Originally Posted by
bicyclehobo
Burton thanks for the review. I am getting one for use on the rear of my bike but I would like to mount one of these on my front suspension fork also.
It's a Specialized Future Shock. It's basically a Rock Shox Mag 21 with Carbon Fiber legs. This seems like a very bad idea but I cannot get it out of my head. Here is what the fork looks like.
Could you comment on if you think it would work with the tapered legs AND if I am an idiot to attempt this on carbon fiber. I have seen one installed on the back of a carbon frame.
Surprisingly enough - it seems to work fine with the tapered legs. I tried just that on an aluminum tapered front fork to see if anything would move - it didn't. Also wrote the folks at DT Swiss because they make both rigid and suspension front ends in CF. Their major concern was making sure the clear coat was protected to prevent wearing through to the actual carbon weave, and that hanging weight on a suspension fork adds to unsprung weight - kinda defeating the effectiveness of a front suspension. They also cautioned against riding for extended periods of time with a lockout mechanism engaged as its hard on the internal damper. There were no marks of any kind on the alloy front fork after dismantelling everything after a couple hundred kms and running an overloaded rack for that period of time. But it wasn't a suspension fork. Hope this was of some help.