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 The much-anticipated new downhill fork from BOS succeeds the legendary upside-down V Process factory fork ridden for more than 5 years by Nicolas Vouilloz, multiple World Champion and new BOS test rider.
In five years, a lot of water has flowed under the bridge in Toulouse, and we have learned a lot from working at the top level in different disciplines. We applied our mountain-bike knowledge to cars in the early years at BOS, and now we’re applying the car knowledge gained from our involvement in WRC and Rallye Raid to bikes!
The first thing you notice about the Idylle Pro is that it’s a pressurised fork, thanks to the separate reservoir. It uses the same technology as the rear shock, and is obviously similar to the famous Mitsubishi WRC factory shock.
Like many of the high-performance BOS rear shocks, the Idylle Pro has an adjustable hydraulic bottom-out.
You’ll also see that the compression adjuster on the piggy-back reservoir is exactly the same as the one on the Stoy shock - a matching set.
The high and low-speed compression damping and rebound damping are all adjustable on the Idylle Pro.
The version that you see here is pre-production and will be very similar to the final version which should be available in a few weeks. We’ll be putting the finishing touches to it with the help of Fabien Pedemanaud and Nicolas Vouilloz, who will also be racing/testing it over the coming weeks.
Available mid September 2008 - Price around £1500
Features
- Pressurised damping system
- Single damping cartridge with piggy-back reservoir, right-hand side
- Adjustable hydraulic bottom-out
- 200mm travel
- Adjustments: high and low-speed compression damping, rebound damping
- Spring and preload on left-hand side
- Air bleed screw on top of both upper tubes
- 7050 aluminium upper tubes – 36mm diameter
- Magnesium lowers
- Forged 6061 aluminium crowns
- 1 1/8” steerer
- 20mm axle diameter
- Post mount
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Idylle Pro FAQ
Why isn't it an upside down fork ?
Many people were expecting an upside-down fork from BOS because of Nicolas Vouilloz’s factory V Process fork. To be honest, we did give it a lot of thought. If marketing was the main priority, we would have gone for upside-down, no question ... but what we wanted most of all was to produce a fork that was right for today’s downhill, and was affordable for amateur riders.
The BOS upside-down forks exists … but only on paper. To produce it meant some compromises which would be too inconvenient for the user. In order to achieve the stiffness we wanted, it would have needed a special hub with all the implications for riders (special wheels, incompatibility with current standards, extra cost). In the end, an upside-down fork would have been too expensive and we didn’t want to ruin our entry to the downhill fork market. On the plus side, the conventional fork allowed us to keep within industry standards, as well as producing great performance at a reasonable price.
Why is it pressurised ?
In motorcycles, the top-performing forks are all pressurised, mainly in motocross (internal reservoirs), but also in Moto GP where the reservoirs are clearly visible. We produced a kit for Moto GP forks three years ago which pressurised conventional forks with very good results. The key advantage of a pressurised fork is that it works like a rear shock. In brief, the hydraulics are both more constant and more reactive. Also, the damping can be separated from the lubrication (all governed by the same hydraulic oil in most conventional forks). Idylle Pro uses two different types of oil: one for lubrication, ie. the smooth operation of the fork, and the other for damping. So, we not only use the same compression adjustment as the Stoy, we also use the same oil in the damping circuit. It’s easy to see how duplicating the same systems give benefits all round. |
