 Thats pretty smart, mechanically very simple so I can see how they can claim maintenance free.
Bet it's not going to be cheap though.
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 Reminds me of the Austin Alegro.
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Yes good point, that was far from maintenance free, used to see cars driving around 1 side lower all the time.
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 It might not be cheap but the savings you make from zero maintenance will probably dwarf the cost of buying it.I may even go FS myself if its any good,I like the maintenance free bit.
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Won't work well on a Single Pivot bike though Podge, so maintenance free Shock and high maintenance multi pivots, can't win really. Small bump sensitivity is key though, if thats really good I'll be tempted myself. Max Start Pressure the Bladder can take to, could be a issue.
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Yes,pivots were part of the problem why I sacked my FS.
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Maintainance free, just means when it stops workig, which it will, your only option is to bin it. Not a good idea in my opinion unless they give a lifetime warranty.
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They likely will get a life time warranty, well 5 or 10years as it should be able to easily last that long.
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How does the damping work? The fact that it has a rebound dial means that there is some damping mechanism internally. Surely the damping will require attention sooner or later? How about aftermarket tuning?
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Air through a valved hole probably.
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Although TINY holes are the only way to do it, I can't see how without upping the compression at the same time, VERY smart!!
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Exactly, I guess air moving through sufficiently small holes will behave like a fluid. However, the rebound adjusts, meaning that either the holes are arranged in such a way as to be gradually closed off I'd guess. I can think of so many reasons why it's a non starter and why it won't work. However Magura traditionally knows what it's doing and will have tested this shock properly, so I'm kind of rooting for a new product at the same time.
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The problem is though, Air not being a fluid won't bypass on the compression side, and as it's capable of changing pressure / becoming a vacuum even, I really can't see how you'd make a damping circuit out of it. But they have alledegely, so I want to get 1 strip it to bits destroy it and work it out  * ahhh to be a millionaire and be able to afford to do above *
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 Maintainance free, just means when it stops workig, which it will, your only option is to bin it. "Maintanence free" != "non-repairable", necessarily. As the article mentions, air damping is not a new idea. Historically it's never been as consistent or tunable as hydraulic damping, but I'm reserving judgement until I've used one  Won't work well on a Single Pivot bike though There are single pivots and single pivots. Such a sweeping statement is unlikely to be true, and indeed isn't
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 And of course, zey are german engineers and zey do not make mistakes 
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Let's put it this way - I'll be impressed if it works as well as a regular air/oil shock. Of course, there's every possibility that the air volume is so big and hence the air pressure requirements so low that the demands placed on the damping are relatively, er, undemanding, which would give it a much better chance of success. Wait and see, eh?
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 I thought that air damping had been tried - largely unsuccessfully - a few times. An old riding mate of mine had a Cane Creek AS-10 (was it??) fitted to his old single pivot Mount Vision Pro to save a stack of weight, which it did, but it was notoriously fickle to set-up and he eventually got pissed off with it. However, that was basically a conventional shock design with internal air damping and the vaguaries of the set-up were exascerbated by the high levels of stiction from the can having no lubricating oil in it. If this design overcomes the stiction problem (which it looks like it probably does) and the air damping has been refined then well done Magura. This however  is my "unconvinced" face.
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/checks article again to make sure the list of examples of previous air-damping attempts is still there
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 Allegros needed 4, you'll most likely only need one.
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 Once the air is pressurised and forced through a small hole it will act as a damping medium. Using a one way valve (Like pretty much all oil shocks) so the air can easily pass the damping plates as the shock compresses but must go through the damping holes under pressure, creating damping force as the shock extends will work perfectly. A problem that may arise is the variation in the viscosity of air with temperature (It changes by about 23% between 0 and 100 degC). Oil's viscosity will probably change by a similar amount, but air has a slightly lower thermal capacity which, combined with the very low mass of air in the shock, will allow its temperature to get a lot higher than oil will to dissipate the same energy. This will give inconsistent behaviour in the shock depending on the length of the descent it's sent down. It should be noted that the viscosity of air goes up with temperature rather than down as with most liquids, so the damping will increase as the shock heats. The real problem is the effect the change in the air temperature in the shock has on the air pressure in the shock, making the shock much harder as it heats up. Possibly Magura have a temperature sensing damping adjustment and have devised a rubber that changes stiffness with temperature to allow the shock spring rate to remain constant, but I'd be surprised if they've managed it (And not said it all over their product release literature). The other thing to note with the maintenance free claims is that there must still be a telescoping element inside the shock to stop it bending in half instead of compressing, so there will still be wear and stiction. They should be less than conventional shocks, though given that I've done a grand total of nothing to my rear shock in the two years I've owned it apart from replacing shock bushings, I'd be a lot more impressed if they claimed the shock bushings were a lot more durable than standard.
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