With the new, comfortable 28-inch suspension forks from 2005, high-tech is making its way into trekking forks. Gone are the days when heavy, tough front suspension only had visual qualities.
Six manufacturers have delivered their top models for the big suspension fork test. We put them through their paces in the laboratory, put them through their paces in the riding test, measured, weighed and evaluated them. And achieved some astonishing results.
The high-quality models offer the sensitive response, usable suspension travel and effective damping that we have long known from mountain bikes. And the riding behaviour of the trekking bike benefits from this. A sensitive fork reacts to even the smallest gravel, but also swallows potholes and rough gravel without any problems. It must not bounce back when rebounding, so it needs effective damping in the rebound stage. Suspension travel of around 80 millimetres is best suited for trekking use: This leaves enough reserves when sudden ruts appear in the forest track on the way downhill.
The suspension forks in the test:
Acros Crypt
German A Force Kilo Air
German A Force Kilo steel nib
Marzocchi TXC ECC 80
Marzocchi TXC 60
RockShox Reba Race 29er
Suntour NCX Firmtech
Suntour NRX 9100 LO
The full-length article from issue 3/2005 is available as a free PDF download.
