Bike Suspension and where to buy it at the top cycle shops

In this section you'll find most of the common suspension forks, whether its for mountain biking or road racing. Manufacturers tend to specialise in either mountain bike suspension or road bike suspension and have ranges for the different activities within those areas. So for mtb use you can find suspension forks for cross country (xc), trail, freeride and downhill, while for road racing you can find touring, Audax and time-trial designs. All of these take into account the different demands of cycling on the type of fork design you need for your suspension components.

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Reviews of the top bike suspension brands

Marzocchi

This is one of the biggest names associated with suspension and they specialise in it, particularly for mountain bikes. They supply to the cycle manufacturers like Giant, Kona, Trek, Specialized and also direct to cyclists. The range includes the well known Cross Country forks like the 44 series, the Freeride 55 series, the more extreme freeride and downhill 66 suspension. The latest Marzocchi 888 suspension forks are at the top of the field for competitive extreme freeride and downhill use. They also cater for dirt jumper and urban mtb's with the 4X and J series.

Magura

This German company also specialise in mountain bike forks with specific designs for different cycling disciplines. For starters if you're looking for Enduro use, the Wotan suits and can also be used like the Thor for all mountain. For XC racing, the selection runs to the Magura Durin SL, Marathon or Race models. There are also the Menja and Odur models, both versatile cross-country, all mountain or xc race forks.

Ritchey

Moving on to road suspension, one of the experts in this field is Ritchey, who make a series of very specific carbon forks with their Comp, Pro and WCS models for serious cycle racing. These are all designed to maintain light weight with strength and precision steering. They also make the WCS mountain.

Easton

This company also specialises mainly in bike suspension forks for road use, with a high level of technology and innovation used including a special carbon composite. The road forks include the EC90 SL and the premier SLX variation and the EC70 SL as well all of which give different levels of stiffness. There is also an aero EC90 version for TT and racers where wind resistance is an issue. Easton also make two cyclocross forks, the EC90 X and EC70 X.

RockShox

Part of the SRAM group of companies, these have a huge range of mountain bike suspension forks for all uses in competitive or leisure cycling, covering cross country, trail, downhill and freeride. In the RockShox xc category there are the SID, Reba, Recon, Tora and Dart models, each of these also having variations such as the Team, Race and SL versions. When it comes to trail riding, there's also the RockShox Revelation to consider. For more general use you can add in the Rockshox Lyrik, Pike, Domain and Totem. Finally for the serious downhill racers, there's the Rockshox Boxxer fork in World Cup, Team and Race versions.

DT Swiss

Suspension forks from this manufacturer complement their whole wheel and hub based business and cover xc racers with the XRC model, with the DT Swiss XMC forks giving adaptability for a road race bike or all mountain use. For rough terrain mountain biking the EXC range gives more travel.

Kinesis

This company has been producing cutting edge carbon / alloy bike suspension forks since the 80's and mainly concentrate their efforts on forks for road racing cyclists. They blend the desire for light weight, with strength and aerodynamic design to give a range of models to suit different cycle race disciplines. There's the highly developed Attack fork, the Energy and the Integra. Then for training, touring or Audax there's the Racelight Carbon and Alloy models. They have also got cross forks such as the Crosslight range in carbon and alloy and then the extremely light Tracer carbon fork as well.

White Brothers

This company concentrate on mountain bike suspension forks with the best selling 29er for cross country use available with different forms of damping in the Fluid 29. For xc race there's also the Magic range, again with IMV or fluid damping and if you want a rigid suspension then the Rock Solid Rigid fits the bill.