Specialized Bikes

Just about every mountain bike these days comes with front suspension forks and they are the most important mountain bike components you should look at. If the bike you are looking at does not have front suspension forks you are probably looking at a hybrid, a touring bike or a road bike.

Coil Sprung Forks

In general a coil fork is ideal if you have a tight budget or are after an all-round bike. They are your most reliable choice and are more easily serviced. They are easily adjusted and tuned.

The main downside is the extra weight they have due to the steel spring inside the fork. However this also means they are usually made tougher. If you want to do DH racing, lots of jumping or just like to throw your bike around then this is the fork for you.

Air Sprung Forks

Air sprung forks are lighter than coils but are also more expensive. These days they are getting more reliable and are a great choice for a XC rider or someone who wants LOTS of adjustability on their fork.

As long as you have a shock pump you can change your air sprung fork from 0psi to around 300psi in very little time.

Preload

Preload is the amount your springs are compressed when they are fully extended. A coil sprung fork will come with a minimum preload on it. If you turn the grooved cap at the top of the fork clockwise you can add preload to it. This means that the spring is being pressed down and makes your fork feel firmer.

Rebound

Rebound is the speed at which your fork springs back up when you push it down. It is good if your fork has a rebound adjuster but not essential. More advanced riders like to set their own rebound but if you are only an amateur rider you will be fine with the factory settings.

Many suspension forks these days can now be adjusted by changing the oil weight in the fork legs. A little dial on the fork is much easier but only more expensive forks will have this.

Compression

This is the opposite of rebound and is the speed on the way down. You won’t find too many forks that let you adjust this so don’t worry about it too much. As long as your fork is set-up for your weight you don’t need to worry about compression.

Brands

When looking at mountain bike components, and in particular forks, stick to the major brands like Rock Shox, Fox, Manitou and Marzocchi. They have more money for research and development and build better and more reliable forks.

Brake Mounts

If your bike does not have disc brakes, keep in mind that you might want to upgrade to disc brakes in the future so look for disc brake mounts.

Upgrading

If you are thinking about upgrading your forks then it is a good idea to upgrade when you buy your bike rather than a few months later when you have saved up a bit more money.

Why?

If you are getting a new bike the cost to upgrade to a new fork is usually the difference in wholesale price between your current forks and the ones you are upgrading to. If you play your cards right you can usually get them to install them for you free of charge.

If you upgrade your forks a month or 2 down the track you will have to buy the new forks at retail price (usually a couple hundred dollars more) and you will usually need to pay to get them fitted to your bike.

So think hard about whether it is worthwhile delaying the purchase of your new bike until you have saved enough money to be able to upgrade your parts when you purchase your bike. It could save you hundreds of dollars.