Seriously (not subjectively)... Do suspension forks improve safety on Urban ebikes?

[MartsEbike]

I liked what you wrote but you certainly will agree with me the road or a bike path is not an off-road downhill trail? What is the full-suspension lockout for?

Riding up hills.

 

[Roxlimn]

I liked what you wrote but you certainly will agree with me the road or a bike path is not an off-road downhill trail? What is the full-suspension lockout for?

If you're riding on a well-maintained road or bike path, suspension will be pretty worthless. The reason they're so key on motorcycles and automobiles is because the engines and such are bolted onto the chassis and the vibrations can damage them if not suspended. No suspension also means the vibrations go straight to your bum. On a bike, both of those are less of a concern, so a rigid bike on consistently good asphalt is perfectly fine.

Full suspension lockouts are because if you're on an unpowered bike and you're powering up a hill by standing on the pedals, the suspension robs you of power on your downstrokes. Remember that the power stroke of many bikes are on the downstrokes of the leading pedal. Suspension can dampen that power quite significantly, so the lockout is there for you to temporarily take out the suspension to minimize power loss. You're never supposed to leave it locked out for very long, because if you take a big hit with the suspension locked out, it can damage the fork catastrophically. It won't break apart, but you could render the suspension permanently broken.

Even when you're cycling on flat terrain, locking out the suspension doesn't do you much good if your stroke is very even anyway, so there's no point to doing that on regular commutes. It's only for when you're sprinting or powering up a climb.f

If there is any risk that you will take a pothole at speed, then suspension is good insurance, and it makes the ride comfier. Normally, the trade off is that the bike is sluggish and heavy to pedal, but we all know that's not really an issue with an ebike.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Nice explanation indeed @Roxlimn!
I'll tell you what. Both my FS Trance E+ and my rigid-fork Vado (the later equipped with suspension handlebars and suspension seat-post as well as 2" tyres) can ride at high speed on roads and both feel very similarly to each other. The point is, I slow down when I see damaged road or gravel ahead. If we're talking speed bumps, both e-bikes feel exactly the same when riding over such obstacles.

I agree with you FS is good and as you have pointed out yourself cheap sus forks are a poor way to go; a good e-bike with a rigid fork might be better.

No doubt off-road riding and especially downhill just beg for good FS.

 

[MartsEbike]

The roads around here in the UK aren't very smooth to begin with and are often potholed or in a general poor state.... The dedicated cycle lanes are even worse... Suspension can really help when you unexpectedly hit a bad spot, especially at night - or even during the day, when heavy vehicle traffic is forcing you closer to the kerb.

I think up to around 30mph you can get away without it, but if you ride over 30mph, you really need suspension because you hit the bumps so much harder.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

I think up to around 30mph you can get away without it, but if you ride over 30mph, you really need suspension because you hit the bumps so much harder.

I thought British e-bikes were limited to 15.5 mph?
(a joke!)

 

[MartsEbike]

I thought British e-bikes were limited to 15.5 mph?
(a joke!)

Haha Our gov still requires someone to wave a red flag in front of you! ( I joke, but they would if they could!)

We really are a nanny state

The speed thing is strange... More often than not I feel its safer going faster than it is riding slower... People in cars/vans/lorries etc are less likely to try overtake you

 

[Stefan Mikes]

And often you need to be able to escape a danger... Agreed.

 

[Luto]

Yes, but there are many other factors that are more important: Speed of travel, handing of bike, weight distribution of bike, road condition, route selection, light conditions, type of shock, tuning of shock, front only, both, or just rear, type of tires, inflation of tires, road type, weather (wet or not) and user ability, user riding style. R&M marketers claim it is important along with ABS etc.

For me, SUBJECTIVLY, the suspension is not helpful because it is heavier on pavement such that I will actually roll over more stuff because it is not as nimble. So many times people go to avoid something and it is the rebound (e.g. over correct) that gets them. Also the sense that you can just go over it MAY create a situation, you could have avoided by slowing down. Speed is the most important factor, IMO. Hardly anyone gets hurt going 3-5 mph, and with an e-bike, getting back up to 12-16 mph is very easy.

Also don't forget, non air type require maintenance.

Oh I will add one more, familiarity with the road. You know every bump and crease along your common route right?

 

[MartsEbike]

What is this "maintenance" you speak of?

 

[Akrotiri]

What is this "maintenance" you speak of?

Maintenance on suspension forks that aren’t on pure e-mtbs is a nightmare. Their often low quality even on higher end but unreliable brands like Stromer.

Quality suspension forks are in the range of $800-$1200. What is fitted in urban e-bikes is generally not good unless the e-bike brand has great warranty and customer support and stands by their product like Trek, Specialized or Giant.

 

[bikeman242]

What is this "maintenance" you speak of?

I have two thousand miles on my full air suspension eMTB and have never done a bit of maintenance aside from wiping them off after a muddy ride.

Probably this is bad advice. But no issues here.

 

[MartsEbike]

Maintenance on suspension forks that aren’t on pure e-mtbs is a nightmare. Their often low quality even on higher end but unreliable brands like Stromer.

Quality suspension forks are in the range of $800-$1200. What is fitted in urban e-bikes is generally not good unless the e-bike brand has great warranty and customer support and stands by their product like Trek, Specialized or Giant.

Yep... The difference between proper suspension and the pogo sticks found on many bikes is like night and day, but it does come at a price.

 

[MartsEbike]

I have two thousand miles on my full air suspension eMTB and have never done a bit of maintenance aside from wiping them off after a muddy ride.

Probably this is bad advice. But no issues here.

Yeah me too.... I give them a check over now and then but if its feeling good, then its good to go.

I have quality suspension that can handle far more than anything I'll throw at it... and much of the time I'm only riding paths/roads... If anything its probably over-spec'ed given its usage, but its nice to have it.

 

[AHicks]

Sorry, not buying into this-

"Also don't forget, non air type require maintenance."

I could agree on a few advantages, like the non air type weight, but the need for maintenance? Sorry.... They're the same where I come from.

And the pogo sticks are all some of us need. Sure, I'd love an expensive state of the art, rebound adjustable front fork in a perfect world. Not saying they're no better than my one step above fixed pogo sticks. Only that my pogo sticks are easy to justify for my riding 'druthers. Not everyone "needs" an expensive downhill fork.....

 

[MartsEbike]

Sorry, not buying into this-

"Also don't forget, non air type require maintenance."

I could agree on a few advantages, like the non air type weight, but the need for maintenance? Sorry.... They're the same where I come from.

And the pogo sticks are all some of us need. Sure, I'd love an expensive state of the art, rebound adjustable front fork in a perfect world. Not saying they're no better than my one step above fixed pogo sticks. Only that my pogo sticks are easy to justify for my riding 'druthers. Not everyone "needs" an expensive downhill fork.....

"Sure, I'd love an expensive state of the art, rebound adjustable front fork in a perfect world"

Lets just leave it there

 

[Johnny]

Forum needs some Fact checking.

Stromer ST3/5 use WREN forks. WREN manufactures the BEST inverted forks on the market today. Their offerings are very high end trail forks.
What Stromer uses is pretty much their trail forks modified for less travel. It has very beefy stanchions(you find this thickness on downhill forks), same adjustability (It loses the second chamber which was functioning as an adjustable token however at a short travel this is not a big problem) and let's internal cable routing. For a high speed pedellec there is nothing on the market that is remotely close to this fork, period.

A couple of important advantages of wren inverted forks are:
1. The unsprung weight is significantly less compared to regular forks which improves control.
2. They require much less maintenance and they are much less susceptible to outside elements since gravity push these away from the seals unlike regular forks.

We should also check what other speed pedellecs have:
1. Specialized turbo Vado 6.0, SR Suntour NCX E25, 50mm of travel. Basically a COIL only, hybrid bike fork. It is pretty much one of the cheapest suntour offerings around. You can find this level of forks on $500 hybrid bikes.
2. Allant 7s, SR Suntour Mobie25, coil spring. Similar to NCX, can take wider tires but in terms of capability it is more or less the same.

Not only these are not on par with entry level decent mtb forks but also they are the cheaper Coil versions of their respective models. If we are going to talk about "pogo sticks" these two would be two prime examples of such suspension forks.


A word on maintenance. Higher quality MTB's forks are built for reliability on the trails. They can take a lot of abuse etc. while improving your control significantly. However maintenance intervals will completely depend on how the bike is ridden. You may need to rebuild a fork after 50hours on a trail yet it may last ten times more that on the roads, mild terrain.

 

[AHicks]

Forum needs some Fact checking.

Stromer ST3/5 use WREN forks. WREN manufactures the BEST inverted forks on the market today. Their offerings are very high end trail forks.
What Stromer uses is pretty much their trail forks modified for less travel. It has very beefy stanchions(you find this thickness on downhill forks), same adjustability (It loses the second chamber which was functioning as an adjustable token however at a short travel this is not a big problem) and let's internal cable routing. For a high speed pedellec there is nothing on the market that is remotely close to this fork, period.

A couple of important advantages of wren inverted forks are:
1. The unsprung weight is significantly less compared to regular forks which improves control.
2. They require much less maintenance and they are much less susceptible to outside elements since gravity push these away from the seals unlike regular forks.

We should also check what other speed pedellecs have:
1. Specialized turbo Vado 6.0, SR Suntour NCX E25, 50mm of travel. Basically a COIL only, hybrid bike fork. It is pretty much one of the cheapest suntour offerings around. You can find this level of forks on $500 hybrid bikes.
2. Allant 7s, SR Suntour Mobie25, coil spring. Similar to NCX, can take wider tires but in terms of capability it is more or less the same.

Not only these are not on par with entry level decent mtb forks but also they are the cheaper Coil versions of their respective models. If we are going to talk about "pogo sticks" these two would be two prime examples of such suspension forks.


A word on maintenance. Higher quality MTB's forks are built for reliability on the trails. They can take a lot of abuse etc. while improving your control significantly. However maintenance intervals will completely depend on how the bike is ridden. You may need to rebuild a fork after 50hours on a trail yet it may last ten times more that on the roads, mild terrain.

Nicely said! In my younger years, I did some shock work on snowmobiles, quads, and dirt bikes. A little tuning there made a huge difference! Air is nice, but unless something has changed recently, any thought of them needing less maintenance (vs. all hydraulic) is born in fantasy land....