My brain is running at full speed. A practical test is real multitasking. In each section, I have to look ahead, steer, observe the fork - and evaluate it. In the stepped section, the fork must not dive through the suspension travel, but should offer safety. Then the key section! There are big boulders in the narrow passage. Can I rely on the suspension? Now the tight bend: Will the front wheel stay on track? I save my impressions of the test ride for each of the sixteen test forks from the 2010 season. At the end of the ride, we note down the information and impressions from our short-term memory. Like the whole test, organised according to the individual All Mountain, Race and Enduro categories.
First conclusion: The standard of the new forks is high, as are some of the prices: German:A. charges € 1387 for its fully equipped 120-millimetre Xcite Criterium+ fork. It comes with a lot of carbon fibre, a remote drop, lockout and other adjustment options. However, between the high-priced super-thingies, there are also affordable products such as the Raidon from SR Suntour (€ 249) and forks from RST, which cope perfectly with the demands of the test track.
Forks from the bike forge
The market is being revitalised by two complete bike manufacturers: Specialized is launching its lightweight E160 enduro fork on the aftermarket; Cannondale finally has an adapter that fits Lefty forks into any conventional head tube. We tested the new Lefty Ultra PBR 120. After the problems of the past few years, three of Marzocchi's new models are back in the test field. These include a 55 with a titanium spring instead of an air chamber. Another newcomer to the fork market is shock manufacturer X-Fusion. The test field is again sorted by suspension travel. Cross Country/Race up to 100 millimetres, All Mountain Sport up to 120 millimetres. We have increased the All Mountain Plus and Enduro categories by ten millimetres each to 150 and 170 millimetres due to the new models from Rock Shox and Fox.
You can find these models in the PDF download below:
- CC Race: DT Swiss XRC 100 Race, Magura Durin Race, Marzocchi Corsa Micro TI
- All Mountain Sport: Cannondale Lefty PBR Ultra, Fox 32 F120 Fit, German:A Xcite Criterium+, SR Suntour Raidon RLD Alu
- All Mountain Plus: Fox 32 Talas RLC Fit, Marzocchi 44 Micro TI, Rock Shox Revelation Team, RST Titan 15 Air
- Enduro: Marzocchi 55 RC3 Titanium, Rock Shox Lyric Solo Air, RST Storm Super Air, Specialised E 160 TA, X-Fusion Vengeance HLR
