An Instagram post from Specialized development rider, Brad Benedict, and a back page of the German Specialized website have revealed a new Öhlins air shock that may be specced on the Specilaized Enduro next year.

Öhlins is a Swedish suspension manufacturer that has previously worked in Formula One and Moto GP. It served as a consultant to Cane Creek during the development of the Double Barrel shock and it is now bringing its own line of MTB products to market.

The move to mountain biking came about as a result of a partnership with Specialized to develop a shock for gravity-focussed bikes. The unique selling point of the Öhlins TTX22M coil shock is its lack of lag, which it claims is unique in mountain biking. It is also focussed on increasing grip and traction, both traits that are vital for control.

Suspicions were first raised when Brad Benedict, someone who has been heavily involved in bringing Öhlins product to the Demo downhill bike, posted a picture on Instagram of a never-before-seen shock, that looked suspiciously like an air version of the TTX22M.

The Enduro specced with an Öhlins air shock (Specialized)

These suspicions were confirmed by a back page of the German Specialized website, not accessible by conventional means, that showed a new S-Works and Enduro Expert specced with “Der custom Öhlins Öl-Luft-Dämpfer” – an Öhlins air shock.

Details at this point are pretty sketchy, but the product description states: “single tube, 3rd Chamber air spring technology, compression adjust, rebound adjust, 215.9×57.2mm.” This sounds like typical product fluff, but the TTX22M was double tube and we’ve not heard of the 3rd Chamber before, so there could be some interesting advances.

It could be to do with travel reduction, like a Scott Nude shock, or changing the spring curve at a certain point in the stroke, like Trek’s DRCV. Or it could be something completely different… We’ll bring you all the details as soon as we know. What can be seen, is integration of Specialized’s Auto-Sag technology, that allows simple sag set-up.

With rumours abound of Öhlins also developing a set of single-crown 160mm forks, it seems like this motorsport manufacturer wants to become a real challenger in the suspension market.