Suspension or rigid fork for touring, your opinion?

[Stefan Mikes]

I live and ride in a mixed terrain. Yes, you can hit a high quality asphalt but there's more poor asphalt, gravel, fire-roads, forest paths, field roads, cobbles and several other types of uneven surfaces. When I started cycling as a kid then teenager, all bikes had rigid forks and were made of steel so the only suspension available was "get your bloody ass from the saddle and stand on the pedals!" In the current era, both touring bikes of mine (the normal and the electric one) have had SR Suntour Nex coil spring suspension forks. Perhaps the suspension can be set up but I never gave that a second thought: the suspension forks were behaving as expected.

I also pump the tyres to (or almost to) the maximum available pressure as I am a heavy person and also paranoiac regarding the rolling resistance. Whenever I ride onto gravel or similar uneven surfaces, the front wheel is jarring, and I get vibrations from the handlebar in my whole body and I hate it. This kind of vibration appears to be more pronounced with my rear-hub-motor, perhaps because the center of gravity is greatly shifted backwards. Suspension seat post, a good gel/suspension saddle and seat-pad bibs protect my bum very well but the vibration from the handlebar is the real issue. I need to add the tyres are 42-622 or 28x1.6.

Now, after I got me an older model of Specialized Turbo Vado 5.0, I discovered instantly there was an aluminium rigid fork and no suspension seat-post in that model. At first I was scared but then discovered that with 51-622 (29x2.0) tyres pumped to 4 bar/58 psi the ride was very smooth and felt plush even on the worst surfaces where I suffered vibration from the suspension fork.

What is your experience? Many users say the fixed fork makes the ride jarred and the suspension fork is the must for touring but my experience is so different?

 

[Ravi Kempaiah]

Few people have shared their experience here:

https://electricbikereview.com/foru...ith-heavy-front-spring-suspension-fork.25054/

Some have gone to extreme lengths to make it work:

the Schwalbe Big One / G-One 2.35" 29'er

I will build this posting form as the day goes on, as I meet with, and maybe succeed against, little problems that will crop up. The goal is to mount Schwalbe Big One 29 x 2.35" tires on both front and rear and without tubes. Am working on the rear wheel first because it poses the greatest...

electricbikereview.com

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Summary:

If you have a rigid, light front fork and couple that with a high volume, puncture resistant tire at low-psi (35-40psi), the ride quality will be plush and the bike handling characteristics will be quite agile.

It is one of the reasons, Trek keeps using rigid fork for their Super commuter and Allant+ models. Anyone who has used high volume tires (or tubeless at low pressures) can vouch for this.

 

[indianajo]

I'm okay with 2" (55 mm) tires on my fixed wheel bikes. I don't go much over 10 mph except downhill on decent pavement I can go 30 mph. I keep my tires at 55 psi in the back, else the rim hits the pavement on bumps. Especially with cargo. 45 is okay in the front even with the battery mounted up there.
Suspension would be nice, but on a cargo bike or any bike with baskets or bags used for shopping, the weight varies a lot. Suspension would have to be air charged pistons or air bags to provide movement with all weights. Somebody should provide an air suspension with a schrader valve to charge it up with the pump or let air out for cargo. But all suspensions I know of are fixed weight (discount store bikes). At least saddle suspensions come with different springs.
You see in picture I use pool noodle pieces on my handlebars. My hands still go numb on long rides, but not as badly as without.

 

[emtbdude]

Summary:

If you have a rigid, light front fork and couple that with a high volume, puncture resistant tire at low-psi (35-40psi), the ride quality will be plush and the bike handling characteristics will be quite agile.

It is one of the reasons, Trek keeps using rigid fork for their Super commuter and Allant+ models. Anyone who has used high volume tires (or tubeless at low pressures) can vouch for this.

Wrong.

The "lightness" of a front fork on a 70 lbs e-bike is irrelevant. The additional weight of a low travel front fork (100mm) or less is 2 lbs (assuming it's a cheap fork like a sun tour): the approx weight of a large bottle of water.

Low tire PSI means greater susceptibility to pinch flats, greater rolling resistance (which in turn significantly reduces range), as well as squirminess through corners. In other words, the bike will be significantly slower, range will be lower and agility will be severely compromised when cornering since the tire cannot maintain it's shape.

You don't know why Trek specs what it does. Companies cut costs all the time by spec'ing ultra low quality components whenever possible. Specialized, which makes some excellent road bikes otherwise, spec'ed tektro brakes for many years even though they are unsafe. They still spec tektro on some mtb's despite their poor quality in order to save money.

Trek makes a lot of bad decisions, as well as a lot of good ones. Just because Trek or another large company makes a component choice doesn't make it the right or best choice. Almost always, the primary motivating factor is cost savings.

I can personally vouch for the fact that high volume tires do NOT guarantee comfort. My alu road bike with 25c tires pumped up to 75psi is very comfortable, despite enormously oversized and extremely stiff aluminum tubing.

Conversely, a radrover is very harsh over bumps despite 4" wide tires because it weighs 70+ lbs. Actually, the front end is plush and the rear end is harsh. Why? The front has a suspension fork. Aaaah.

OP: ride what works for you.

 

[steve mercier]

The only way to answer your question fairly is to consider all the places you will ride. This week I have been riding a Trek Verve + with no front suspension and a simple seatpost suspension. This bike is a joy to ride and is more comfortable on the street than some bikes with front shocks (such as the Cube Acid One which I rode this week also ) . However there are many many places I regularly ride my own bike (which has an air shock and a Thudbuster) that I would never consider taking the Verve on. Instead if I am on a Super Commuter or the Verve I will take the long way around such trails with medium ( 4-6 ") roots and stones.

 

[Ravi Kempaiah]

I live and ride in a mixed terrain. Yes, you can hit a high quality asphalt but there's more poor asphalt, gravel, fire-roads, forest paths, field roads, cobbles and several other types of uneven surfaces. When I started cycling as a kid then teenager, all bikes had rigid forks and were made of steel so the only suspension available was "get your bloody ass from the saddle and stand on the pedals!" In the current era, both touring bikes of mine (the normal and the electric one) have had SR Suntour Nex coil spring suspension forks. Perhaps the suspension can be set up but I never gave that a second thought: the suspension forks were behaving as expected.

I also pump the tyres to (or almost to) the maximum available pressure as I am a heavy person and also paranoiac regarding the rolling resistance. Whenever I ride onto gravel or similar uneven surfaces, the front wheel is jarring, and I get vibrations from the handlebar in my whole body and I hate it. This kind of vibration appears to be more pronounced with my rear-hub-motor, perhaps because the center of gravity is greatly shifted backwards. Suspension seat post, a good gel/suspension saddle and seat-pad bibs protect my bum very well but the vibration from the handlebar is the real issue. I need to add the tyres are 42-622 or 28x1.6.

Now, after I got me an older model of Specialized Turbo Vado 5.0, I discovered instantly there was an aluminium rigid fork and no suspension seat-post in that model. At first I was scared but then discovered that with 51-622 (29x2.0) tyres pumped to 4 bar/58 psi the ride was very smooth and felt plush even on the worst surfaces where I suffered vibration from the suspension fork.

What is your experience? Many users say the fixed fork makes the ride jarred and the suspension fork is the must for touring but my experience is so different?

Stefan,
You will get varied opinions from different kinds of people.
Just because someone asserts their thoughts authoritatively, does not make it helpful. You want to listen to people who actually use the bike for touring. Someone who has 10,000 miles or more under their belt.

Here is a video from an expert who has toured the world. Since you asked the question specifically for touring, you might want to take a look at this video.

high-quality rigid fork = low maintenance, extra load bearing capability and agile riding experience.

 

[indianajo]

You don't know why Trek specs what it does. Companies cut costs all the time by spec'ing ultra low quality components whenever possible. Specialized, which makes some excellent road bikes otherwise, spec'ed tektro brakes for many years even though they are unsafe. They still spec tektro on some mtb's despite their poor quality in order to save money.

Trek makes a lot of bad decisions, as well as a lot of good ones. Just because Trek or another large company makes a component choice doesn't make it the right or best choice. Almost always, the primary motivating factor is cost savings.

I have tektro cable disk brakes on the bike left. 5000 miles. No problems. Stops waaay better than any rim brake I've ever had. I carry up to 80 lb supplies down 15% grades in territory where deer crossing at the bottom of the steep grade where I'm hitting 30 mph is a serious risk.
Don't know Tektro's history, but these were bought January 2018.

 

[emtbdude]

high-quality rigid fork = low maintenance, extra load bearing capability and agile riding experience.

First, you claimed rigid forks are superior to suspension because they are more "plush" and "agile." Now that you have been proven wrong, you claim they are superior because they are "low maintenance."

I have been using a crappy rockshox pilot fork for over 15 years. I've never performed any meaningful maintenance on it, aside from a few drops of lube every few years and wiping down the stanchions whenever I feel like it, which is rarely. They work like crap. But they work. This is one of the worst forks ever made, with almost zero adjustability and yet it's still far superior in comfort to any rigid fork I've ever used. Duh.

As far as "agility," here are some kids riding 200mm full suspension travel bikes. Yeah, right, full suspension bikes aren't "agile":

I have tektro cable disk brakes on the bike left. 5000 miles. No problems. Stops waaay better than any rim brake I've ever had. I carry up to 80 lb supplies down 15% grades in territory where deer crossing at the bottom of the steep grade where I'm hitting 30 mph is a serious risk.
Don't know Tektro's history, but these were bought January 2018.

I've ridden with tektro mechanicals on the radrover. I was bracing for the worst, literally. I was pleasantly surprised: they are actually not bad, and work reasonably well. Of course, they won't be as buttery smooth or effortless as XT's, but no one expects that.

Conversely, VitalMTB's testers claim lower end tektro and Shimano hydraulics work poorly. IME, their assessment of downmarket Shimano Deore hydraulics is accurate: they're not very good, although I don't have first hand experience with any tektro hydraulics. Needless to say, they (tektro's) would not be my first choice:

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Thank you guys for your opinions so far. Some people ride gravel bikes with rigid fork and the tyres perform the shock absorbing function, I would add. I think if perhaps I had another type of a suspension fork (not the coil spring) then the vibration might be better dampened. I do not know.

It is one of the reasons, Trek keeps using rigid fork for their Super commuter and Allant+ models.

We are talking about S-Pedelecs, at least in the case of the Super Commuter and Turbo Vado 5.0/6.0. I think the rigid fork was used in the 2017/2018 models of the Specialized S-Pedelec not without a reason. I believe it is safer to ride at 28 mph with the rigid fork* and it is safer to suddenly grind to a halt than with a suspension fork. Just guessing. For 2019/2020 models of Vado, Specialized used cheap suspension fork and narrower tyres, interesting. Along with downgrading brakes from 4-piston TRP Zurich (the high-end Tektros) to two-piston Shimano brakes. Heh.
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*) All road bikes have rigid forks. Weight is one factor but not the only one.

 

[emtbdude]

The sun tour nex is one of the cheapest and likely one of the worst suspension forks in production. It is available for $30 online.

I would not use it as an example of quality suspension.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

The sun tour nex is one of the cheapest and likely one of the worst suspension forks in production.

So the same company that makes Turbo Levo and Kenevo puts these cheap forks in their hybrid and fast e-bikes now. Funny indeed. That is why I said I preferred the fixed fork in my Turbo Vado 5.

 

[Mass Deduction]

If someone is on a really bumpy road, a suspension fork and a medium-wdith tire could be a winner (this is the "crosstrail" philosophy).

If someone is on terrain that creates a constant gentle thrumming feeling (hardpack gravel, wooden slat bridges, etc.) then a rigid fork with a high-volume tire might be better. What's high volume? Depends on the category. If it's a road bike, 28-32mm wide might be high volume. If it's a hybrid, a 42-47mm wide tire might be considered high volume. On a mountain bike, 2.8" and up might be high volume.

So if you're on a road or trail full of bumps, ruts, roots, etc., I'd prefer a suspension fork (possibly with a somewhat skinnier tire). If I'm on a road or trail that creates more of a thrumming sensation, then I would take a rigid fork and a high volume tire because most inexpensive suspension forks aren't able to respond fast enough to counteract thrumming undulations (whereas a high volume tire can).

There's no lock-hard rule, I take every route on its merits!

 

[Feliz]

Most Suntour forks and especially the NEX are bad forks, Fox and Rockshock forks like you find on the Levo and Kenevo are real forks. You're comparing apples to oranges.

 

[emtbdude]

Most Suntour forks and especially the NEX are bad forks, Fox and Rockshock forks like you find on the Levo and Kenevo are real forks. You're comparing apples to oranges.

Lower end RockShox forks like the Recon don't work all that well either unfortunately. See the VitalMTB test linked above. You have to get to around the $500 mark with a fork like the Marzocchi Z2 in order to start getting higher quality performance.

If someone is on a really bumpy road, a suspension fork and a medium-wdith tire could be a winner (this is the "crosstrail" philosophy).

If someone is on terrain that creates a constant gentle thrumming feeling (hardpack gravel, wooden slat bridges, etc.) then a rigid fork with a high-volume tire might be better. What's high volume? Depends on the category. If it's a road bike, 28-32mm wide might be high volume. If it's a hybrid, a 42-47mm wide tire might be considered high volume. On a mountain bike, 2.8" and up might be high volume.

So if you're on a road or trail full of bumps, ruts, roots, etc., I'd prefer a suspension fork (possibly with a somewhat skinnier tire). If I'm on a road or trail that creates more of a thrumming sensation, then I would take a rigid for and a high volume tire.

There's no lock-hard rule, I take every route on its merits!

You mean road chatter. A suspension stem would be beneficial in those cases. Redshift stems work well. Specialized's Future Shock probably works even better still: it now has hydraulic damping. Plus, the system doesn't rely on the leverage of drop bars like the redshift stem.

In the rear, seat posts that have built in flex like the specialized Roubaix and Ergon seatpost, or parallelogram linkage seat posts like the redshift suspension seat post or cane creek esilk can help considerably.

These systems add little weight but are noticeably more comfortable than their rigid counterparts. A nice alternative to full on fork and shock combos.

 

[Feliz]

Yes, Marzocchi are good forks, they were the first suspension fork I ever used if I recall. I guess my point was Suntour don't make a good fork in my opinion, I don't think I've ever seen a Suntour fork at Whisler or any bike park for that matter. Any fork is good riding on pavement. I know the OP wants a fork for touring, in my experience a plus size tire doesn't replace a good fork, well, maybe a Suntour. I have a Suntour on my Watt Wagon and it is not a good fork.

 

[Feliz]

I don't suppose anyone remembers how when suspension forks first came out they would include a free air pump with each fork, I got a nice one with my first Marzocchi and Rockshock forks. That must have been 30 or more years ago, I'm guessing here, and I'm still using the pumps, now that's good value.

 

[Johnny]

Few people have shared their experience here:

https://electricbikereview.com/foru...ith-heavy-front-spring-suspension-fork.25054/

Some have gone to extreme lengths to make it work:

the Schwalbe Big One / G-One 2.35" 29'er

I will build this posting form as the day goes on, as I meet with, and maybe succeed against, little problems that will crop up. The goal is to mount Schwalbe Big One 29 x 2.35" tires on both front and rear and without tubes. Am working on the rear wheel first because it poses the greatest...

electricbikereview.com

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Summary:

If you have a rigid, light front fork and couple that with a high volume, puncture resistant tire at low-psi (35-40psi), the ride quality will be plush and the bike handling characteristics will be quite agile.

It is one of the reasons, Trek keeps using rigid fork for their Super commuter and Allant+ models. Anyone who has used high volume tires (or tubeless at low pressures) can vouch for this.

I agree with you that high volume tires around 35psi is plush. I would much prefer a wider tire instead of a cheap front fork. I also prefer rigid front fork on my non-electric bikes for commuting because of weight issues. However for most of the ebikes, the addition of a high quality front fork suspension improves riding comfort significantly while keeping the bike still agile. IMO if you are riding on rough terrain wide tires by themselves can not match a good suspension fork.


Those engineers you have talked to may claim that "durability" was what they had in mind,while there is a a truth to it, I think it is more like "durability while having a large profit margin" is what they really mean. When they can sell a rigid aluminum frame for $4.5-5K why would they bother increasing the cost by another $400-500 by supplying a quality front fork suspension.