Video: RockShox's Wireless Reverb AXS Dropper Post Explained

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Inside the Reverb AXS

So, what exactly is happening when you push the remote's button? And why isn't this thing called the E-verb? I only know the answer to the first question, with the gist being that RockShox has combined existing wireless tech with tiny electric motors and batteries.

Let's start up top with the remote, pictured to the right.


Another tidbit worth noting is that there seems to be plenty of room on the remote for SRAM to add in another button, say if one wanted to be able to control their suspension lockout, maybe? Further integration down the road is very likely, even if SRAM wouldn't comment on their long-term plans.




Want the Reverb remote to act as a shifter and one of the "touch points" on the right-hand remote to operate your seatpost? That takes all of about thirty seconds using the free AXS app that's available for iOS and Android devices. My boss wants to yell at me daily for not understanding or using Google Docs (ugh, they're my personal TPS Reports), but even I figured out how the AXS app works pretty quickly.

Now to the seatpost itself. Think of it this way: with the notable exception of the Vent Valve (more on that later), the Reverb AXS remains largely the same as its forebearer from the stanchion down. That means it's still a twin-tube layout, and there's still an internal floating piston (IFP) that separates the air and oil, albeit an updated one to go along with improved oil and grease. But from the top of the stanchion up, things are drastically different.




The original Reverb actually uses two separate hydraulic systems: the post's internals, and the remote and hose. Put simply, the only thing the traditional Reverb's hydraulic remote does is open and close an oil port on the seatpost. All other hydraulic posts need the same job done, of course, but they do it with cable-operated remotes instead.

A few years ago RockShox decided they wanted to do the same job but without any hoses or cables.




To do that, a small electric motor needed to be squeezed into the post's head, which was no small feat. First, the right motor needed to go in there, and it had to be powerful enough to open and close the oil port, but it also couldn't require too much juice. The answer is the same tiny motor that's found in the Eagle AXS derailleur that spins up to something like 80,000 RPM. Just like the derailleur, the Reverb AXS has its own RC car-sized gearbox to handle all the RPMs and torque required to open and close the oil port.

Wireless and electronic or not, the Reverb AXS still needs that oil port to open and close for it to be able to go up and down through its travel. This is also what gives the Reverb the infinite range feature that allows you to move it a few millimeters at a time or make your seat disappear under you.




The motor sits inverted behind the re-designed clamp, with the tiny gearbox at the bottom that aligns perpendicularly with a plunger. When you hit the remote with your thumb, a signal is sent through an encrypted wireless network to a receiver hidden inside the post's head. Technology does technology things at this point via the circuit board, and the little motor goes from zero to full torque instantly. That's put through the gearbox that then depresses the plunger and opens the oil port, and then the post is free to go up or down.


The fix is to bleed the post's hydraulic system, a daunting job for the average rider that's far beyond doing the same to the remote. Vent Valve is the answer, RockShox says, and it's essentially a built-in way to push the air out of the system without having to bleed the thing. All you have to do is flip the post upside down, depress the stiff Vent Valve button (that is also the top of the air valve) with your thumb, and then compress the post while a friend activates the remote. It's a two-man job [edit: only if you use the remote. It's a one-man job if you use the button on the Reverb].

If that sounds similar to what BikeYoke has going on inside their Revive post, that's because it is, only RockShox uses an IFP to keep the air and oil separated, and BikeYoke does not.

You might have to do it a couple of times, but it takes all of a minute or two and the Reverb goes back to being rock solid under your ass. Not gonna lie, I bet a lot of people would have liked this feature on their older Reverbs, too. Sadly, it isn't retro-fittable.




All of that computer stuff, along with the electric motor and gearbox, required RockShox to ditch the proven twin-opposing bolt head design for something that looks like a single-bolt setup at first glance. Thank God it isn't, though, because those terrible things are just terrible. Instead of depending on just the single bolt that clamps the seat's rails to also hold the angle, there's a second, locking bolt that's used to adjust tilt. You still need to back off the clamp bolt, but once that's done you turn the second bolt to make angle adjustments before locking everything back down.

The electronic internals necessitated the head's re-design, but this new setup is also far easier to deal with than the common opposing-bolt layout.

Enough about what's inside of it; let's get onto how it performed.

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No Hose, No Worries?

The usual press camp disclaimers apply here and to any so-called "first ride reviews'' that you may read elsewhere - we all got two or three rides in on the Reverb AXS dropper while in Tucson, Arizona, which isn't enough time for a proper review. That said, the early impressions were quite positive all around.




Yes, it goes up and down as it should, and the non-adjustable return speed is faster than the previous models. It also makes cool 'vvvvt' sounds when it does its thing. Most importantly, there's no delay between you pushing the button and the motor opening the port - it is much, much faster than Magura's Vyron dropper. It also feels damn near instantaneous next to a normal Reverb.

Part of that is down to not having to push a lever (or plunger on older Reverbs) through its stroke, however short, to activate the thing... Because it's literally a button that you push, the activation speed seems to be about on par with flipping a light switch and having the room brighten up.




The new button-style (sorry, it's a ''touch point'') remote also lets you easily make those smaller micro-adjustments in seat height that you might do if you like steep, technical climbs, or if you like to tinker to match whatever kind of terrain you're on. All you do is push on the button using the edge of your thumb so that it merely grazes it, which is enough to lower the seat by maybe 5mm or so. That sounds useless when I describe it now, but it's certainly not on the rolling, rocky trails around Tucson that dart up countless rises and through even more dry washes. Amazing trails, but they're a lot of hard work for someone in the middle of a Candian winter.


As for battery life, the little CR2032 that's up in the remote should last for a couple of years, and there's a button on the side of the Reverb to activate it if you manage to run the remote dry or break it in a crash. And speaking of that, RockShox does plan to sell replacement paddles, and maybe even offer a few different versions to boot. I expect some aftermarket options to pop up as well. As for the important SRAM battery on the post itself, it's the same as you'll find on the back of the Eagle AXS derailleur, meaning that you can swap them around if need be. I was told to expect around forty-hours of life from it (double the drivetrain battery's life), which should be thousands of up and downs, and a warning light will tell give you its status. It only weighs 25-grams, too, so you could easily carry a spare with you.

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This isn't a review, but I was pretty impressed with the performance of the Reverb AXS, aside from that unexplained stuck-down moment. After just two days on it, I know that I'm going to prefer the wireless AXS model over the traditional design. Funny thing, though, is that I don't say that because there's no hose, but rather because the wireless design necessitated some much-needed improvements to the Reverb as a whole. Yes, even over the last update.




Not only is the Reverb AXS much, much quicker than its predecessor, it is also far easier to modulate the travel due to how the remote is designed and because the action is instantaneous. Vent Valve is obviously a godsend, too, and the whole thing does away with that silly hose as a bonus. Well, maybe it was the other way around, but the bottom line is that the Reverb AXS shows a lot of potential. The only thing left to do is to spend a good chunk of time using one and find out if it's reliable.

If everything checks out, do you think you'd be willing to part with $800 USD for the wireless Reverb AXS?

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Reviews and Tech Seatposts RockShox Mike Levy