New prototype of Rock Shox XCO fork with golden bars, ceramic?

It is not the first time that Rock Shox has a fork with gold bars in the pure Kashima style of FOX, but it had been many years since they were seen in their catalog and these images seem to be of a new prototype that could arrive soon on the market.

New Rock Shox SID Ultimate Flight Attendant fork with gold bars

For months, some Gravity bikers from Rock Shox have been competing with prototype long-travel forks, Boxxer and ZEB, with gold bars. But now for the first time we have been able to see the gold on some XCO forks. It was at the Mont-Sainte-Anne World Cup by some cyclists from the Trek Factory Racing and this Top Fuel has already won with it and from the Specialized Factory Racing like on the bike of Short Track winner Victor Koreztky

At first glance, it looks like a RockShox SID Ultimate Flight Attendant fork with no changes other than the color of its bars. We would bet that this is an update to improve the feel and durability of the fork thanks to this coating.

It is undeniable that it resembles the Kashima coating of FOX, but it is worth remembering that in 2002, Rock Shox already used a golden coating based on titanium nitride on some of its forks.

The titanium nitride is a ceramic material that is usually used to coat components and due to its properties it could even increase the stiffness of the fork itself.

It seems that soon we will find out if this is the case or if it is some other advance that Rock Shox has implemented in its forks.