Patent ID: 7261194

Claim:
A bicycle suspension assembly, comprising: a damper body having a longitudinal axis and containing damping fluid; a piston coupled to a piston rod; the piston and a portion of the piston rod movable along the longitudinal axis of, and within, the damper body; a reservoir including a reservoir tube having a longitudinal axis non-coaxial with the longitudinal axis of the damper body; an inner surface of the reservoir tube and a moveable sealed barrier partially defining a variable volume reservoir chamber; a compression fluid flow circuit in fluid communication with the damper body and the reservoir chamber for conveying fluid flow from the damper body to the reservoir chamber during a compression stroke, as the piston rod moves further into the damper body; an inertia valve for at least partially controlling the fluid flow resistance through the compression fluid flow circuit, the inertia valve positioned within the reservoir tube and including: (1) an inertia mass, the inertia mass including an uppermost encircling portion immediately adjacent to and encircling a shaft and through which an upper end of a shaft protrudes; (2) whereby in response to an upward acceleration exceeding a predetermined acceleration threshold, the inertia mass moves along the shaft from a first position downward towards a second position; the first position limited by a stop and the inertia mass being biased towards the stop by a spring; and whereby the compression fluid flow circuit is configured so, when the inertia mass has moved away from the first position and during compression, as the piston rod moves further into the damper body, fluid enters the reservoir tube at a location below the inertia mass; flows upward within an interior hollow portion of the shaft; and then exits the interior hollow portion of the shaft at a location at least partially above the uppermost encircling portion of the inertia mass.