Different Types of Mountain Bike Suspension Forks On The Market

Cross Country (XC) Suspension Forks

Lightweight 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.

Historically, XC forks will have been spring loaded however the trend is now moving towards air sprung suspension.

The obvious benefits of such a change of keeping the weight of the fork small and making them easy to adjust this.

Downhill (DH) Suspension Forks

Have you observed 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 massive 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 2 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

Gigantic airs, massive jumps and big tricks need 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, though some riders do still prefer stiff forks.  Suspension forks will have tiny travel of 80-100mm and are normally coil sprung as well as being much heavier because of the increased strength than those designed for other trail bicycle disciplines.

Rigid Forks

Though suspension forks are more and more a typical sight on mountain bikes they are by no means the only option left.

For the die hards, people who do not wish to invest in dear suspension or those who prefer something lower maintenance there are still a number of quality stiff forks available on the market.

extremely popular in the dirt jump and street MTB scenes as well as singletrack, stiff Forks supply a viable and regularly more cost effective alternative to suspension.