RockShox Flight Attendant: First Impressions

Written by Martin Astley BPW Co-Founder

I’ve been incredibly lucky to have been given one of the very first RockShox Flight Attendant trail setups in the UK thanks to the incredible support we get from our friends at SRAM/RockShox.  Now I should be clear upfront that I was of course given this kit for free by a sponsor, but, they haven’t asked me to write this, I thought it might be useful for people to read the impressions of a non journalist/pro rider and I’ve given my honest feelings on the system.

What kit do I have?

I’ve fitted this flight attendant system to my Trek Fuel EX.  I absolutely adore this bike and was fresh back from a successful but VERY muddy weekend racing at Tweedlove with zero mechanical issues when we installed the flight control system.  I already had SRAM’s XO AXS T-Type system on my bike and was already running a 160mm travel RockShox Lyrik Ultimate so the switch to the new setup was always going to feel very familiar.  Very fortunately I also already had a Quark power meter on my bike as my friend Dunc Ferris (BPW trail crew) had power cranks on his Trek Slash which he took to race the Trans Madeira.  He wanted to run a BB mounted multi tool which you can’t do with the power meter so we swapped cranks which turned out to be great timing.  

RockShox supplied me with the new Lyrik Ultimate fork with the Charger 3.1 damper and obviously the Flight Attendant upgrade.  They also provided a SuperDeluxe Flight Attendant rear shock which was custom built for my bike by their lab in Colorado as my kit came a bit earlier than UK stock of this system.  I mean, how lucky am I?!!

Installation and setup

I should start by saying I’m a massive technophobe.  I hate the idea of having an “app” for my bike and much to my detriment have resisted downloading apps for my e-bike and SRAM’s AXS system for as long as possible (I did eventually give in on the AXS front as my wife kept borrowing my bike and switching the shift pod lever button function, and was pleasantly surprised by the ease of use).  So, when Stu at SRAM told me I had a Flight Attendant system coming my way I was of course thrilled and really excited but also slightly worried that I was about to making riding my bike a whole load more complicated.

I won’t lie and claim that I installed the system and that it was a breeze to fit as it’s simply not true, I handed the kit and my beloved Trek Fuel EX to Mark and James in the workshop and cajoled them into fitting it for me.  They tell me it was easy to fit and I have to believe them as it was super fast and they weren’t grumpy with me when I picked it up ????.  The setup and pairing of the system however was something that I felt I needed to do and Stu gave me a run through of how you pair the various parts of the system, connect to the app and calibrate everything.  Honestly, this kind of thing is my worst nightmare, I don’t even know how to switch off Apps on my phone and end up with a phone battery that runs out before the day is over as so much is operating in the background.  BUT, this was genuinely easy, if you can book a flight online you’ve probably got enough tech wizardy to setup Flight Attendant.  I’ve recalibrated the system a few times since riding the bike and the first time I did it I used the 2-minute video on the AXS app to remind me how to do it but it really is easy.

Given that my background is in riding DH I initially setup the system to have a -1 bias towards being open.  I rarely if ever use the lockout on my rear shock and thought I’d like the system to be open pretty much all the time unless I’m sprinting or on a long fire road climb.  Adjusting the system bias in the app is incredibly easy, it’s a bit harder to do on the fork itself without knowing the sequence of buttons to press so I’ve stuck with the App (check me out!) and it has worked really well for me.

How does it ride?

As I mention above I initially setup the system with a bias to being open and my first ride was a lap at BPW, up the Beast of Burden climb and down Vicious Valley, Surfin’ Bird and Zut Alors. I have actually ridden an intelligent adaptive suspension system before, many years ago with Lapierre’s EI shock system which was developed in partnership with RockShox so I had some idea/preconceptions coming into this first ride.  The first thing I noticed was that the system is much faster and more willing to change modes than that 10-year old system.  Flight Attendant responds to rider and trail input incredibly fast and on that first ride I never found myself in the “wrong” mode in that I never hit a bump and found myself locked out and wished I was open.  I did find on that initial ride though that the system bias was really strongly towards the open setting and I was actually find it quite hard to get it to shift into the peal or lock modes.

So, I quickly opened the App and adjusted the bias to zero which is the neutral or mid mode and it made a really significant difference, the system was all of a sudden constantly changing between modes and I felt it was doing a lot more for me.  I think I may change the system bias depending on where I’m riding.  At BPW for example having the bias towards open is good (one big up, one big down), riding my local trails where it’s more undulating I prefer the system in the neutral mode as it’ll shift to pedal or lock setting far more willingly.  

In addition to the manual bias setting the system also uses AI to learn your riding style and outputs, this is known as Adaptive Ride Dynamics.  For example, over a few rides the system will learn your power zones so it will know when you are sprinting and should the terrain input allow it the system will move towards lock when your power output meets that wattage.  I have noticed that after roughly two rides the system does begin to do what you want when you want better, it’s impressive.

One concern I had with the system was what happens if you sprint along a fire road and the bike is locked and you drop straight into a technical trail?  I’ve tried this several times and what I’ve noticed is that the first bump the fork hits will immediately switch the system to open, it feels like that first hit is damped more heavily for the first third of the fork stroke and then it works as normal, almost as if the system hits a blow off and opens it up.  I don’t know what is actually happening here but it’s good and I haven’t been able to fool the system into being locked when I don’t want it to be.  In fact, I’ve found the system to be incredibly sensitive and fast to react, even on fire road climbs if you hit a section that is a bit rougher the system will immediately switch from lock to pedal mode, even with just perhaps a few mm of extra travel being used.

I’m just two weeks into life with Flight Attendant but so far I’m loving it, I’m finding I’m excited to ride the bike each time, to learn more about the system and challenge it in news ways and to find out what gains I can get from it.  For sure it improves the performance of my bike, it adds an extra element of fun and I’m extremely impressed with the simplicity of the setup and fit and forget nature of the whole system.

Other observations

• The system is quiet, changing mode makes the same servo noise as shifting gear on SRAM’s AXS system.
• The new Charger 3.1 damper on the Lyrik feels great, I’m a light rider at 64kgs so initial stroke suppleness is really important for me and this fork feels great.  I tend to ride my fork with quite a bit more air pressure than the settings suggest as I like stable geometry under breaking into turns but even with higher pressures I can keep the fork supple and the support and control has felt faultless so far
• Battery life has been super impressive, not really something that should concern you
• I think the benefits of Flight Attendant would be even greater on a shorter travel bike.  I have a Trek Top Fuel with a 140mm travel RockShox Pike and I think Flight Attendant would be ideal for a bike of that style where efficiency and speed in all situations is more important and the focus is less on descending speed alone. 
• Nobody has even noticed it’s on my bike yet!