Originally Posted by
RubeRad
Tell me about what "real damping" means, I've never had a FS bike (or even disc brakes) so I'm not up on the tech. The linked FS bike has 'coil-over-cartridge', I know FS BSOs are simply a spring, does the cartridge = damping?
I'm sorry, I meant to be talking about full suspension. There are lots of good front suspension bikes, that one looks fine.
Cartridge means that the hydraulic damper is a separate sealed piston assembly, rather than like a classic motorcycle fork where the springs and everything else are in an oil bath. In that fork it fits inside the right coil as you can see in this PDF
http://www.srsuntour-cycling.com/fil...80,100-(1).PDF
"Real" suspension forks and rear shocks have oil or air damping like this, and it's directional (more rebound than compression) to balance the spring force. Better ones have lots of adjustments on the damping.
On the other hand cheaper forks like the one on my Hardrock have a piece of rubber that provides damping, or in extremely cheap forks, maybe nothing but a spring. You can really tell the difference between a good-enough fork and a cheap nasty one, and there's a big difference between good-enough and really-good, too.