Varieties of M.T.B Forks Available To Purchase
Cross Country (XC) Suspension Forks
Light and short travel, XC mtb forks are usually single crown thanks to the mild terrain and to save weight so not to make the bike too heavy to rise.
Traditionally, 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 to a minimum and making them straightforward to adjust this.
Downhill (DH) Suspension Forks
Have you ever watched the insanity that may be downhill mountain biking? Big drops, huge opening jumps and rotten terrain over a short prtiod of time. Downhill forks can have large amounts of travel ( 10 inches isn’t unhead of ) to make allowance for the strain a DH bike is put under.
Downhill forks are typically coil spring to take on big hits but are also double crowns ; this is where there are two legs of the fork close to 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
Massive airs, giant jumps and big tricks require forks which can take some punishment forks not designed for this reason are liable to be damaged, or worse break, causing major injury to a rider.
A dirt jump ( DJ ) bike will sometimes be a hardtail and front suspension, although some riders do still like stiff forks. Suspension forks will have tiny travel of 80-100mm and are normally coil sprung as well as being much heavier thanks to the increased strength than those designed for other mountain bike disciplines.
Rigid Forks
Though suspension forks are more and more a standard sight on mountain bicycles they are by no means the only option left.
For the die hards, those who don’t wish to speculate in dear suspension or those who prefer something lower maintenance there are still a number of quality firm forks available on the market.
extremely popular in the dirt jump and street MTB scenes as well as singletrack, firm Forks supply a viable and regularly less expensive alternative to suspension.