Suspension Fork vs Rigid Fork For Your Mountain Bike... When To Make A Change?

Huge range of rigid forks:

Disadvantages of cheap suspension forks:

[fiftysniping]

when i got my entry-mid level MTB i upgraded to a rigid fork after 2-3 months. I ride beginner-intermediate trails, and i love it. I have had the bike for almost 18 months, and i love it. I would recommend to upgrade to anyone like me.

[georgmtb]

I am a u15 rider racing races Germany wide, as I was u13 I used to run a rigid fork for every race, yet I found in the last season the races got more technical and people got faster in the downhills, since last year I rarely run my rigid fork, maybe 1 - 3 races in one season. So, in my opinion, it is an upgrade on some corses, but a disadvantage on technical races. I hope this comment was helpful.

[francisguidera]

I get sore wrists. I switched my alloy handlebar for a carbon. The difference was staggering. Carbon handlebars flex, take all of the bounce out of the road. I will be getting the cheaper fork in this video to add to my carbon handlebar. Great video!

[ROBinJVILLE]

I ride a rigid steel plus bike with slackish angles and it’s so badass I’m never going back

[dugldoo]

After watching this 3 yrs ago I changed the SunTour fork on my Giant Roam to a rigid carbon fork designed to replace it (same geometry). Since then I've had thousands of miles of great gravel riding on the bike that weighs 4 pounds less.

[WaveRiderMusic]

it is a lot of fun riding fully rigid especially on a fat or plus bike. Also starting fully rigid helps in learning the best technique.You just gain some speed in some sections with a suspension. Of course suspension is easier on the body especially if you are older... but if you are a young XC rider go for it, you will love it.

[Beesa]

I have a 26" Specialized Rockhopper for my everyday city commuting bike, it had a low end Manitou suspension fork which didn't work very well, changed it to a Kinesis aluminium rigid fork and schwalbe semi-slick tyres, the bike is lighter and much better for me now. It really depends on what type of riding you do.

[Pillokun]

Just get those cheap Mosso rigid forks from alibaba, works flawlessly 7 years after the purchase.

[willipratama]

Actually for around $200 you can have SR Suntour Epixon Airt suspension with 120-140 travel length, it is quite good. Weight about 1, 85 kgs. I am not a marketing of this product, i am just happy to have it.

[glennpettersson]

The price for a lot of the mtb rigid forks is on a par with some really good suspension forks so it's not an upgrade, more of an option. Having said that I have ridden a fully rigid 26er on green and blue trails and I have to say it was very, very addictive. FR makes basic trails lots of fun and I would love to do it on a 29er.

[truantray]

Depends on where you ride. If you do a lot of climbing and fire roads, groomed trails, gravel, rigid forks are the best way to go for weight, no energy loss, control.
Not a good idea on mountain downhill.

I swap my rigid and suspension fork frequently.

[yutehube]

When your suspension fork is 21 years old, has never been serviced, you can't be arsed replacing the oil, you only ever ride on the road and the suspension fork weighs three times more than your full carbon fork.

[sevontiy]

Why don't you mention Manitou suspension forks? They are cheaper than dirt and great quality starting from Marvel Expert, for example.

[karelvandervelden]

Thanks, I am trying for years allready to convince shops here at the Algarve that transition to a rigid fork for me and my Orbea Deore alu hardtail would work better.
But here they are somewhat traditional and frown at the idea.  Hope this will help.

[joannekeefe]

Hi i have a rigid fork giant boulder 500 mountain bike. And I really just want to do bike trails and bikepacking, camping. Plus the city i live in has rough terrain, potholes, uneven sideways, etc. So the rigid seems ok for me, because too I have to learn repairs. I really love my bike

[tomuno]

I completely agree! Thanks for this great video, I am looking forward to see that Kona bike assembled. On top of your great suggestion, I would also like to add 2 additional points: the first one is that in my opinion rigid bike are even more fun to ride than suspension ones because there is non room for error and the rider has to do everithing, hence you will be more satisfied from a ride. Second for street riding, where you can do a bit of trial triks, rigid fork are much more precise therefore better and easier.

[sharmaLlama]

beings back memories of back in the day when mountain bikes first came out... we were were bashing around on thick guage steel frames with solid steel forks... the bikes were indestructible, but very, very heavy. Never​ had trouble with the drive train compared to today and hardly ever had to change cassettes & stuff, but the tyres were rubbish with plenty of flats and we went through plenty of levers & saddles....

[joku]

If you want to make easy trails more fun, change to ridged fork!

[glennoc]

I bought a 29er full rigid thru axle with the axle included for 70usd with shipping and its weightbus 555 grams. BXT brand.

[coronavirus]

I have a rigid fork i was wondering cuz it looked like theres a suspencion took me 2 months to notice theres none suspencion