A couple weeks ago I regaled or bored you (take your pick) with news from the SRAM 2006 press launch down in San Luis Obispo. If you missed that story check out >> the SRAM 2006 Story

This week I’m diving into some of the RockShox technology that’ll be available in 2006. This isn’t going to be a comprehensive round up of the RockShox line as the company has decided to parcel out information step by careful step. The San Luis Camp was focused on Cross-Country and All Mountain product. News about their 2006 Freeride and Downhill suspension line will be leaked in the near future.

So, this is how it worked. About a dozen or so of journalists wound up occupying hot pink hotel rooms at the Madonna Inn in San Luis Obispo. The SRAM/RockShox crew set each writer up with a test bike decked out in the latest SRAM/Avid/TruVativ and RockShox gear (remember, all four brands co-exist under the SRAM banner). The plan was to ride two days. Day One would be all about the entry-level performance forks (the new Tora and Recon models). Day Two would be our chance to trail test the higher- end Revelation forks.

Tora? Recon? Revelation? I’ve already lost you with all these new model names, right? Okay, here’s how the 2006 XC/All Mountain line up breaks down:

TORA: XC & All-Mountain The Tora replaces RocShox’s Pilot-level forks. It’s intended for both cross-country and All-Mountain use. You’re basically looking at a 4.38 to 4.89-pound fork with three to five inches of adjustable travel. The weight range is due to the fact that there are four individual Tora models (two with air springs and two with coil springs).

Tora’s are meant to be stouter than your average racing fork. To that end, they are equipped with 32-millimeter stanchions made from taper-wall (for a bit of weight savings) 4130 steel, a burly forged 6061 hollow aluminum crown (see the image below), and stout magnesium lowers.

The Tora's burly forged crown adds stiffness to the fork.

All of the Tora models have external rebound damping adjusters and two of the Tora models (the Tora 318 Solo Air and the Tora 318 U-Turn) feature RockShox MotionControl platform suspension damping. The MotionControl damping on `06 Toras is similar to what you’ve seen on the `05 Reba and Pike lines, with one exception: the floodgate setting (the firmness of your suspension platform) is non-adjustable. RockShox sets the floodgate for Tora 318s at the factory.

To adjust the travel on the air-sprung Toras, you need to open the forks and fiddle with the All Travel spacers. You adjust the travel on the coil-sprung Toras with the external U-Turn knob.

The Recon features 3 to 5-inches of adjustable travel and weighs under 4.5 pounds.

RECON: XC & All-Mountain Recon is basically the next level up from Tora, though they are intended for the same style of riding. The Recons feature a similar crown and lowers as the Tora forks, and all boast three to five inches of adjustable travel. The main difference between the Recon and Tora lines is that Recons are, on average, lighter than the Tora models. You’re looking at a weight range of 3.92 to 4.53 pounds across four individual Recon models (two with coil springs, two with air springs). One of the reasons the Recon forks are lighter than the Toras is that they use 7000 series aluminum stanchions (as opposed to the steel versions on the Toras).

As noted earlier, there will be four individual Recon models: two Recon 351s (which will feature MotionControl damping) and two Recon 327s (no MotionControl damping).

REVELATION: Endura & All-Mountain This year a lot of people were clamoring for a longer travel Reba. Well, the Revelation fits the bill, in terms of philosophy. The line consists of four, sub 4-pound forks with five inches of air-sprung travel and MotionControl compression damping. The Revelation’s lowers, bushings and crown are more rugged, however, than the Reba’s kit. Revelation forks feature a forged 6061 aluminum crown with an integrated remote cable stop, magnesium lowers and burly 7000 series aluminum stanchions.

The Revelation weighs less than 4 pounds & boasts up to 5 inches of travel.

There are four individual Revelation models (two 426 models and two 409 models). All Revelation forks are air-sprung and all feature some kind of travel adjustment feature (either All Travel spacers or Air U-Turn). The lighter All-Travel spacer forks adjust from 115 to 130-millimeters of travel. The slightly heavier U-Turn adjuster forks can be set at anywhere between 100 to 130-millimters (roughly four to five inches of travel). The floodgate setting on all Revelation forks (again, this is shorthand for “how firm you want to set up the platform damping”) is adjustable.

Revelation forks weigh between 3.74 and 3.99 pounds.

PIKE: Enduro & All-Mountain Extreme Pike will still be in the RockShox line up in 2006. Main differences between `05 and `06 models? The `06 version feature aluminum control knobs, an Air U-Turn option and a longer travel Dual Air option. In a nutshell, you’re looking at a fork with 140 millimeters of travel (roughly five and a half inches), MotionControl platform damping and RockShox’s own 20-millimeter, Maxle quick release, thru-axle system. Weight range for the `06 Pikes is 4.08 pounds to 4.91 pounds.

The MC3.3 features fully-open, locked-out and platform modes.

MC 3.3: Not Just a Rapper—It’s Also a New Rear Shock! One of the coolest things we rode were the new MotionControl rear shocks. Trek Bicycles had an exclusive on these rear shocks this year, but in 2006, RockShox is going to make them available for a much wider range of bikes (it’ll take a while to make a shock for every suspension bike, as this requires that RockShox develop a plethora of custom internal settings).

The MC 3.3 shock is meant to fit in the XC/All-Mountain niche. The MC 3.3 features 3 main settings: (1) a fully open (no compression damping) model; (2) a MotionControl platform setting; and (3) a locked-out setting (which does have a blow off, in case you forget to “unlock” your shock on a downhill).

The blue lever allows you to choose between the three main compression settings. The red dial is your rebound adjuster. The gold dial is your floodgate adjuster. You’ve basically got twenty clicks of adjustment here. You can make the platform really stiff or almost non-existent. It’s a very wide range of adjustment.

Losing count of the number of jumps and bermed corners at Montana de Oro State Park.

On the Trail The RockShox crew gathered together a gang of bikes, pimped them out with the latest forks and gave us a chance to ride them. Day One was all about the Tora and Recon forks. Day Two was supposed to be our chance to ride the Revelation forks. Unfortunately, we got rained out and none of us felt like riding on Day Two—which was a real bummer for the mechanics that cleaned up all the bikes from Day One and swapped out something like 20 forks…all for nothing. The tech guys were a bit glum about all this, but only two or three journalists wanted to ride in the downpour and brave a case of the dreaded monkey butt. Thus, we spent Day Two indoors learning more about the forks, shifters and so on. But I digress...Back to the riding we did on Day One.

We drove over to Montana de Oro state park, broke up into little ride groups and rode a couple loops. I piloted a Yeti 575 kitted out with a Tora 318 fork and an MC3.3 rear shock. I kept the rear shock in the platform setting for all of the climbing and was impressed. Again, you can dial the floodgate so that the platform is super firm or you can set it up quite soft. I went for the middle-ground and was pleased to find the rear end surprisingly efficient, but still digging in nicely on small trail obstructions.

I can’t honestly pin point to what degree the MotionControl rear shock contributed to the Yeti’s impressive climbing, as this was my first time aboard that Yeti model. I can say, however, that the rear shock was ultra smooth and consistent (no harsh ramping) on the downhill. The shock is also absolutely monkey-simple to set up and that’s not something you can say about a lot of the platform rear shocks currently on the market.

I was likewise impressed by the Tora. For a low-end fork, the performance was incredible. Steering was precise—the fork tracked like a pro through fair-sized rock garden and through (what seemed like, at least) a hundred bermed corners. I also found myself using the MotionControl setting much more frequently than I imagined I would.

RockShox's PopLoc handlebar-mounted control.

There’s something about having a handlebar-mounted switch that makes platform adjusters and lock-outs that much more usable. For some reason, I’ll rarely reach down to flip any kind of adjustment lever that’s mounted on a fork crown, but put that sucker within an inch of my index finger and I go to town with it. In short, I found myself using the Pop-Loc adjuster frequently.

It was also nice to hit the Pop-Loc before downhills and have the fork switch back to a super plush, fully-open mode. There are people out there who poo-poo platform suspension on the grounds that some platform forks are too harsh and ineffective on small bumps. There’s not much to gripe about here, though, as you have the option to run the fork in either the platform or the fully-open mode, depending on what the trail is throwing at you during any given moment.

That about sums up the San Luis experience. Stay tuned for more news of RockShox's upcoming suspension line. The company is leaking more info about their 2006 product line later this week at Sea Otter.