2023 RockShox Super Deluxe Ultimate Coil and Air | Overview

    Both shocks are designed around the brand new RC2T Damper, which has really impressed us with its ease of set without compromising on adjustability. With this new design, they’ve added a high speed compression circuit to go along with the low speed compression circuit. These two adjustments function completely independently from each other, allowing for very tangible differences between each click.

        Right on top of the shock is a familiar sight, the low-speed rebound, which is executed very similar to the previous version and I was able to find a comfortable setting almost right away. The lockout lever is also quite a bit stiffer in this iteration, and is meant to remove any ambiguity between being locked out or fully open. There’s definitely no way this is going to open or close on its own, and it may not be as easy to give a quick flick open or closed while riding along as the previous version.

    The compression adjustments are approached a little differently to before, and rely heavily on the base tune set up by the manufacturer. Both the high and low-speed compression dials have 5 clicks of compression, with the idea being that you have two clicks to increase damping, and two clicks to decrease damping from that base tune. By etching some notches on the dials, they’ve given us context as to where we lie in the compression circuits without having to count our clicks.

    If you’re not the guy writing down your settings in a book every time you turn a dial, then this will make tuning your shock way less intimidating and allow you to get to that dialed setup with minimal hassle. And even if you are that guy with a suspension diary, then this still makes it way to track your settings. RockShox has also made the process of reshimming a bit easier with this damper, allowing shops like us that do in depth suspension work to have an easier time sourcing shim stacks and retuning shocks.

    The Super Deluxe Ultimate Air has a new DebonAir+ air can, which comes in two options: progressive or linear.

    Inside of these air cans, you have the option of running up to one negative air chamber token to tune your initial stroke, and up to 4 positive air chamber tokens to tune the end of your stroke. This opens up the tuning possibilities for those of you interested in diving head first into your shock and dialing in your set up.

    Another new feature on some of the Super Deluxe Ultimate shocks is a hydraulic bottom out bumper, which provides a set amount of bottom our resistance in the final 25% of stroke. Some of these OEM air shocks will also come with a hydraulic bottom out bumper, while some will not. This decision will be left up to the frame manufacturer and is largely based on the progressivity of the frame it is being installed on. For those highly progressive frames that won’t benefit as much from that bottom out bumper, they can get away with running a slightly less complicated shock, but more linear frames that manage to find the bottom more often will most likely be specced with this feature.

    Now for those of you interested in the feel of a coil version of the Super Deluxe Ultimate, RockShox has taken this shock back to the drawing board and come back with a redesigned chassis built around that RC2T damper, as well as another party trick, the adjustable hydraulic bottom-out bumper. We’ve got all the same high and low speed compression and low speed rebound adjustments as on the air shock, as well one extra knob to play with your bottom out control.

    This bottom out control tunes the final 20% of travel with 5 clicks of adjustment. This is the feature we’re most excited about, because it allows this shock to play nicely with a wider range of progressivity curves. For those ultra progressive bikes, then you won’t feel as much of a need to run as much bottom out resistance to avoid that dreaded harsh bottom out. But for those bikes with less progression in their suspension, then this will allow these bikes to enter the world of coil shocks.

    This shock will be offered in all metric sizes with an MSRP of $599 for the air version and $529 for the coil version. We are stoked on all of the improvements RockShox has made on their already amazing performing rear shocks, and can’t wait to log more miles on them and give you a more in depth review in the future!

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