Posted by Art on Sep 10, 2009 in
Biking
Cross Country (XC) Suspension Forks
Light and short travel, XC mtb forks are often single crown due to the mild terrain and to save weight so not to make the bike too heavy to rise.
Historically, XC forks will have been spring loaded however the trend is now moving towards air sprung suspension.
The obvious advantages of such a change of keeping the weight of the fork as low as possible and making them straightforward to adjust this.
Downhill (DH) Suspension Forks
Have you watched the insanity that may be downhill mountain biking? Massive drops, giant opening jumps and terrible terrain over a short prtiod of time. Downhill forks can have large amounts of travel ( ten inches isn’t unhead of ) to allow for the strain a DH bike is put under.
Downhill forks are typically coil spring to take on large hits but are also double crowns ; this is where there are two legs of the fork near the top where the fork joins the handle bar. Double crown forks offer double the suspension of single crown forks.
Dirt Jump (DJ) Suspension Forks
Big airs, giant jumps and big tricks need forks which can take some punishment forks not designed for this purpose are responsible to be damaged, or worse break, causing serious injury to a rider.
A dirt jump ( DJ ) bike will typically be a hardtail and front suspension, though some riders do still prefer stiff forks. Suspension forks will have small travel of 80-100mm and are routinely coil sprung as well as being much heavier due to the increased strength than those designed for other mountain bike disciplines.
Rigid Forks
Though suspension forks are more and more a common sight on mountain bicycles they are by no means the only option left.
For the die hards, those that don’t wish to speculate in costly suspension or those who prefer something lower upkeep there remain a number of quality rigid forks available on the market.
extremely popular in the dirt jump and street MTB scenes as well as singletrack, firm Forks offer a viable and regularly less expensive alternative to suspension.
Tags: cross country, dh, downhill, fork, freeride, moutnain bike, mtb, suspension, xc
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 May 26, 2009 in
Biking
The front forks of bikes have changed massively since the introduction of the mountain bike. Due to the introduction a need developed for cushioning the impact of rough terrain. A need that simply had not been there before.
Commonly on MTB’s now days you will usually find that the front forks have an already fitted set of shocks, with the blades being made from upper and lower telescopic tubes, called ‘legs’. These telescopic tubes allow the impact of the rocky terrain under the wheels to be reduced, thereby making the bike much easier to control in rough conditions.
The technical specifications for MTB Forks can change massively, with the forks travel and handling style tailored to a specific discipline of mountain biking. For example, a XC mountain bike rider will need a different setup to a DH mountain bike racer, who will have a different fork again to a freeride rider. XC bikes won’t require as much suspension fork travel, usually near eighty to one hundred millimeters and will be made from lighter metal when compared to the forks used on a DH bike. This is essentially as they won’t receive as much punishment as they might during cross country riding.
When suspension was first introduced onto mountain bikes, a travel distance of the above amount was normal. Now though, DH forks offer typically around one hundred and fifty to 200 millimetres of travel. There are some downhill MTB forks though which can offer anywhere up to three hundred millimetres of travel for really extreme terrain!
Some suspension forks may also enable the rider to pump the suspension travel to suit particular sections of a trail. More travel for downhill and extreme sections, and lower travel for the not so extreme XC or up hill sections. The rider may even want to entirely eliminate suspension travel all together which would be an advantage on a smooth concrete road for example. This lockout ability may even be activated externally from the handle bars utilising a cable.
Whichever type of mountain biking you do, it pays to choose your mountain bike front suspension forks wisely as when you choose correctly you will benefit from a significant change in performance.
Tags: cross country, dh, downhill, fork, freeride, moutnain bike, mtb, suspension, xc