Sexiest DH bike thread. Don't post your bike. Rules on first page.

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Sexiest DH bike thread. Don't post your bike. Rules on first page.
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flag jibb
Posted: Jul 20, 2018 at 15:30 Quote
bauph91 wrote:
photo
Love the flames!
flag abennett219
Posted: Jul 21, 2018 at 2:37 Quote
gramboh wrote:
Explanation from Vorsprung's newsletter last week (free to sign up on their website) about the lack of inverted forks on MTB:

Design Concept:
Inverted Forks - Why aren't we all riding them?
A long time back, most motorcycles, from road to motocross, switched from what we'll call particularly important as fork travel gets longer the two sides in order to boost the torsional stiffness. You may note from the above diagrams that conventional motorcycle forks don't use an arch over the wheel - this is indicative of how the torsional stiffness is far less of a concern than with mountain bikes.

Thanks! Nice to have a proper explanation as opposed to muh it's cos it's bad.

Very interesting.
flag Loki87
Posted: Jul 21, 2018 at 9:26 Quote
jibb wrote:
bauph91 wrote:
photo
Love the flames!

I remember my 13 year old self drooling over this bike in the magazines back in the day.
I do not remember it looking that steep, short and high though.
Damn, mountainbikes have evolved a lot since back then!
flag sherbet
Posted: Jul 21, 2018 at 14:23 Quote
badbadleroybrown wrote:
Inverted forks are garbage... they're heavier, flexier, and more expensive... and offer no advantage in performance.

I would definitely say having a stiffer fork fore to aft and having your dust wipers/foam bath having oil held against them due to gravity is a great performance benefit. They also tend to have more bushing overlap, and weigh less for the given travel.

Whether those benefits outweight the negatives is up for debate, but it's pretty silly to say they offer nothing.
flag Buggyr333
Posted: Jul 21, 2018 at 15:19 Quote
Loki87 wrote:
jibb wrote:
bauph91 wrote:
photo
Love the flames!

I remember my 13 year old self drooling over this bike in the magazines back in the day.
I do not remember it looking that steep, short and high though.
Damn, mountainbikes have evolved a lot since back then!

I saw one of these with a monster T on the front of it on the front of a city bus the other day, and I was still like daaaaamn that there is one fine bicycle.
flag badbadleroybrown
Posted: Jul 21, 2018 at 19:30 Quote
sherbet wrote:
badbadleroybrown wrote:
Inverted forks are garbage... they're heavier, flexier, and more expensive... and offer no advantage in performance.

I would definitely say having a stiffer fork fore to aft and having your dust wipers/foam bath having oil held against them due to gravity is a great performance benefit. They also tend to have more bushing overlap, and weigh less for the given travel.

Whether those benefits outweight the negatives is up for debate, but it's pretty silly to say they offer nothing.
No it's really not, since they offer nothing... as evidenced by the reality that no one is even bothering trying to build them anymore.

Smarter folks than you finally started to realize that mountain biking isn't the same as dirt bikes. There is zero benefit in this sport.
flag ajax-ripper
Posted: Jul 21, 2018 at 19:36 Quote
badbadleroybrown wrote:
sherbet wrote:
badbadleroybrown wrote:
Inverted forks are garbage... they're heavier, flexier, and more expensive... and offer no advantage in performance.

I would definitely say having a stiffer fork fore to aft and having your dust wipers/foam bath having oil held against them due to gravity is a great performance benefit. They also tend to have more bushing overlap, and weigh less for the given travel.

Whether those benefits outweight the negatives is up for debate, but it's pretty silly to say they offer nothing.
No it's really not, since they offer nothing... as evidenced by the reality that no one is even bothering trying to build them anymore.

Smarter folks than you finally started to realize that mountain biking isn't the same as dirt bikes. There is zero benefit in this sport.
Rather the benefit isn't worth the additional cost or weight. I'm all for better lubrication and less unsprung mass...
flag cougar797
Posted: Jul 21, 2018 at 21:10 Quote
ajax-ripper wrote:
badbadleroybrown wrote:
sherbet wrote:


I would definitely say having a stiffer fork fore to aft and having your dust wipers/foam bath having oil held against them due to gravity is a great performance benefit. They also tend to have more bushing overlap, and weigh less for the given travel.

Whether those benefits outweight the negatives is up for debate, but it's pretty silly to say they offer nothing.
No it's really not, since they offer nothing... as evidenced by the reality that no one is even bothering trying to build them anymore.

Smarter folks than you finally started to realize that mountain biking isn't the same as dirt bikes. There is zero benefit in this sport.
Rather the benefit isn't worth the additional cost or weight. I'm all for better lubrication and less unsprung mass...

I don’t know for dh bikes I’m starting to think the whole mtb world is overly weight conscious?
flag newbermuda
O+
Posted: Jul 21, 2018 at 21:19 Quote
cougar797 wrote:
ajax-ripper wrote:
badbadleroybrown wrote:

No it's really not, since they offer nothing... as evidenced by the reality that no one is even bothering trying to build them anymore.

Smarter folks than you finally started to realize that mountain biking isn't the same as dirt bikes. There is zero benefit in this sport.
Rather the benefit isn't worth the additional cost or weight. I'm all for better lubrication and less unsprung mass...

I don’t know for dh bikes I’m starting to think the whole mtb world is overly weight conscious?

try riding a 35lb bike and then a 28lb bike on the same lap. you'll feel a big difference for sure, lots of people think that the benefit is only for climbing but id say its equally as noticeable when descending.
flag badbadleroybrown
Posted: Jul 21, 2018 at 21:24 Quote
ajax-ripper wrote:
badbadleroybrown wrote:
sherbet wrote:


I would definitely say having a stiffer fork fore to aft and having your dust wipers/foam bath having oil held against them due to gravity is a great performance benefit. They also tend to have more bushing overlap, and weigh less for the given travel.

Whether those benefits outweight the negatives is up for debate, but it's pretty silly to say they offer nothing.
No it's really not, since they offer nothing... as evidenced by the reality that no one is even bothering trying to build them anymore.

Smarter folks than you finally started to realize that mountain biking isn't the same as dirt bikes. There is zero benefit in this sport.
Rather the benefit isn't worth the additional cost or weight. I'm all for better lubrication and less unsprung mass...
Not gonna be less unsprung mass when you have to beef it to f*ck to maintain rigidity.

...and lubrication is a non-issue. Are forks blowing up prematurely because lubrication is insufficient or not performing? I could understand if there was a real gap in performance that needed to be addressed but there isn't. The only reason you hear people mention it is because it's used in motorsports but people ignore that the front wheel is asked to do vastly different things in mountain biking as compared to those sports.
flag sherbet
Posted: Jul 22, 2018 at 11:24 Quote
badbadleroybrown wrote:
ajax-ripper wrote:
badbadleroybrown wrote:

No it's really not, since they offer nothing... as evidenced by the reality that no one is even bothering trying to build them anymore.

Smarter folks than you finally started to realize that mountain biking isn't the same as dirt bikes. There is zero benefit in this sport.
Rather the benefit isn't worth the additional cost or weight. I'm all for better lubrication and less unsprung mass...
Not gonna be less unsprung mass when you have to beef it to f*ck to maintain rigidity.

...and lubrication is a non-issue. Are forks blowing up prematurely because lubrication is insufficient or not performing? I could understand if there was a real gap in performance that needed to be addressed but there isn't. The only reason you hear people mention it is because it's used in motorsports but people ignore that the front wheel is asked to do vastly different things in mountain biking as compared to those sports.

You don't have to beef it to f*ck though. Inverted stiffness is about fore to aft, not torsional. An RS-1 is a very stiff fork under braking, for example.

DVO makes them, Manitou did for years. Fox saw enough potential to dabble with them. They're clearly relevant. I'm not going to get on a soap box and say it's better, but at least give credit where credit is due.

That is a hot intense!
flag badbadleroybrown
Posted: Jul 22, 2018 at 13:18 Quote
sherbet wrote:
You don't have to beef it to f*ck though. Inverted stiffness is about fore to aft, not torsional. An RS-1 is a very stiff fork under braking, for example.

DVO makes them, Manitou did for years. Fox saw enough potential to dabble with them. They're clearly relevant. I'm not going to get on a soap box and say it's better, but at least give credit where credit is due.

That is a hot intense!
You do though... which is why every inverted mtb fork is significantly heavier than their conventional counterpart.

That's the thing people ignore. Moto, you need that stiffness hauling a 400+lb bike down from high speeds on road and dirt... in mountain biking, you don't. You need torsional stiffness that's inherently lacking in an inverted fork.

They're not the same sports, inverted offers nothing to mtb. But as long as moto fanboys want the look, you'll find companies who want to sell it to you.

Inverted forks for mountain biking are like aerodynamic wing packages on Honda Civics.
flag sherbet
Posted: Jul 22, 2018 at 13:23 Quote
I'm not the one talking about mx. The needs are very different, as you are aware.

Intend has the lightest 200mm fork currently and it's inverted. Weight can be worked with. The dorado was also insanely lighy when it first came out. Dvo is heavy as its meant to be a park fork over being a race fork.

But I think it's time to just get back to dope ass bikes. Sorry about dragging this out!

 


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