Motion Instruments System 2 Suspension Data Acquisition
MSRP: $499
Compatibility:
- Most air-sprung forks (EXT Era excepted)
- Frames with bearings pressed into suspension links, 34 mm maximum bearing OD
Intro
Professional race teams have long used suspension data collection to evaluate their racers’ suspension setup and help them achieve better suspension performance, but those systems have historically been priced too high for most everyday riders, and the data can be hard to interpret. Knowing what your suspension did over a given section of trail is one thing; knowing how to improve your suspension setup from that information is something else entirely.
Motion Instruments was one of the first companies to offer a suspension data acquisition system at a price that was within reach for more than a select few everyday riders, but it was widely used by World Cup race teams as well. Their new System 2 is less expensive, claimed to be more reliable, and is supposedly easier to set up and interpret the results as well. So how have they done it, and how does the System 2 work? Let’s take a look.
Design
In short, the System 2 uses a pair of sensors to measure and log how far the front and rear suspension are compressed, with an eye to improving suspension setup. The fork sensor straps to the lower leg of the fork and attaches to the spring side top cap; the rear suspension one measures the rotation of one of the suspension links and is designed to work with frames that feature a bearing pressed into a link (rather than the main frame) with a maximum outer diameter of 34 mm.
The original Motion Instruments setup used a pair of linear potentiometers to measure the compression of the fork and rear shock, which required contact between sliding parts and would eventually wear out when subjected to enough use, especially in wet, gritty conditions. The System 2’s sensors are both fully electronic and non-contact, which Motion Instruments says should eliminate those wear concerns and greatly improve the longevity of the system.
Of course, rotation of a rear suspension link doesn’t directly correlate to the amount of suspension movement at the rear wheel; Motion Instruments doesn’t go into much detail on how they back actual suspension travel out of link rotation, but we’d assume there’s some sort of calibration procedure to get at least a decent approximation. We’ll need to get our hands on the System 2 to find out more. The fork sensor requires an air-sprung fork with a standard Schrader air valve at the center of the spring-side top cap to attach to (which rules out the EXT Era, due to its valves being offset from the center of the fork leg). Dual-crown forks also require an adapter to accommodate their extra length ($49.99, sold separately).
We’ll need to get our hands on the System 2 to get a full understanding of all the features and data visualization options available in the MotionIQ app — and should be doing so soon.
Some Questions / Things We’re Curious About
(1) How easy is the System 2 to install and configure?
(2) And how digestible are the results? Collecting data is neat, but figuring out what to do with it is important, too.
Bottom Line (For Now)
The new Motion Instruments System 2 is meant to be simpler to set up, more reliable, and more affordable than Motion Instruments’ original data acquisition package, and we’re quite curious to see how it pans out in practice. We’ve got a setup on the way for review, so stay tuned for our take, coming soon.
Will you compare it to SRAM ShockWiz?