Patent ID: 8770360

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 within the damper body; a reservoir with a movable sealed barrier partially defining a variable volume chamber within the reservoir, wherein the longitudinal axis of the damper body and a longitudinal axis of the reservoir are non-coaxial and non-parallel; a fluid path between the damper body and the reservoir for conveying fluid flow from the damper body to the reservoir as the piston rod moves further into the damper body; an inertia valve for at least partially controlling the fluid flow through the fluid path, the inertia valve positioned within the reservoir 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; and (2) whereby in response to an upward acceleration exceeding a predetermined acceleration threshold, the inertia mass is movable 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 biasing member; and whereby when the inertia mass is in the second position, fluid enters the reservoir at a first location relative to the inertia mass, flows within an interior hollow portion of the shaft, and then exits the interior hollow portion of the shaft at a second location relative to the inertia mass.