let's define "remote reservoir" dampers...

[Greg Amy]

I think it's time to write a letter to the CRB...

Just about every shock has a reservoir of some kind, so it's not the existence of one that makes shocks illegal, it's the location. The Koni strut inserts I run, for example, have a co-axial reservoir, around the outside of the working cylinder. My reservoir is "remote" to the working cylinder but still legal, as it's not "external" (to what, I cannot explain).

Where the reservoir is located is a design issue of packaging, being able to fit as large a reservoir as possible within the space constraints allowed. Historically, shocks built with external reservoirs (external to the visible cylinder, i.e., you can actually see them as a separate part) were high-dollar, high-performance items; they were banned from IT due to being seen as far and above the spirit of the "low cost" rules. However, these days that's not the case; I can buy clearly-IT-legal struts from Koni for $1500 per corner that far and away exceed the performance of the ones I have now. That distinction of reservoir shocks being expensive and non-reservoir not is not only blurred, it's pretty much gone (I can buy cheap remote reservoir shocks off the IntarWeb that are total pieces of crap, and as described above I can buy non-reservoir shocks that are neat stuff).

What I'm trying to say here is the old boogity-boo about remote reservoir shocks - one that I personally supported ten years ago - is moot. Time to let that old prejudice die.