cbrstar

I actually had a Kastan BMX with a Uniblade fork BITD. For those who don't know they look like this.





Now with a BMX it might be a little unnerving to take a big jump with a single fork, which is why they didn't catch on. But they were surprisingly strong.

With roadbikes trying to do what ever they can to shave weight, I was wondering why no road bike manufactures have tried to make a uniblade fork? To me IMHO it seems like a technology that's perfect for a road bike.

HTupolev

I'll gladly use a uniblade fork if it comes with a decorative second blade.

TenSpeedV2

Dubbed a gravel or adventure bike, throw some slicks on it and it might be fun to ride. Was considering one of these when they first came out.

cbrstar

Wow that's really cool! When i tried to google them I couldn't find anything modern, only the Kastan.

gsa103

Cannondale Lefty forks. Fairly common for mountain bikes.

For road bikes there isn't a weight advantage because the Lefty hub needs to be stronger and modern carbon fork blades are very light.

prathmann

They did make road bikes with the 'Lefty' fork as well. But they were heavier, which would be expected when you make a structure with such cantilevered loads even if it were built without the suspension.


The promised (after a very successful Kickstarter intro) Helix folding bike also has a single-sided front 'fork':
https://www.helix.ca/index.asp

dabac

The engineering doesn't work out like that.
A double blade fork doesn't see any sideways bending, only front-and-back. So fork blades can be made fairly flat and nicely aero. The hubs and axles, being supported on both sides, can also be quite slender.

Pretty much any time you can choose between a cantilevered design and a symmetrically supported design, the symmetric design will win WRT strength-to-weight ratio.

You can kinda-sorta get it to work on MTBs, as they need thicker fork legs to house the suspension parts anyhow. And with only one telescoping leg instead of two you get less stiction.

TenSpeedV2

The one I posted is the Cannondale Slate.

CliffordK

You still get the lateral stress on the now telescoping joint. But, I suppose even with the dual sided suspension fork, one could get some amount of lateral twisting (and thus perhaps sticking).

Cannondale also experimented with the headshok which would seem like a good place to put the suspension, eliminating the two tube problem, and torque problems.. But, that also fell out of favor.

dabac

Many sus forks have the tasks separated, damping in one leg and suspension in the other. A certain uneven response is unavoidable.

dougphoto

I have a canondale CX bike with a headshock I love it