MY27 ROCKSHOX SUPER DELUXE FIRST RIDE REVIEW

April 7, 2026

The Super Deluxe is one of four new RockShox products launching today for MY27, joining the Zeb, Lyrik, and Vivid Air in the trail and enduro suspension lineup. The Super Deluxe received a full redesign, with changes throughout to improve consistency and reduce friction, as well as an innovative yet simple volume token system. We’ve been logging some preliminary miles to see how it performs, so let us share our thoughts so far.

THE WOLF’S FIRST IMPRESSION

Testing The RockShox Super Deluxe | I have only had a handful of rides on the new Super Deluxe Ultimate on the Ibis Ripmo AF, but I was instantly impressed by its performance. It replaced a previous-gen Super Deluxe Select shock, which featured Ibis’s lightly damped traction tune. As such, I can’t give an apples-to-apples comparison of the new Super Deluxe performance, but will share my first thoughts as a standalone product.

While you would expect the top-tier products to deliver improved performance, the upgrade was transformative on the Ibis. The Ripmo AF went from the Rip-ish to the Rip-MOre, and I found myself instantly pushing considerably harder on the descents. With effective, tunable damping comes incredible control and confidence, and the new Super Deluxe was excellent in this regard, as was the Lyrik it was paired with. The new bottomless token system’s simplicity is genius, and with no extra parts required, it encouraged more tuning of the shock’s progressivity at the trailside.

The Super Deluxe offered the holy grail of increased small-bump sensitivity and increased support and composure when pushing hard. It provided better comfort and better confidence in equal measures, and really helped to unlock the performance of the Ibis Ripmo AF frame. It feels as if the tuning bandwidth of the Super Deluxe has gone from a trail shock through-and-through to a capable enduro shock. Yet, it continues to offer slightly reduced weight and smaller form factor compared to the Vivid Air, which makes it a good fit on 130mm bikes.

Out of the four new products in the RockShox trail suspension lineup, it was the Super Deluxe that left me the most impressed.

WHAT’S NEW ON THE ROCKSHOX SUPER DELUXE?

The RockShox Super Deluxe rear shock received a full redesign to bring its performance up a notch or two. Receiving the same damper reservoir as the capable Vivid Air and Vivid Coil shocks, the capabilities have been increased, but the trail-friendliness has been retained.

Linear XL Air Spring

The same Linear XL Air Spring philosophy is featured in the Super Deluxe, with focus on removing the speed sensitivity of the air spring (known as hysterisis), to deliver the best consistency and predictability.

RockShox devised a new bottomless token system, utilising a single o-ring to make the adjustments. With machined ridges in the inner shock body, the volume can be adjusted by moving the o-ring into the chosen groove, blocking off the space inside the shock to deliver the progressivity desired.

The large air spring volume that gives the supple initial stroke on Linear XL is still in place, with the coil countermeasure spring still used to increase sensitivity.

With the changes made to the shock, RockShox was able to increase the main air can service interval from 50 to 100 hours, keeping the shock running well for longer.

BOTTOM-LESS

A new, larger bottom -out bumper is fitted to give end-stroke support to the Linear XL-equipped Super Deluxe shock. The top-end models receive an optional hydraulic bottom-out system to add further control on the biggest hits, but this is not user-adjustable like in the Vivid.

RC2T DAMPER

The same RC2T damper system is carried over from the new Vivid Coil and Vivid Air, giving high levels of tuning potential. This new monotube damper design utilizes clever architecture to reduce IFP pressure by 40%, improving initial sensitivity without risking cavitation. The tune and adjustability is designed to closely match the Charger 3.2 damper found in the new Zeb and Lyrik forks, delivering the best overall system.

FLIGHT ATTENDANT

The Ultimate level Super Deluxe is offered with the Flight Attendant electronically-controlled damper system, designed to offer the ultimate efficiency on-trail without sacrificing descending capability. Models are offered for both standard and trunnion frame mounts, with stroke lengths from 45mm to 65mm to fit most trail to enduro bikes.

SPEC OPTIONS

• RockShox Super Deluxe Ultimate | The RockShox Super Deluxe Ultimate is the full bells-and-whistles spec, featuring the most adjustability through the RC2T damper with optional Hydraulic Bottom Out. The retail price is $ 699 / € 765 / £ 680.
• RockShox Super Deluxe Ultimate Flight Attendant | The RockShox Super Deluxe Ultimate Flight Attendant features the RC3 Flight Attendant damper, offering an Open/Pedal/Firm position that is selected by the electronically controlled damping circuit. There is an independent Low-Speed Compression adjust to fine-tune the shock feeling in the Open mode. The retail price is $1,049 / €1,145 / £1,020.
• SUPER DELUXE SELECT + | Available OEM only, the RockShox Super Deluxe Select+ loses the High Speed Compression adjustability features in the Ultimate level damper, but retains the option for Hydraulic Bottom Out.
• SUPER DELUXE SELECT | The RT damper on the OEM-only RockShox Super Deluxe Select shock offers no external compression damping adjustments, aside from the climb switch for increased pedaling efficiency.
• SUPER DELUXE | The OEM-only RockShox Super Deluxe Base shock features only a rebound damping adjustment, but retains the same volume token system and base valve tune.