We obtained a very good detailed have a look at the SR Suntour TACT computerized suspension on Tom Pidcocks’s World Cup-winning Pinarello mountain bike just some weeks in the past. However now SR Suntour has made this automate electronically-controlled XC MTB suspension official, and shared a very good bit extra element with us. We had been already impressed with its race-winning efficiency. However now, having a greater have a look at how shocking simplicity makes all of it work, I’m extra intrigued than ever.
Plus, now we all know how a lot it’ll value and when it’s coming to a motorcycle close to you…
SR Suntour TACT computerized digital XC MTB suspension
Once I caught up with the brand new Pinarello Dogma XCs of Tom Pidcock and Pauline Ferrand-Prevot in Nové Město na Moravě, I used to be first stunned to see such tidy integration into their cross-country race bikes – only one small wire exiting the fork crown and only one wire coming off a barely bigger management field on the rear shock. However actually caught my eye was what was lacking – the system had no exterior buttons, no show, and no cumbersome exterior management items or battery. These two high riders clearly may belief that the automated suspension management would work so reliably, that they couldn’t even deactivate it throughout a race in the event that they felt they weren’t getting essentially the most out of the system.
Now, realizing that only one 3-axis accelerometer controls your complete system makes that much more spectacular.
What makes up an automatic TACT suspension setup?
The SR Suntour system is comprised of three easy components, every wired collectively for the quickest efficiency, quickest communication, and lengthy battery life:
- the Axon 34 Werx Enhance EQ 29er fork with a hole carbon crown, magnesium lowers, plus the only TACT accelerometer sensor, the brains of the automated suspension system, and a compression valve actuator in its proper leg on high of the PCS hydraulic damper – obtainable with 100-120mm of journey and with exterior low-speed rebound adjuster;
- the Edge TT rear 2-chamber air shock with a compact exterior built-in actuator field – with exterior low-speed rebound adjuster; and
- a USB-C rechargeable central battery that’s wired to each sock & fork – SR Suntour gives an exterior resolution that integrates beneath a particular water bottle cage, however Pidcock & Ferrand-Prevot race with an inside battery that may be charged through the exterior wiring factors.
How does it work?
The system merely works by utilizing the only 3-axis accelerometer within the fork crown to find out the angle of assault of the bike (is it going uphill, on the flat, or downhill), monitor impacts coming in from the entrance wheel, and differentiate power utilized from the rider on the bar into the fork. From that enter knowledge and a 1-8 TACT help stage preselected by the rider through a cellular app, the suspension mechanically opens and locks out to maximise effectivity – various each fork & shock low-speed compression relying on want, not simply absolutely open or absolutely locked but additionally a medium in-between pedal platform mode, too.
All of it occurs so quick – a claimed 4 milliseconds – that the suspension apparently stays lively on technical climbs to soak up each impression however is ready to stiffen itself up because the rider’s pedal stroke comes down once more, or the second they get out of the saddle to stomp up a climb.
You don’t have to consider the suspension in any respect. Simply pedal.
SR Suntour tells us that on the technical 3.8km lengthy XCO course in Nové Město, Pidcock’s TACT suspension mechanically modified place 150 occasions every lap.
TACT suspension nonetheless requires an everyday air strain setup to dial in rider weight (with the compression settings open), and you continue to get exterior rebound adjustment to tune in for the specified terrain. Then within the SR Suntour TACT companion app on a cell phone, the rider picks a stage from 1-8: 1 & 2 providing max consolation, center settings balancing consolation with effectivity, and seven & 8 prioritizing XC-race-ready pedaling effectivity above all else. However as soon as it’s set through built-in Bluetooth connectivity, the TACT system doesn’t require a cell phone or app to perform. It’s all the time on – activated by motion, and returning to sleep mode when the bike doesn’t transfer – and can keep within the preset mode till you alter it.
The rumor is that the professional racers have a tendency to remain close to the upper numbers, however typically choose a decrease TACT Mode stage for extra technical racecourses – suppose: perhaps 8 for XCC & 6 for XCO.
Tech Particulars & Who’s it for?
TACT is a fully-automated digital 3-position low-speed compression suspension management system – open, medium, agency – that operates each entrance & rear suspension from a single sensor and single processing unit – an instance of SR Suntour’s refined simplicity tenet… “excessive efficiency made easy“. TACT is a standalone system that doesn’t want some other system to regulate it, however it may be customized configured through an iOS/Android cellular app. It’s supplied on the 100/110/120mm Axon 34 Werx Enhance EQ 29er fork and the Edge TT rear shock (obtainable in 165×40/45mm, 190×40/45mm & 185×50/55mm). Whole extra weight in comparison with a non-electric cable-activated distant suspension lockout system entrance & rear is an additional 198g.
Clearly, XC racing is the obvious utility because it has been raced to 4 XCO World Cups and an Olympic XCO Gold medal all by Tom Pidcock within the final two years. However SR Suntour describes the automated TACT suspension system as delivering “extra traction, extra management and improved concentrate on driving“, making it a expertise appropriate for “each kind of motorcycle person“.
The trick is, the tech is simply obtainable now in tremendous top-level XC racing suspension elements, is simply at present tuned for 3 top-tier XC race bikes, and the management algorithms that make it work are tuned completely for short-to-mid-travel cross-country bikes.
SR Suntour TACT suspension – Pricing, choices & availability
And since this isn’t precisely one thing you possibly can simply go all the way down to your neighborhood bike store and bolt on as an improve, it’s nonetheless going to be restricted in utility. However SR Suntour has given us a retail value for the automated TACT suspension system – 4990€ will get you the Axon34 Werx TACT fork, the Edge TT TACT shock, and the bottle cage with the built-in exterior battery & wiring.
Formally, it will likely be obtainable beginning late this summer time by way of “TACT Pioneer Program Member” bike firms. We’re advised to count on that to imply ultra-limited version OEM builds by way of bike makers who’ve already partnered with SR Suntour for racing growth, and sure some much more restricted retrofit availability. It ought to already at the least be capable of be put in on the brand new Pinarello Dogma XC, present Scott Spark, and doubtless the earlier technology BMC FourStroke Pidcock raced final 12 months.
However let’s additionally put it this manner… although there may be now a TACT cage & battery to suit most bikes, TACT isn’t formally within the 2024 SR Suntour product catalog simply but.
