Mountain Biking - Rockshok SRAM

What do people think of the RockShok buyout by SRAM?

Richard

I heard about it over at Ridemonkey. It doesn't really matter to me actually, I'll never buy a RockShox fork myself. I have yet to read a positive review of a RS fork in a magazine. They are always plagued by oil leaking or bushing play. But maybe the SRAM buyout will bring more quality to RS products. I hear RS was in some serious financial problems..They owe/owed Wells Fargo something like 4 million..

SOCK SHOX

Well, Rock Shox has had decreasing market share recently and, as Fubar mentioned, financial and quality-control problems so it would appear that they are buying a lemon. They are equipped on a lot of new bikes, however, and one point which I read somewhere was that this would allow a manufacturer to equip an OEM bike with more components from one source (ie drivetrain, brakes and now suspension forks also) and that may have been their primary intention.

SRAM has a good reputation, especially for customer service while Rock Shox have a poor one. They make some good forks IMO but their customer service is apparently atrocious. They also have this annoying habit of refusing to stock parts for forks older than about 2 years and telling stuck customers to simply 'buy a new fork'. They also took the '99 repair manuals off their website about 6 months ago due to the same mentality.

I was happy with my '99 RS Judy XC though I'm selling it and using a Marzocchi on my new bike. Are RS forks common in Europe?

By the way, does anyone know what 'ESP' stands for or is it completely meaningless like 'LX' or 'XT'?

I have idea what ESP means, but I know it isn't like LX or XT. If a SRAM product is ESP compatable only, then it ISN'T compatable with Shimano.

Originally posted by fubar5
...If a SRAM product is ESP compatable only, then it ISN'T compatable with Shimano.

Hmmm, then maybe it stands for 'Extra Smart Purchase'. :D