Twentynineinches and twentynineinches-DE have been in Sedona, Arizona at the Magura Press Camp sampling the 2014 versions of their forks and brakes. We will have all that and more a little later on, including time on the new 140mm/150mm 29er fork, but we wanted to show this bit of technology first.
Magura eLECT, it is called. It brings modern, wireless electronic technology to the way you control your forks damping. Available on XC/Race forks, like a 100mm 29er version, the eLECT replaces the compression damping cartridge, knob, remote cable lockout, etc, and does the thinking for you. It works with or without the wireless handlebar remote ‘button’. You calibrate the cartridge by holding your bike upright and level and pressing and holding the button on the fork mounted cartridge. It calibrates, flashes to let you know it is ready, and then you go ride. When it senses a change in pitch or angle of the fork, it unlocks. For instance…when you tilt your iPhone or smartphone and the screen ‘flips’ around to a wide view…there ya go. Accelerometers. It is not bump force activated, rather position sensing. IE…pop a wheelie and the fork locks up. Point your bike down something and it opens. It will at some point, in a possible future addition, allow you to download data as to how the damper has been working…how many times it opened, under what conditions, etc.
This is not a long travel fork application, rather a race/XC shorter travel fork, but it is very interesting and I can see an application for race bikes where you just want to be on the gas and let the eLECT do the thinking for you. It is also backwards compatible to the older Durin line of XC forks.
It also saves 20-25g off the typical DLO2 damper cartridge. It has a sleep mode so if it sees no movement for five minutes, it stops battery drain. A 3 hour charge time with a micro USB port gives you a 40-60 hour run time depending on whether you are in auto mode or manual. If the battery goes below the limit of what it needs to operate, it defaults to ‘open’ mode.
The handlebar mounted remote overrides the auto feature of the eLECT and makes it into a manual on/off deal, and you choose the state by pushing the button on the tidy little control module…my words for it, not theirs. It communicates to the eLECT cartridge by ANT+ (just like your Garmin or HR monitor) technology. So if you want to do the work instead of the auto feature, you can be in control. The entire assembly is waterproof.
Did you ever think you would be plugging your fork into the wall charger? As well, it is an interesting compromise as there are times you may want to have an active fork even when climbing. Still, it is pretty cool technology and along with the other improvements in the fork line from Magura, it looks like 2014 will see them making deeper inroads into both the trail and race bike suspension market in the US.
See Bob go blasting down a hill into a gully. See Bob’s fork lock out as he starts up the far side. See Bob slam into a rock just as his fork helpfully locks itself out. See Bob stack.
Conceptually elegant but not that tempting. Any time I’m not locked out long enough to make it worth my time to flip a lever on my handlebar, I gotta wonder if I’m locked out long enough to make it worth being locked out!
Sounds perfect for a single speed bike though. I forget whether I am locked or not anyway so why not let it choose for me.
Wonder how well it will hold up to mud and stream crossings? Neat idea…
I wonder if they could use the same technology for shifters. You set your desired cadence and the bike picks the gear for you…
Anything similar for the rear shock?
@Tim…yes, there is the point where you could want the fork to be working even when climbing. Or Bob could just learn to ride his bike better knowing what it will do under certain conditions. Silly Bob.
Only actual use in the hands of the consumer will decide winner or loser here and this Elect tech will be for a certain mindset or type or rider.
@Yogi…I was told waterproof so that should not be an issue.
gg
Eh. I don’t see how this is an improvement (or even equal) to the a Brain or Terralogic fork.
I’d love to try it.
Agree w/ dgaddis: seems like Terralogic / Brain technology has already solved this, and without fussing with charging / Bluetooth / firmware updates.
Neat solution but why add electronics when you don’t have to?
This might morph into something of a technical tool for medical research and impact research for manufacturers. At least, I see a use case in those fields. These in turn can yield some stuff for consumers. I won’t be surprised if the tech and the concept behind eLECT is derived from an existing application and Magura is trying to adapt it to suspension forks. Versus the Brain and the TerraLogic, eLECT might provide better responsiveness. But I won’t buy its 1st or 2nd Generation iterations. It’s too early even then.