Have you ever found yourself in a bike park managing those damn Brake Bumps that lead you to demolish your arms and hands without being able to do anything more than hold the handlebars strong? Here, Rockshox is studying a system to better manage these high frequencies without impacting the overall performance of the fork.
ROCKSHOX BUTTERCUPS VIDEO
It all started with the confrontation between Tim Lynch, RockShox Senior Design Engineer, and his brother while cutting trees with a chainsaw. Tim's chainsaw had a rubber handle, while his brother's chainsaw didn't. His brother complained that his hands became numb while Lynch's did not: the rubber grip kept the vibrations from straining his hands.
The ButterCups are found both on the shock absorber and on the Ultimate level forks. Inside their golden casing, we find rubber discs and a metal plate to absorb the frequencies that would otherwise be transmitted to the biker.
OPERATION
When the fork encounters any kind of obstacle, the lower part of the shaft compresses and moves upwards. These small and frequent vibrations from trail vibrations aren't always large enough to significantly move the suspension, resulting in those vibrations making their way into your hands. This is where ButterCups come to the rescue: ButterCups absorb trail vibrations by compressing against the metal plate sandwiched between the rubber discs.
On the air spring side, however, ButterCups work in a very similar way, but the spring side is unbalanced to be more effective on the compression stroke than on the rebound. Therefore, the air spring shaft only has a rubber disc on top and uses an O-ring when the system extends again.
These little ButterCups add about 4mm of vertical flex to the suspension and an average 20% reduction in trail vibration getting to your hands.
WE DISCOVERED THAT BY GIVING THE RESPONSIBILITY OF HIGH FREQUENCY AND LOW AMPLITUDE VIBRATIONS TO BUTTERCUP, YOU FREE THE OTHER PARTS OF THE SYSTEM TO DO THEIR WORK BETTER.
- SKYLER TEACHOUT
TRUST COMES FROM THE RIGIDITY OF YOUR FORK AND HOW MUCH YOU CAN PERCEIVE. NOW YOU TURN THE CORNER AND REALIZE THAT SOME OF THOSE VIBRATIONS DO NOT GET TO YOUR HANDS. SUDDENLY YOU FEEL MORE COMFORTABLE, SAFER OR FASTER, AND YOU RUN THE SAME RISK.
- TIM LYNCH
ButterCups can be found in the 2023 RockShox Ultimate collection: Blanket ultimate, poetry Ultimate and ZEB Ultimate. All RockShox Signature Series 2023 forks can add ButterCup by upgrading the Charger 3 shock. Questions about fitting? Check to the Rockshox support page.
