Suspension on gravel bikes isn’t new. You can argue that the Paris-Roubaix bikes of the late 80s/early 90s have been principally gravel bikes and types like Rock Shox have been already experimenting with brief journey forks and air shocks in an effort to clean out the ferocious cobbles – that’s basically what we’re doing by becoming suspension to our modern-day gravel bikes.
Expertise has progressed, and there are all types of options, from full telescopic forks, to bouncy stems, headset mounted techniques and carbon parts that are designed to flex and work like suspension – however which of them will make your bike higher?
Unsurprisingly, the reply comes right down to you, and the terrain you’re tackling. Should you’re using canal towpath model gravel or pristine champagne fireroads there’s most likely a restricted want to suit suspension, particularly for those who’re utilizing comparatively giant quantity tyres. A forty five/50mm tyre, set at 25psi – a fairly frequent set-up on a contemporary gravel bike – can provide most riders 20-30mm of suspension earlier than you’re in any hazard of damaging the tyre on the rim, and so negates suspension.
Nevertheless, for those who’re heading someplace a bit extra wild, and even into mountain bike terrain, I see suspension as vital merchandise. Plus, it may be helpful in case your present bike doesn’t enable for larger tyres and also you wish to do extra with it.
My very own subject testing
Glen’s personal gravel bike, operating a Redshift suspension stem
(Picture credit score: Glen Whittington)
I’m at the moment operating an Open U.P. – a quick gravel bike with sufficient area for a 40mm tyre, which is totally tremendous for clean gravel. However, I fitted a Redshift stem for the extra rocky stuff. This has 20mm of journey, which successfully doubles what I’d have gotten from the tyres alone.
One motivator for searching for a bit extra spring is that the suspension that you just get from the tyre is having to take care of the mixture of the bike and the rider, while the stem is barely actually suspending the rider. This “Sprung Mass” is one other vital issue and curiously Redshift consists of 5 completely different weight elastomers which you’ll be able to match in several mixtures to tremendous tune your experience – that is just like adjusting the constructive air strain in a telescopic fork and lets you get the texture you want. There’s much less transferring elements and nothing to service in contrast to a telescopic fork.
Suspension choices defined
(Picture credit score: Future)
Telescopic Fork: A telescopic fork is what most individuals consider once we say “mountain bike fork”. It often options each compression damping and rebound damping to regulate the journey.
Cannondale Lefty: A Lefty is just like a telescopic fork, however is single-sided, therefore the identify.
Redshift Stem: The Redshift stem (pictured) is a brilliantly easy piece of equipment which merely makes use of rubber dampers to regulate the journey. It is simply retrofitted similar to any normal stem.
Specialised FutureShock: The Futureshock works in a similar way to a telescopic fork, nevertheless it’s mounted within the steerer tube of the bike, and subsequently suspends the rider quite than the bike itself.
Lauf Forks: A very completely different tackle suspension forks with no transferring elements, as a substitute, the Lauf makes use of carbon springs constructed into the fork itself.
Telescopic forks signify the subsequent stage in efficiency and muddy the waters between XC and gravel bikes. I’ve used the Fox forks – which boast 50mm of journey, just like the Rock Shox Rudy providing [see feature image] – and located them to be each bit as clean as anticipated. However did I want them? In all probability not.
If I’m trustworthy 50mm of journey was by no means actually sufficient for extra excessive terrain, the place my XC bike would have been extra enjoyable, and the burden penalty made the bike behave badly, shifting all of the mass to the entrance. On the plus aspect all these fork function rebound damping, which smooths the return stroke of the fork in addition to the compression faze. Consequently, this technique labored nicely on bridleways which had been broken by the likes of horses and tractors, then baked arduous by the solar.
However that’s not the one fork based mostly answer – Lauf make an amazing vary of forks [see image below] which use carbon “springs” and I typically match these to my ÆIGHT ØNE gravel bike. As talked about above, these forks don’t function a lot in the best way of rebound damping which generally causes a level of harshness, however as a result of brief journey this isn’t actually a priority.
The massive profit with these forks is the burden and the simplicity – there’s no transferring elements to wear down and no servicing required, and the burden isn’t that rather more than a standard fork. Some folks say they’re ugly, however I fairly like the best way they give the impression of being and for longer bikepacking excursions, the place you’ll encounter numerous completely different terrains, I believe they’re the right answer. In addition they have tonnes of tyre clearance which suggests you’ll be able to tweak the precise journey by adjusting your pressures as you go!
(Picture credit score: Anne-Marije Rook // Future)
Virtually full circle and again to suspension within the stem/headset space, we now have the Specialised “Futureshock” which the model developed after they redesigned the Diverge gravel bike. The draw back with having an enormous quantity of tech in a small area implies that the suspension does want common servicing, which may imply that the items want to return to sellers. Nevertheless, when it’s working, the Futureshock is a good little bit of equipment – the journey is damped by oil, quite than elastomers which implies that the system may be very plush, and importantly, could be adjusted on the fly.
Ease of adjustment is vital, and it’s a giant benefit over the Redshift stem – generally I experience with a rucksack, so I successfully weigh extra, which suggests the stem behaves in a different way and will subsequently be adjusted. With Futureshock you are able to do this on the go together with an adjuster, however with Redshift it takes 20 minutes to swap inserts.
The underside line
Suspension forks give probably the most supple experience, however for many riders, are usually overkill for gravel – they might be nice for those who’re based mostly within the mountains. Tyre dimension is value together with within the debate as a result of larger volumes provides you with extra suspension and luxury. Lauf forks are greatest for riders heading out in to the center of nowhere as a consequence of their simplicity.
The Specialised Futureshock or Cannondale Lefty system is value contemplating for those who’re shopping for a brand new body or bike. However truly my decide of suspension for a gravel bike can be the Redshift – it gives simply the correct quantity of straightforward efficiency, makes me really feel rather more assured and has only a few damaging factors.
