Today, Fox releases Live Valve Neo, a wireless system that automatically adjusts your suspension to the terrain. Neo is the successor to Fox’s wired Live Valve system, but it is much more than just Live Valve without the wires. It adds a long list of new features that significantly elevate it over the wired system.
We’ve had about two months on the coil DHX Live Valve Neo at this point and, while it’s not quite perfect, it is a huge step forward from the original Live Valve system. We’ll get into a ton of details about how the system works, for those curious. Then we’ll get into our impressions of what makes Neo stand out, and where we think it could still be improved.
Fox Live Valve Neo: What is it ?
Neo is the new, wireless version of the Live Valve system Fox came out with in 2018. It electronically and automatically adjusts your suspension based off the information it receives from two tiny sensors that come with the system. For Neo, Fox is focusing on just the shock, so there’s no corresponding changes to the fork and you can run any fork with the system.
Neo will automatically set the compression circuit in the rear shock to “open” or “firm” in response to what is happening on the trail. The two sensors, one at each axle, that tell the controller in the shock when either wheel hits a bump. That opens the shock. It then automatically closes to “firm” when the trail smooths out so you get the most efficient platform possible while still getting the benefit of suspension.
Basically, it’s like having a tiny little elf on your bike with you automatically flipping the climb switch on/off based on what’s happening on the trail. Except Neo is fast. Really fast. Fox says it can react to bumps hit by the front wheel to open the compression in less than 1/70th of a second.
Fox is deep in the world of motorsport suspension, where this sort of system originated, so the brand has many years of experience with electronically controlled suspension. Still, developing the wireless version of Neo is something that has been the works for years. Apparently, Fox basically started working on making Neo wireless as they were soft-launching the updated version of Live Valve around 2020.
Neo network expands
Part of that delay was developing Neo, the wireless communication protocol that made its debut last month with the Transfer Neo wireless dropper post. Unsatisfied with Bluetooth or other open source wireless communication protocols,…
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