The history of the Upside-down forks on mountain bikes is a story of failure. While inverted forks are now standard on two-wheelers with combustion engines, they have never been able to establish themselves on MTBs. This is astonishing, because one of the great advantages of upside-down forks, their more sensitive response behaviour, should play a role on lightweight mountain bikes in particular. There has never been a lack of resources for development: The first attempts were made back in the early nineties with the Suspenders fork on the Mountain Cycle San Andreas. Industry giants such as Manitou and Marzocchi also tried their hand at the reverse system time and again. Even Rockshox entered the upside-down segment a few years ago with the exclusive RS-1 on. However, despite the excessive use of carbon fibre, the fork was heavy and not very stiff, which even the bulky special hub could hardly change. The fiddly wheel assembly and the extremely high price were further reasons for the almost inevitable flop. The topic of upside-down mountain bikes was once again a thing of the past.
After the disappearance of the RS-1, nobody would have thought it possible that a German inventor of all people would soon come up with the most convincing upside-down concept of the 2010s. Curtain up for Cornelius Kapfinger and his first fork, the Intend Edge. Inspired by the early Manitou Dorado in 2015, the former Trickstuff developer set about single-handedly building his own, better version of the American fork. Lighter, stiffer, more sensitive. Cornelius would be accused of megalomania if he wasn't also the brains behind the lightest brake anchor in the world, the Trickstuff Piccola, has been.
Initial scepticism turned into scepticism after our first tests The first models worked extremely well and rode almost on a par with the top models from Fox and Rockshox. Compared to the RS-1, even the price was reasonable. Despite manual labour and small series production. Recently Kapfinger introduced the Blackline Ebonite its first conventional suspension fork which, with fewer customisable parts and a right-side-up design, is aimed at those for whom upside-down is too special. Many of the components for the interior have been taken over from the Edge. Only the chassis is really new and follows familiar shapes again. This offers a rare opportunity for a flawless concept comparison. Which design really has the edge in practice, regardless of manufacturer, damping or air cartridge? Our test provides the answer.
Intend Edge: Price from 1849 euros | weight 2123 grams
Intend Blackline Ebonite: Price 1699 Euro | Weight 2301 gram
The Intend Edge vs Intend Blackline Ebonite test duel from BIKE 6/2021 with all the information, overview tables and grades can be found as a PDF in the download area below.
The test costs 0.99 euros. Why not free of charge? Because quality journalism has a price. In return, we guarantee independence and objectivity. This applies in particular to the tests in BIKE. We don't pay for them, but the opposite is the case: we charge for them, hundreds of thousands of euros every year.
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Adrian Kaether
Editor
