Posted on November 06 2019
The ElevenSix, what is it?
It's the Mack Daddy...the Big Show...the Grand Poobah...the Whole Enchilada. Whatever nickname you give it, the Push ElevenSix is the ultimate mountain bike shock for any rider seeking traction, speed, comfort, control, and confidence. Get ready for the ElevenSix and prepare for unrivaled performance.
How does Push achieve this?
Firstly, and most obviously, by using a coil spring. Air springs absolutely have their place, offering good performance and excellent tune-ability on most modern shocks and at a lower weight, but in terms of suppleness and sensitivity, coil springs win every day of the week. No stiction and maximum consistency from a custom made coil spring allow the Push ElevenSix to respond to every bump, hole, root and rock, gluing your tyre to the ground for a planted feel like you've never felt before.
Secondly, controlling that coil spring is Push's unique shimless valving design, offering you high and low speed compression adjustment with smooth, seamless control of your shock's compression rate. With a shimmed circuit, when oil is forced past the shims under a compression the shims must flex to allow the oil flow. The bigger a hit, the more the shims must flex but as the shims flex more, they resist further flex more, giving the compression damping a level of progressiveness that cannot be removed and causing fast, square edge hits to feel harsher than necessary. The high speed compression circuit of the Push ElevenSix is able to control a greater flow of oil, giving you a smoother, more consistent feel across all sorts of riding conditions.
Thirdly, you get two shocks in one. While many shocks have a lockout lever or a climb switch to firm up the rear shock, the Push ElevenSix doesn't simply override your regular settings for a pre-determined firm setting. Oh no. The extra lever on the ElevenSix allows you to select between two sets of compression valving assemblies. You read correctly, there are two low speed compression circuits and two high speed compression circuits on the ElevenSix with a lever to select between the two sets. This allows you to run two completely different setups on the same shock with the flick of a lever.
With modern trail bikes pedaling so damn well these days, many riders never use their lockout or climb switch. With the ElevenSix you get full adjustment of both compression valving assemblies, so you could run one assembly with lighter damping for maximum suppleness and traction in super techy, rocky trails and then flick the lever to select your second assembly that you've dialed in for faster, flowy jump trails. Have your cake, eat it to and then go back for more. To be clear, one of the valving assemblies is tuned as your open or descending mode, while the other is a firmer, efficient tune for climbing and smooth trails. Unlike every other shock on the market, you have full control over both valving assemblies, but the compression circuits are tuned differently in each assembly.
Finally, the devil is in the details. The precision with which the ElevenSix is crafted is unrivaled in the industry. Every piece is designed and made by Push for one purpose only, to create the ultimate trail riding shock. The materials used, how they're manufactured and finished, the durable low friction MicroXD coating that Push applies to moving surfaces. They all combine into a usable work of art that feels like nothing else.
Is it more expensive? Yep. There's no denying it. Bespoke items cost more and make no mistake this is bespoke. We might have one or two in stock in the correct size for some popular rigs like the Yeti SB150 and Santa Cruz Megatower but even those will be custom-tuned for their rider. Each and every ElevenSix will be prepared specifically for each rider and their bike. As icing on the cake though, because the ElevenSix is so modular if you want to move it to a new frame with a different size, that is entirely possible. You can swap from regular mounting to trunnion mounting, imperial to metric sizing, it's all good. Pricing to do so varies depending on what needs to be changed but the Push ElevenSix could be the last shock you ever buy.
The techy bit:
-Entirely manufactured in Colorado at PUSH from only the finest USA sourced raw materials.
-Each unit is hand-assembled, vacuum bled, and dyno-tested. Built custom to rider specification based on frame specifications, rider weight, and riding style.
-Push's Dual Overhead Valve design offers two completely decoupled ride characteristics that can be toggled between on-the-fly. For the first time riders can have ultra plush and ultra firm suspension characteristics without compromise.
-Tool free external adjustments for Low Speed Rebound (LSR), Low Speed Compression (LSC), and High Speed Compression (HSC)
-Parabolic Low Speed Needle design for both compression and rebound eliminates the “gap” found in production MTB shock external adjustment.
-Exclusive HyperCo UltraLight Coil Spring available in 25lb/in increments. Made from High Tensile spring alloy and featuring Optimum Body Diameter technology eliminating spring deflection and damper body wear.
-Next-generation Digressive damping characteristic from compression valves provides incredible traction and control while allowing for through travel on square impacts.
-High Volume Oil and Nitrogen reservoir for unrivaled consistent performance.
-Built using premium Motorex rear shock fluids.
-360-degree spring capture and bump stop cup eliminates extrusion of bumper under extreme bottoming loads and ensures proper spring alignment.
A full rider review coming soon!