RATZENRIED, Germany (BRAIN)—At a press conference Tuesday during Demo Day, Fox unveiled a smartphone app to help riders set up their front and rear suspension. The free app is designed to work with all of Fox’s 2013 shocks. It will be available for the Android, iPhone and iPad as early as next week.
Mark Jordan, global communications manager for Fox’s bike division, said the goal was to ensure accurate sag and rebound for its 32 and 34 forks and Float rear shocks. He said many riders aren’t riding with the optimum setup and this app requires little suspension knowledge.
Users simply type in a four-digit code found on the front fork or rear shock to identify the product and its factory tuning information. Then they enter their weight and the app provides the recommended initial air pressure. A product overlay feature lets riders use the camera on their smartphones to check O-ring alignment to set up the correct sag. Based off of air pressure, the app will also calculate a rebound setting.
Once this process is complete for both front and rear shock, users can name and save the settings.
“The app itself is easy to load on a trail,” Jordan said, adding that riders can create profiles for multiple bikes and save multiple setups for each bike.
Down the road, Jordan said Fox hopes to add a social aspect to the app so users can look up what other people are using as their settings and adopt them as their own. They will also be able to see where other people are riding and what kind of bike they’re riding.
“The biggest thing for us is to learn more about the users of our products by location and what most people are using,” he said.
The app was developed under Fox’s Intelligent Ride Dynamics (iRD) division.
