Posted by Art on Aug 26, 2009 in
Biking
Massive airs, enormous jumps and enormous tricks require MTB Forks which can take some punishment forks not designed for this reason are responsible to be damaged or worse break ; causing significant injury to a rider.
A dirt jump ( DJ ) bike will typically be a hardtail and front suspension, although some riders do still like rigid forks. Dirt jump forks will have little travel of 80-100mm and are typically coil sprung as well as being much heavier because of the increased strength than those designed for other trail bicycle disciplines.
If you know anything about dirt jumping you can know the name Marzocchi probably the well known and most widely used type of forks on dirt jump bikes with their infamous dirt jumper range.
The dirt jumper range starts with the entry level DJ3 fork. It’s a quick-release fork, but the simple forged lowers are very well proved re slam proofing. The coil-sprung internals get an easy but effective bottom out damper for slam control. They may also be stiffened up for emergency-only movement ( if that’s's what you are after ) by charging the auxiliary air spring.
The range then moves up to the Dirt Jumper one & 2 models, which, in the newly asserted 2010 models will utilize the updated Open Bath RV damper, which features outwardly adjustable rebound damping. The Dirt Jumper 1 & 2 models feature a coil spring and a low pressure pre-load system.
Weighing in at only 2240g for an open bath, coil sprung fork the DJ1 weighs a great 355g less than the 2009 DJ1 while accelerating strength by thirty percent.
If you can not spring the £190 £500 ( $200 – $1000 ) that the dirt jumper range can cost may want to instead consider a rigid fork. The advantages are not only cost, stiff forks such as the Charge Nozzle will not only cost less but will also weight a load less than suspension forks meaning you can save additional weight which may assist you with getting some of those technical tricks nailed.
Tags: forks, mountain bike forks, mtb forks, suspension
Posted by Art on Jul 9, 2009 in
Biking
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.
Tags: forks, mountain bike forks, mtb forks, suspension forks