The Range Of Mountain Bike Forks On The Market
The front forks of bikes have changed significantly since the introduction of the mountain bike. Suddenly a requirement arose for cushioning the impact of rocky terrain. A need that simply hadn’t been there previously.
Commonly on mountain bikes these days you will usually find that the front forks have a built in set of shock absorbers, with the blades being made from upper and lower extendable cylinders, called ‘legs’. These telescopic tubes allow the impact of the rocky terrain under the tyres to be reduced, which will make the bike much easier to ride in rough conditions.
The characteristics for MTB Forks can vary greatly, with the suspension travel and handling style tailored to a specific style of riding. For example, the XC rider will need a different setup to a downhill mountain bike rider, who will have a different setup again to a freeride mountain bike rider. Cross country bikes will not require as much suspension travel, normally near eighty to one hundred millimeters and will be made from lighter material when compared to the suspension used on a DH mountain bike. This is basically as they don’t get as much punishment as they might in other situations.
When suspension was first introduced onto mountain bikes, a travel distance of the 80 to 100 mm was the form. Now though, downhill forks offer typically around 150 to 200 millimetres of travel. There are some DH MTB forks though which can offer anywhere up to 300 millimetres of travel for the most extreme conditions!
Some mountain bike suspension forks may also enable the rider to adjust the suspension travel to suit particular sections of terrain. A higher travel for downhill and extreme sections, and less travel for the not so extreme XC or up hill sections. The rider may even want to completely eliminate suspension movement all together which would be an advantage on a smooth concrete road for example. This lockout ability may even be used externally from the handle bars using a trigger.
Whatever the style of riding you do, it pays to choose your MTB front suspension forks carefully as when you choose correctly you will benefit from a massive performance advantage.
