Live Valve Neo is Fox's answer to RockShox Flight Attendant
And it's the brand's first truly wireless automatic suspension adjustment system.
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Fox Live Valve has been around since 2018 but nearly six years after its launch, it's been overshadowed by RockShox and its Flight Attendant technology. However, with some hints thrown around after the release of Fox's Transfer Neo, its wireless dropper post, Fox has brought a significant overhaul to its now totally wireless automatic suspension adjustment. Here's everything you need to know.
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When it was launched in 2018, Live Valve needed wires as the brand believes that hard wires allowed the absolute fastest signal speed. And knowing that wireless was the future, it didn't take long for Fox to get to work to ditch the cables.
Live Valve Neo, a term coined upon the release of the Transfer Neo, utilises Fox's in-house wireless communication protocol, dubbed Neo. Much like the dropper post, it strips away any unnecessary fluff in pursuit of the fastest possible signal speed, claiming this new system can send a signal from the fork and rear sensors to the controller in a single millisecond. Fox goes on to state the latency of Bluetooth can be up to 200 milliseconds.
With that, it's said the time between your tyre hitting a bump and the Live Valve Neo controller opening the valve on your shock is 1/70th of a second.
2024 fox lv neo brake cali.jpg, by Liam Mercer
Live Valve Neo comprises three components and Fox's Bike app. There's a fork sensor mounted to the front brake caliper, and it uses a built-in accelerometer that determines the angle of the terrain you're riding and the bump force transmitted to the front tyre. The rear sensor is mounted to the rear brake caliper and also senses bumps transmitted to the rear wheel but it doesn't detect terrain angle – the front sensor already does that. Then there's a third controller located in the shock that opens the compression circuit based on data collected by all sensors.
The Fox Bike app is then employed to give the user battery level information, access to firmware updates and allows the rider to customise how the suspension works to their preferences.
Fox claims that the fork and rear sensors read the terrain 400 times per second and because they're placed in locations that are unsprung, they don't miss any detail. All sensors run off of CR2032 coin cell batteries and, apparently, they'll last up to a year.
Fox Live Valve Neo will be available on complete bikes but as it operates independently of fork and drivetrain components, it's available as an aftermarket upgrade.
Live Valve Neo doesn't affect your fork
There are two reasons why Fox hasn't built Live Valve Neo to work with the fork. First off, most changes in the terrain during trail and all-mountain riding are incredibly fast. Fox says that they can actually be quite jarring, too, so any delay in the opening and closing of the compression circuit, regardless of the 1/70th of a second reaction time, will be noticeable by the rider. The brand also says that efficiency gains focussed around the fork are insignificant compared to the shock. As such, building the system to work on the fork too would be quite the sacrifice.
2024 fox LV neo side.jpg, by Liam Mercer
In a further effort towards simplicity and efficiency, Live Valve Neo switches between only Open and Firm compression modes. The reason for that is the system is so fast that it's not necessary to have a midde Trail mode.
The system works as the sensor only transmits information when needed and uses a two-position latching solenoid at the shock to adjust the compression setting. We're told that the system defaults to Firm mode, meaning that riders have all of the efficiency when they need it and all of the suspension when necessary.
How Live Valve Neo can affect your ride
In the press release, Fox quotes four areas in which Live Valve Neo works, pumping out of corners, jumping, riding through small technical sections on climbs and riding an e-MTB.
When pumping, Fox says that the system opens and closes and certain points within a corner. The shock might open a the middle of the corner to boost traction but it'll firm up upon exit for more support and speed. When jumping, Fox promises that the shock will firm up during takeoff but when airborne, it'll open up the compression circuit for a cushy landing.
2024 fox lv rear.jpg, by Liam Mercer
Then when climbing, the system defaults to Firm mode for efficiency but when the front wheel hits an obstacle, it'll open up the rear shock to absorb the incoming impact and then firm up again to maintain pedalling efficiency.
It comes with tonnes of tuning options
On an e-MTB, Fox claims that Live Valve Neo will make climbing faster as it defaults to Firm. It also allows brands to tune shim stacks inside the shock to completely negate any pedalling-specific tunes in favour of ultimate descending performance.
Live Valve Neo also provides five tunes that are selectable through the app. Standard is shaped to suit a range of riders in a range of terrains. Firm is for those who want efficiency but also some bump absorption. Plush is for comfort over efficiency. Open overrides the system to keep the shock in the open mode, and Closed acts in the same way but keeps the shock in its Closed position.
2024 fox LV neo hero.jpg, by Liam Mercer
However, riders can store an unlimited number of custom tunes within the app with three Active tunes that are quickly accessible. Additional tunes can be downloaded and shared with other riders.
Precision Tune then turns the tuning up a notch but it's recommended only for advanced riders. This setting provides users with sliders that make the system more or less sensitive to input from the terrain.
Wrapping things up, the system uses a shake-to-wake function with an LED that indicates when a bump is detected. More LEDs will light up to indicate battery level and the bump sensors work with most modern brakes from Shimano, SRAM, TRP and Magura. If a battery runs out of power, it'll default to Open and there's an external tool-free Firm mode adjuster when the two-position solenoid is closed with seven positions.
When buying Fox Live Valve Neo, you'll need to purchase the sensor kit and the shock separately. The former will set you back £450 while the Float X is £1,119 and the DHX is £1,099 – it's certainly not cheap. Spare batteries are nearly £100 a pop and an additional charger and cable is £62.95.
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