Why are forks so expensive?
 

A cheap fork is 300 dollars, which seems totally absurd. Am I just not initiated enough yet into the MTB world?

If you don't want to pay, just get a cromoly rigid fork and call it a day (Kona P2 = $60). It's good to learn with, anyway.
Just make sure your tires are at a low enough pressure!

A cheap fork can be purchsed for $80 on a bad day.

An entry level fork can be gotten for less than $200.

A mid level fork can be had for around $300

A nice fork can be purchased for $450-$500


It's all in what you want. $80-$1500...take your pick. Suspension tech is so much better now than it was even 5yrs ago. A Tora is a great fork. I had one. I'd ride one any day. I try to get the best I can with the money I have though.

Yup, well if you still want cheap, look for RST or Suntour. But I wont recommend both of those brand, you should look for RockShox. Their low-end forks is okay, much better then SR or RST.

You just have to look around. I found a 2007 Reba Race last year on ebay for $220 shipped to me. It was a never ridden take-off, so brand new except for a little ring of metal scuff on the head tube where they took the bottom race off. It is the poploc fork, but did not come with the poploc lever. I got the poploc lever for $35.

So, you can find good forks for decent prices...

You can pick stuff up on great deals, but as far as looking at retail prices go, I'd just have to advise getting used to it. Honestly, what you get for $300 these days is FAR better than what you'd get a few years ago. The Tora from Rock Shox has actual, working rebound adjustment, a working lockout, and though it's a bit of a tank, feels pretty good. 5 years ago $300 would get you a fork with no adjustable rebound (if any rebound damping at all), it would weight the same as the Tora, and have skinny little stanchions that flexed like crazy under any hard braking or turning.
Keep an eye out for deals, but plan on paying some decent money for a decent fork. Otherwise, go the route Rosso Corsa suggested and rock a rigid fork with a BIG front tire. :D

What world/planet do you come from? An Ohlins aftermarket fork for a Suzuki RM 85 (kids' bike, no less) - - less the triple clamps, cartidges only - - can run you $1,800+; for an adult bike like a KTM 450: $2,400.

Feel relief.

Somehow, I can't. :D

Welcome to the world of biking :-) . If my fork gives way I'm going rigid, I don't take enough jumps / falls to demand a suspension fork.

It's crazy posts like this that make this forum a worthy read.

Thank you.

What's so crazy about it? If my current fork gives way, I wouldn't get a suspension fork as a replacement, I'd go with a rigid one instead as I don't take hard hits... Am I not allowed to have opinions on a forum?

*sigh* Everybody is a tough guy sitting behind a monitor.

Because a fork is just a spring right? :rolleyes:

Just a spring wouldn't work as they store energy, and oscillate (ie: Hookes law). Hence you need to stop the oscillation with a damper, this is what dissipates the kinetic energy.

Want a cookie? :crash:

Yup...calling your post "crazy" is Tough Guy talk fo sho!:rolleyes:

Good forks are expensive because they're not cheap.

Suspension forks are a very small market, and one that is 100% recreational. It's pretty much a license to charge as much as people will pay without anyone getting too upset with them. It just makes sense. So they are expensive because they can be, and they wear out quickly because the makers know people will just go buy another one. That same $300 can get you shocks for a car that will last 100000 miles, but somehow any decent mtb fork has a 25-50 hour service interval...

Because bicycles are expensive.

I could buy a 2008 KX450F motocross bike with way more high tech suspension, way more metal, way more parts, comes with a engine, all from Japan(Higher wages). For the same price I can get a roadbike or Mtn. bike from China or Taiwan. Everything about bicycles is a rip off.

^^ 'nuff said. That's a wrap; thread closed.

Understand sarcasm at all?

Here is a picture of me:
http://www.bestinations.com/images/red.jpg

:D

A profound revelation from the Apostle of the Obvious. :)

If I analyse my riding- I mainly do X C by the way- I do not need a Suspension Fork. Uphill and they sre not necessary and slow you down. On the flatter bits and ride loose on the bars. Downhill and a bit of blurred vision may be saved but speed is not cut by much. And when it gets to to technical Single track- I can manoevure that light front end far easier with a lighter fork.

Mind you- it has to be a good rigid fork and that Project ll is one of the best around. Almost as good as my 94 Rockshox with elastomers that cost me getting on for $800. Not as good as the Boxers that cost me twice that much- but they are fitted to the Tandem and that does need a bit of suspension at speed down the rocky descents.

If you want to learn how to control a bike- get a more controlled ride and save a load of money- Go rigid.

Thanks, that's pretty much what I was going for. I just wish I could've said it with fewer words.

This is one of the more odd statements I have ever read here.

Good suspension forks are light, adjustable in several different aspects, designed to work under stresses from several different directions and motions, and designed to bounce, but not bounce too much, while still giving feedback, but not too much feedback. Unlike a car suspension, which just has to bounce under a set weight and isn't adjustable and only takes pressure in one direction and doesn't have to withstand much other abuses against it such as kicking them with a boot, a bike fork has to withstand being dropped, sprayed with mud constantly, continually locked out and unlocked, sprayed with rocks, and whacked against solid objects. A bike fork also should look good.

Plus you gotta pay for all the bright shiny advertising by the bike companies.

This, plus the fact that you don't really need a suspension fork, is why you can buy a Rancho shock for your truck for a couple bucks, while a Fox shock for your disc brake equipped bike is gonna cost a fat grip.