The Future? RockShox Leaks Electronic Intelligence Suspension 9

Just when you thought bikes had reached an unmatched level of performance, RockShox steps up the game yet again. This morning they facebooked this teaser photo of a new system that could change things quite a bit. The system is known as E.I. (short for Electronic Intelligence), and is proactive - meaning that with the aid of a few sensors it can adapt the damping of the rear shock to the terrain almost instantaneously.

A combination of sensors in the bottom bracket, stem cap, and fork work together to tell the system whether you're pedaling, how big/fast of an impact the bike's rear end is about to take, and how many impacts are coming up. It then adjusts accordingly - while pedaling it's locked, while coasting it's open, while cruising over small and medium bumps it engages a pedaling platform, and while smashing into large/quick hits it's wide open. Want to be in control? It's also possible to manually choose which mode you're in using the stem-mounted computer.

Battery life is ~25 hours, and the system is 350 grams heavier than a normal Monarch damper without lockout lever.

This technology was developed in conjunction with the Accell Group (Ghost, Haibike and Lapierre) over the past five years, so don't expect to see it mounted to bikes outside of those brands in the immediate future.

The question is, would you run it?