for bump absorption and traction, while trying to make it less active not to waste energy in pedalling. There are many paths to the age-old problem, and over the past 25 years, electronically controlled suspension has been one such solution. First, It was K2 with its automatic Smart Shock (1997!); later we saw Cannondale use electronics to make manually locking out the suspension easier and quicker; in more recent years, we’ve seen electronically wired automatic suspension from both Fox (LiveValve) and RockShox (E.I, in conjunction with Lapierre).
Flight Attendant is RockShox’s present-day answer to the electronically controlled suspension on full-suspension bikes (fork and rear shock). First released in 2021 for longer-travel trail and enduro bikes, it’s part of SRAM’s broader AXS wireless product group and is powered by the same batteries that make SRAM’s electric derailleurs and dropper posts go zzppp-zzppp.
Flight Attendant is designed to automate the control of the suspension low-speed damping. Instead of making the rider manually pull a cable or twist a dial to change the suspension between its open, pedal (aka, a bit firmer), and/or lock settings, Flight Attendant electronically controls the three stages of firmness based on what the terrain and rider are doing. Optionally, the user can also take over said control, giving a manual but wirelessly controlled suspension lockout at the push of a button.
In its original form, it’s assumed (but not confirmed by the company) that Flight Attendant used impacts, incline, and cadence (from a pedal sensor or power meter) to decide which damper setting was best. Now, with this new release, and only when combined with an SRAM/Quarq powermeter, Flight Attendant has increased the system capability with what SRAM is calling "Adaptive Ride Dynamics."
Instead of simply using cadence to know when you’re pedalling, Flight Attendant can now be set to continually analyse your power output, set power zones (and adapt them over time), and use that as further data for deciding which compression setting is right for the moment. There’s no AI here, but rather an algorithm bases the suspension setting with power zones as a further input metric. Low power efforts are treated to more open suspension, while efforts well beyond your average typically cause the suspension to firm up or lockout.
SRAM is tight-lipped over what exactly is informing Flight Attendant in doing what it does. “The competitive landscape around Flight Attendant is challenging, and the developments are fast-paced. Because of this we are not providing specific information around what data we are using,” answered Chris Mandell from SRAM’s mountain bike division.
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