Varieties Of Mountain Bike Suspension Forks Available to Purchase
Varieties Of MTB Forks Available to Buy
The front forks of bikes have changed significantly since the invention of the mountain bike. Due to the introduction a need arose for cushioning the impact of rocky ground. A need that simply had not cropped up previously.
On most MTB’s these days you will tend to find that the front forks have an already fitted set of shock absorbers, with the blades being made from upper and lower extendable tubes, called ‘legs’. These telescopic tubes allow the impact of the rough surface under the wheels to be reduced, thereby making the bike much easier to control in rough conditions.
The technical specifications for MTB Forks can vary greatly, with the forks travel and handling style setup to a specific style of riding. For example, a XC rider will require a different fork to a DH mountain bike racer, who will have a different setup again to a freeride rider. Cross country bikes do not need as much suspension fork travel, typically around eighty to 100 millimeters and will be made from lighter metal when compared to the suspension used on a downhill mountain bike. This is basically because they won’t get as much punishment as they might in other situations.
When suspension was initially introduced into mountain biking, a travel length of the 80 to 100 mm was the form. Now though, DH forks offer typically around 150 to two hundred millimetres of travel. There are some DH mountain bike forks though which can offer anywhere up to 300 millimetres of travel for really extreme terrain!
Some mountain bike forks may also allow the rider to pump the suspension travel to fit particular sections of terrain. A higher travel for downhill and extreme terrain, and lower travel for the not so rough XC or up hill sections. The rider may even want to completely eliminate suspension fork travel all together which would be an advantage on a smooth tarmac road for example. This lockout ability may even be used externally from the handle bars utilising a trigger.
Whatever the type of riding you do, it pays to choose your mountain bike front suspension forks carefully as when you pick correctly you will benefit from a massive change in performance.