DHX RC4 Rear Suspension

Overview

A visualisation of the FOX DHX RC4 coil shock, a mountain-bike rear suspension unit with externally adjustable compression and rebound. The piece had to make a dense mechanical object feel desirable while staying accurate enough for an audience that knows the hardware.

The challenge

A coil shock is mostly dark anodised metal: black on black, with the detail that matters concentrated in small adjuster dials and printed markings. Shot badly it reads as an indistinct lump. The Kashima gold coating and the blue adjuster are the only colour in the whole object, and they had to carry the frame.

The approach

Everything was modelled to reference, including the printed graphics, which were rebuilt as vector artwork and mapped rather than faked in post. Lighting is built from narrow specular strips raked across the body, that is what separates each machined surface from the one behind it on a near-black object. The camera holds long and moves slowly so the eye has time to find the adjusters.

The result

A short-form product film plus a demonstration still breaking out the adjustment controls.