The RockShox Vivid Air R2C shock is specifically built to handle the rigors of World Cup-level downhill courses.
When we first reviewed the RockShox Vivid coil shock, it received high marks for being user-friendly and reliable. New for 2011, the highly anticipated Vivid Air shock shares the same damper and is designed to handle World Cup-level downhill courses. The Vivid Air R2C sells for $620 (plus $11 for mounting hardware)
Tech features: Accepting the downhill air shock challenge head-on, RockShox offers two versions of the Vivid Air: the R2C with adjustable Dual Flow-beginning and ending-stroke rebound and low-speed compression, and the Vivid R2 with only the previously mentioned rebound adjustments.
The goal of the Vivid Air was to maintain the supple and consistent feel of a coil shock with the adjustability, tunability and weight savings of an air shock. Our Vivid R2C shock utilizes the same damper we tested on the coil version of the Vivid, but has an all-new, twin-tube Solo Air spring designed to offer supple performance while managing the heat generated in downhill suspension.
Unique to the Vivid Air is the Hot Rod, a beginning-stroke adjustment rod with a thermoplastic compensating needle in the middle of it. The Hot Rod (not engineered by actor Andy Samberg) expands when the shock heats up, which slightly closes off the beginning-stroke rebound circuit in an effort to maintain consistent rebound damping throughout a downhill run.
Our 8.75x2.75 Vivid Air R2C shock weighed in at 14.5 ounces. The Vivid Air is also available in lengths of 9.5x3.0, 9.0x2.75, 8.5x2.5, and 7.875x2.25 inches, and a few different reservoir configurations are offered to fit several frame designs.
After the thrashing: We ran the Vivid Air R2C on the same downhill bike we’ve tested a variety of other shocks on over the past year. To be honest, we were skeptical about how the Vivid Air would perform and figured we’d try it out for a while and eventually move on to another coil shock.
The air canister looks large and heavy, but the fact that you can basically see through a standard coil shock makes the coil shock appear slimmer than it really is. The diameter of the Vivid Air is the same as the largest Vivid coil spring (550 pound) offered by RockShox, and it will fit in any frame design that can accept a standard shock, with few exceptions.
The entire Vivid Air shock weighs just over 14 ounces, which is about half the weight of a Vivid Coil shock with a steel spring.
For a price comparison, the Vivid Air R2C will set you back $631, versus $384 for a Vivid Coil R2C and steel spring. The addition of a titanium spring to a coil shock would practically eliminate any price difference, but the Ti-sprung Vivid would still be about a quarter pound heavier.
The Vivid Air R2C utilizes self-regulating bypass “dimples,” allowing the shock to set a negative air spring pressure.
Performance: Okay, it’s lightweight, but how does it perform? We were concerned that our downhill bike would lose small bump sensitivity because of the seal “stiction” common to some air-sprung suspension, but RockShox developed self-regulating bypass channels inside the air can that allow the Vivid Air to automatically set its own negative air spring once cycled through the stroke. This resulted in the Vivid Air being supple at the beginning of the stroke (like the coil shock we took off) and ramping with a very linear progression toward the end of the stroke.
On occasion we did feel as though the shock’s rebound was faster at the end of a downhill run than when it began. To be fair, this is not uncommon on high-end coil downhill shocks, either. To address those instances, we simply slowed the beginning stroke rebound down by a couple of clicks, and that remedied the problem.
The beauty of the Vivid Air is how tunable it is. For the suspension leverage ratio on our test bike, we ran between 250 and 255 psi and could fine-tune it a few psi in higher or lower on back-to-back runs to find the sweet spot that best complemented the fork’s performance.
We rode and raced the Vivid Air on a wide range of terrain, like Whistler’s Bike Park, Northstar At Tahoe, and the Sol Vista Bike Park in Colorado. Whether on loose, rocky and steep terrain or on high-speed groomed courses, the Vivid Air maintained consistent performance.
We liked many of the Vivid Air’s characteristics because it performed like a coil shock, but we also liked characteristics that were unique to its design. For example, in high-speed berms and fast, off-camber corners, we felt more balanced and centered on the bike with a rear suspension that performed better the harder we hung it out.
At first, we were reluctant to run the Vivid Air R2C on our downhill bike. Now, we don’t see any reason to take it off.
For more information: RockShox, (312) 664-8800
Reprinted from the December 2010 issue of Mountain Bike Action Magazine
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