mtb_addict

from a casual rider point of view....

the weight of front shock is negligible.
it robs power, but not noticeable.

the huge plus is it is a safety feature.
hit a bump that you didnt see...w\o shock you crash, w/ shock., u dont.

where i ride, there are lots of trees and road has bumps. my sunglasses, combine with shade of the tree, makes difficult to seeing the bumps on the roads.

The Chemist

I've got a 'head shock' on my bike with no lock out, but I don't find that it absorbs much of my effort at all as it's quite stiff and has a pretty low travel. It's very good at what it does - soaking up imperfections and bumps in paved roads - and I don't find it has any drawbacks at all.

unterhausen

I'm not sure how much energy you really lose, but I find it really annoying to have the fork move when it's not needed.

Pouhana

Can you imagine sitting in a barbershop for a few days?

I suggest customer asking for appointment if it is not offered by the service manager. I would be surprised if a well managed shop didn't offer appointments. But also try to help people who came in without one.

xroadcharlie

I think the key here is using a shock with with a hydraulic damper and an adjustable preload . Most entry level bikes from the big brands, like Giant, Trek, and Specialized have them, I don't know about cheap Walmart bikes.

If we can adjust the preload to prevent the front from rising with normal pedal strokes, It seems like a good option for the recreational cyclist if you frequently encounter rough roads, MUP's and ride sidewalks on dangerous streets. I will likely look for a bike with a front shock next time. A lockout might be handy for climbing some hills where the increased torque in low gears might cause the front of the bike to Bob.

Pouhana

13 months ago I broke a spoke and it was under warranty. Odd gauge and length. Called bike importer and they said they would send me a new rear wheel assembly.

I went to local shop, while I waited they "cut" a spoke for me of a smaller gauge, which which I installed and kept on riding. I hounded the bike company and month after month, excuses but they never got wheels ordered from China. I got a hold of company president, he sent me a new bike, had me send in old bike back in the carton.

September I had a new bike and in November and December they sent me a new rear wheel assembly. Free. I don't have a problem with mail order bikes but covid crashed their supply chains in many ways.

wolfchild

I am not joking I was serious....Suspension is useless for riding on pavement or gravel, I just don't see any benefits to having a suspension on a bicycle....Even when I go riding off road on very rough singletrack trails I prefer a mountain bike with a rigid fork and no suspension. My body and tires provide more than enough suspension and when things get really rough I just use finesse, skill and pick my lines more carefully...Suspension is only useful for the most extreme forms of downhill mountain biking.

wolfchild

Are you telling me that it's impossible to go do some serious mountain biking without suspension ??..If you are then maybe it's you who lacks experience.

fooferdoggie 

I agree on my mid drive the roads beat me up on my commute with out a little bit of help. I have a rock shock paragon fork and keneck seat post. going 20+mph on portland roads it can really beat you up, this setup only takes are of the light stuff you still need to use your body for really rough pavement. I put 20 miles a day on commuting alone.

unterhausen

There is a short very rocky descent near here that I have only ridden on my gravel bike, so no suspension fork. I think it's officially designated as a jeep trail. I have contemplated riding in on my mtb just to see the difference. I can ride it relatively quickly on the gravel bike, but then my head hurts.

Darth Lefty 

The theory of suspension in terms of efficiency is that the damping does not take as much power as the rider would have to spend taking it all into his body. That threshold is probably never met on a road bike. But on the other hand if you're just grinding along and not sprinting, a suspension fork doesn't move much and isn't taking any power anyhow. Aside from efficiency, there is also control, and just being able to take a hard hit. If you are the kind of person who likes to wheelie and pop off curbs and drive straight through potholes, maybe you can benefit.

Inexpensive suspension forks, not quite up to about $1000 mountain bikes now, do not provide any damping. They also have coil springs, so they don't have any running friction from pressurized seals like an air fork. So they are very easy moving. Thus it's hard to see how they "suck up" any energy to speak of. They can take a hit, but they are not very good to ride over bumps when you compare them to a "real" fork. This is also the kind of fork that has a lockout, which is kind of funny. When you lock it out it's like a brick.

The typical suspension fork on a nicer bike has an air spring which provides an adjustable and progressive spring rate, and separately adjustable compression and rebound damping, so you can dial in the response you want. Sometimes but not always these have a lockout, or you can crank down the low speed compression damping to have the same effect, but a lot of us just leave it open because remembering it's locked halfway up the trail and that's why it's been sucking is worse than suffering the nearly-imaginary losses on pavement.

A "rigid" fork can provide some spring but the direction of travel is wrong and it really depends on the fork. The fork on a really nice old road bike has very light thin steel tubes but the one on a 90's mountain bike or a hybrid are heavy duty and hard as a rock.

Tires also do not provide any damping, or at least not enough to bother talking about. If you drop a wheel &tire it will pop right back up into your hands like a basketball. Bigger tires at lower pressure act like softer springs, which is ok, but basically similar to the no-damping fork. Boioioing