After a pandemic interrupted 2020, Semenuk returned to the Zion national park as defending Rampage champion. The prodigiously talented Canadian free rider was a favourite for the title and did the business, to gain his fourth overall Red Bull Rampage crown.

RockShox ZEB proves its worth as one of the best mountain bike forks for freeride, in the most extreme event of the year. The return of Red Bull’s Rampage to the Utah desert saw Brandon Semenuk solidify his reputation.

A rider for the big occasion

Rampage is brutal on frames, forks, shocks and wheels. The huge impacts are way beyond anything that even the most ambitious amateur trail or enduro rider will ever expose their equipment to.

As such, Rampage remains the ultimate proving ground. Not not only for free ride mountain biking bravery and skill. But for components, too.

Semenuk’s Trek Session was a custom build that showed the merits of some old, and new, mountain bike component standards.

For his winning Rampage campaign, Semenuk was on a mini-mullet version of the Session, with a 27.5” front wheel, and 26” rear.

We’ve all done something like this at some point. The thing is, Semenuk is doing this deliberately.

Showing the true potential – of a ZEB

Another noteworthy aspect of Semenuk’s winning bike, was its fork. Steering accuracy under extreme loads, and adequate compression damping, are non-negotiables in the extreme terrain at Rampage.

Triple-clamp forks have always been the default standard for Rampage riders. But Semenuk’s win, came on a single-crown RockShox ZEB.

With more fork suppliers offering 38mm stanchion single-crown forks, Semenuk has now proven the concept that these forks could provide the best combination of steering angle freedom and big-hit absorption.

The slightly lighter single-crown fork, could also have benefits for balancing the bike’s front-end weight bias – crucial when edging into those huge drops at Rampage.

There is no question that Semenuk’s winning run, in the world’s most extreme mountain biking event, on a single-crown fork, will make many downhillers and free riders think differently about font suspension.

It is also an instance of incalculable marketing value for RockShox.