First ride: RockShox Flight Attendant Trail Suspension System – Pinkbike

Models

If it’s a RockShox product with Ultimate after the name, you can bet it’s now part of the updated Flight Attendant family. The range now covers everything from XC to Enduro, leaving out only the DH bike products, although a lot of World Cup coverage seems to indicate they are working on something in that area.

Pike Ultimate is the 35mm chassis fork, offered with travel from 120mm to 140mm. The Pike is aimed at lighter and sportier trail bikes and is very suitable for bikes such as the Santa Cruz Tallboy or Specialized Epic EVO.
1960g, $1,499

Super Deluxe Ultimate is the smaller volume and lighter of the two air shocks available, but don’t let that make you think it’s sequestered for short-travel bikes. Before Vivid came along, the Super Deluxe was specced for everything from trail bikes to DH road bikes, and with the new air can options that range is still just as wide.
560g, $949 USD

Lyric Ultimate also uses 35mm stanchions, but is intended to encapsulate the all-mountain realm of cycling. With 140mm to 160mm of travel, it pairs nicely with things like the Trek Fuel EX or Yeti SB140.
1624g, $1,449 USD

Vibrant ultimate is the more gravity-oriented air shock, with adjustable hydraulic bottom-out, a huge air volume and the new Touchdown damper that bypasses the compression damping in the first 10% of the stroke.
780 g, not available aftermarket.

Zeb Ultimate is the sturdy 38 mm chassis fork, suitable for bicycles with a suspension travel of 160-190 mm. Intended for bikes such as the Specialized Enduro or YT Capra.
2450g, $1,599

Vibrant coil ultimate is built around the all-new Vivid Coil chassis, using the same damping technologies found in the Vivid, but with a coil spring instead of air. All the typical benefits of a coil apply, and the tradeoffs can potentially be reduced using the suspension robot. Read on to get some thoughts on that front.
1130 g, not available aftermarket.

Updates

There’s a slew of software updates that have undergone the Flight Attendant (FA) overhaul, and just like using the system itself, you don’t really have to think about it. The FA algorithm takes into account more data points, has a longer memory and uses all this data to adjust performance to better suit your rider profile. The name given to the latter system is Adaptive Ride Dynamics, and it is mainly the brains behind the system. You choose your Bias adjustment (basically how firm/soft you want the system to be biased) and it collects data points that affect how it performs, giving better fidelity to the changes it makes.

Key to this data aggregation is that a power meter is linked into the system, which differs from the first version of FA that only implemented a pedal cadence sensor. The power data collected by the meter gives the algorithm a better idea of ​​where your given thresholds lie, so it can differentiate between low, medium, high and sprint outputs. You can also set those thresholds yourself in the app, but I chose to let the robot do the thinking for me.
That’s the last important detail here: other than pairing the system, you don’t really need to do anything else. You can edit the mode settings and fine-tune effort thresholds, or just ride and let the system do its work. I’ve barely opened the app since I put the fork and shock on my bike, and the settings have changed noticeably over time.

A note for people who already have the first generation Flight Attendant on their bike: updating your firmware will bring your system more in line with the most modern version, but not completely. To increase the reliability of data collection and get the best algorithmic knowledge out of the system, you want to have as many connected components as possible. The power meter and the transmission drivetrain will help a lot.

Some frequently asked questions

SRAM has put together a very comprehensive FAQ package for the Flight Attendant update, and I thought some of them were worth plugging right into here, as I’m sure the questions will come up.

If I compare the same bike with or without a flight attendant, how much weight does the system add?
Including the fork, rear shock, pedal sensor/power meter, both SRAM AXS batteries and the difference in weight between a 1- and 2-button left controller, the system adds approximately 220 grams for XC components and 308 grams for Trail/All Mtn/ Enduro components.

How do Flight Attendant’s Bias Adjust and Adaptive Ride Dynamics work together?
Think of Bias as the first step to personalization: you can set the Bias to trend toward Open, Lock, or a balance between the two positions. From there, Adaptive Ride Dynamics collects data about the rider’s effort and uses it to determine where the rider is during that ride. For example, if you are cycling in the Low Effort Zone, you will probably pedal gently and the system will go to the open position. If you are putting in more effort and you are in the high or sprint effort zone, you will probably prefer it to be firmer, and it will lean more towards the Lock position. It’s all based on the initial Bias setting, which will determine if the system will trend one way or another.

Ride impressions

With racing in mind, I’ve been nothing short of impressed with the XC Flight Attendant (FA) system I’ve been using on my Epic for the past few months. I still have some skepticism about whether the average non-racer will benefit enough from the system to justify the cost, but that is ultimately a consumer decision.

Perhaps a noncommittal answer, but when it comes to the guise of the flight attendant, my feelings are even murkier. The Zeb/Vivid Coil combo I have on my Frameworks feels like a lot of extra complication, cost, and weight for minimal gain at best. The bike already climbs well, especially from a geometry retention perspective, so the dynamic firmness doesn’t fill a gap in the original design. This is a bike I never lock down—partly because the shifter is tricky to reach—but I’m happy to feel the rear end solid during consistent fire road climbs and paved rides to the trailhead.

On technical climbs, things start to feel a little counterintuitive, as those situations are often made easier by a bike’s ability to maintain traction, adapt to bumpy terrain, and isolate the rider from erratic movements. That said, FA prefers to be stiff in those circumstances because you are pulling down the power and that is read as an effort where efficiency would be beneficial. There were a few moments where I wished the suspension would open up completely, but this was resolved in pedal mode or a split state. The shock absorber still gives a little in the pedal position, but the traction simply cannot be compared to Open.

My feelings are rosier about the system when applied to bikes with a more 50/50 split between climbing and descending. Especially Pike and Lyrik bikes, as they can really reap the rewards of efficiency while still powering downhill. If you’re someone who likes to turn yourself inside out on climbs, live in a place where those climbs reward efficiency over compliance, and still want the best possible descent performance on the descents, then FA Trail could be the ticket.

All these thoughts aside, the system ultimately still rests on the very capable Charger 3.1 damper, so at least you can rest assured that everything works very well when the system is open. Mechatronics aside, I’m just happy with how well the Zeb and Vivid Coil work on my bike, and I felt great riding it on tricky trails.

Speculative Ideals

Part of me still thinks that the potential of a system like Flight Attendant can’t be fully realized with bikes as rounded as they currently are. The benefits of an active system that favors pedaling efficiency could really be exploited on a bike with reduced efficiency, in the pursuit of better descent. I wonder what can be achieved if you play with FA and a bike with very low anti-squat, for example. This kind of concept is best tested in the real world, so if any companies would like to play with the idea, please contact me.

In a more tangible sense, I think Flight Attendant could be a great pairing with bikes like the Specialized Enduro, which still holds its own despite being a bit long in the tooth. Most of that bike is perfectly current, but the slacker seat tube angle and very active suspension may fall slightly short of current climbing expectations. An active lockout could easily alleviate this and keep the bike on the slopes without getting in the way on the descents.