First Look: Intend's New Inverted Fork Uses One and a Half Crowns
Intend Bandit
No, your eyes aren't playing tricks on you. And no, it wasn't assembled incorrectly. Intend's new Bandit fork uses a dual crown leg on the right side and a single crown leg on the left, but the idea isn't to add torsional rigidity to the inverted design, even if that is one of the byproducts of the rather strange looking layout. Intend's Cornelius Kapfinger, the brains behind this one-man German suspension outfit, says that the longer right leg (with its two crowns) is where you'll find an absolutely massive negative air chamber that makes the Bandit "The most sensitive fork worldwide.''
The Bandit can be had with as much as 190mm of travel and as little as 150mm, with either a 15mm or 20mm thru-axle and Boost or non-Boost spacing, and for both 29" and 27.5" wheels. Kapfinger says that it'll only be available for a limited time for 1,999€ incl VAT.
Details
• Intended use: Enduro, downhill
• Travel: 190mm, 180mm, 170mm, 160mm, 150mm
• Wheel size: 29"
• Spring: Air w/ large negative chamber
• Uses damper, internals from Infinity DH fork
• All-new chassis
• Offset: 44mm
• Weight: 2,390-grams
• MSRP: 1,999€ (incl VAT)
• More info: www.intend-bc.com
No, your eyes aren't playing tricks on you. And no, it wasn't assembled incorrectly. Intend's new Bandit fork uses a dual crown leg on the right side and a single crown leg on the left, but the idea isn't to add torsional rigidity to the inverted design, even if that is one of the byproducts of the rather strange looking layout. Intend's Cornelius Kapfinger, the brains behind this one-man German suspension outfit, says that the longer right leg (with its two crowns) is where you'll find an absolutely massive negative air chamber that makes the Bandit "The most sensitive fork worldwide.''
The Bandit can be had with as much as 190mm of travel and as little as 150mm, with either a 15mm or 20mm thru-axle and Boost or non-Boost spacing, and for both 29" and 27.5" wheels. Kapfinger says that it'll only be available for a limited time for 1,999€ incl VAT.
Details
• Intended use: Enduro, downhill
• Travel: 190mm, 180mm, 170mm, 160mm, 150mm
• Wheel size: 29"
• Spring: Air w/ large negative chamber
• Uses damper, internals from Infinity DH fork
• All-new chassis
• Offset: 44mm
• Weight: 2,390-grams
• MSRP: 1,999€ (incl VAT)
• More info: www.intend-bc.com
The Bandit looks strange on the outside, but what's going on inside that right fork leg?
Kapfinger explained that he was inspired by Vorsprung's Secus bolt-on negative air chamber that, ugh, creates a larger negative air chamber to help the fork into its stroke. In other words, the larger the negative chamber, the more active the fork will presumably be. ''But what if you want more,'' Kapfinger says. ''What is currently missing is the suspension fork that contracts almost by itself when you just touch it. As if someone pulled from the inside when touched lightly.''
The Bandit on the front of Tom Hoinkis' Crossworx enduro race bike. Quite the looker if you ask me.
Kapfinger wanted to go farther. Way farther. And to do that, he extended the fork leg all the way up to create a massive negative air-spring chamber that provides an equally massive adjustment range.
The longer leg and second half-crown also add rigidity to the headtube area and disc-side of the fork, he said, while also offering a whopping 300mm of bushing support compared to the 190mm found on his 29er enduro fork. With the two bushings so far apart, Kapfinger added a third in the middle for even more support and to limit the chance binding. Damping comes from the same cartridge Intend employs in their Infinity downhill fork.
For when two crowns are too many but one isn't enough.
Kapfinger is well aware that the Bandit is a niche product made by a niche manufacturer: ''It is clear, however, that integrating this part normally into the product line makes no sense. It's so special that only the freaks of the freaks will be interested here.'' Yup, I'll take one of these and a Hover shock, thank you very much.
So, are you the kinda freak that's interested in what Intend has cooked up? Or is the Bandit just too strange for you to consider?
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Pinkbike comment section when someone actually makes a big change to something: This is weird, I don't care that I haven't tried it and don't actually know if it's great - please give me back my security blanket and the small baby steps I'm comfortable with.
Pinkbike comment section on Dangerholm articles without thighs: where are the epic specimens... like how can they even be contained!?
avalanchedownhillracing.com/Cartridge%20Kit/RAMP.htm
Also these are mountain bikes. Its not that big bro.
10 % of people: Bicycle brands suck for just taking baby steps, with just minor improvements for every new model.
a largely different 10% of people when when someone actually makes a big change to something: This is weird, I don't care that I haven't tried it and don't actually know if it's great - please give me back my security blanket and the small baby steps I'm comfortable with.
The other 80% of people: "man, all these commenters are real hypocrites."
Probable for weight savings.
I personally love to stay on the tail end of technological progress until I feel things have settled and/or they have something I'm happy with. But getting something that isn't quite yet what you're looking for and/or unproven is what we need the early adopters for. And for our entertainment of course.
Who hurt you Cornelius?
Will be good for this trail
Hence the Dorado.
Out of the box thinking? Absolutely.
Effing brilliant.
I like that he's challenging conventional wisdom, but he also seems to be refusing to learn from others mistakes. This must be what it was like to watch suspension be developed in the 90's. I am currently waiting for him to release an elastomer fork with replaceable single crown.
What the suspension guru explained, is that the stanchion bends while leaned over (or any event that increases the deflection of the fork) and the middle portion then interferes with the middle bushing due to this bend, resulting in the binding.
And yeah, took a while, but FOX finally did it in that regard. Strangley, it's the first fork to do so, at all. Not even DH forks handled that previously.
Seriously this is the first fork in years that I'd definitely want to try. Not to mention it'd go on my RB Bandit!
Made myself a custom spring for the previous generation Boxxer with a large negative air chamber and I cannot believe how good that fork feels, if this is anywhere near I need it yesterday.
Also, no more creaky CSU?! DO WANT!
So technically it's closer to a single crown fork with a longer side, than a double crown fork with a shorter side, if that makes sense.
in any event, how do you install this? does the upper crown piece on the dual crown leg come off, and then get installed after you put the steerer through the headtube?
My fork lowers on conventional forks get absolutely battered. Is this a UK thing? Is this due to our uplifts often being a load of bikes in a trailer dragged up a barely levelled fire road by a tractor or 4x4? Am I just mistreating my bikes?
Either way they get ruined, I look after my stanchions religiously but the lowers get caught on all sorts by accident, when riding/crashing or transporting and storing the bike. I'm generally pretty careful with my bikes these days too.
I'd be a lot more keen on a £2k fork (and I am actually really keen on these already!) if it didn't seem like it would be incredibly delicate to fit into my general riding life.
Yes there’s less adjustability with a coil but once you’re dialed in coil is just like butter ????. And the added bonus of Coil is that it doesn’t change with temperatures and altitude like air too.
I guess if you had the cash laying around and you wanted to be different, sure! But having to source the bespoke seals and wipers, and the idea that the lowers are not guarded against the elements just seems ridiculous.
Also, What is that weird brackety looking thing coming off the inside of the LEFT lower leg?
And What thru axle standards are available?
What are the Minimum and Maximum rotor sized allowed on this fork?
Do you have any real details on the compatibility of this fork that a shop would need to steer their customer toward, or away from this product?
So with that said, what is the disadvantage of extending the damper side to match? As I understand it, larger dampers with more oil are inherently superior aside from adding weight.
According to Kornelius this is a world class leading fork.
And besides, it doesn't really matter how big the negative air chamber is on its own. It matters how big the negative chamber is relative to the positive chamber. Rear shocks are a great example of this. Rear shocks have tiny little air springs compared to forks, but what determines the feel of forks and shocks isn’t the size of the chambers, it’s the relative size of the two chambers. Imagine a rear shock with a negative spring chamber that's huge relative to the shock's positive chamber. That shock would be super-duper plush off the top, even compared to an air fork that might have a larger negative chamber in terms of absolute size. It's about relative size, not absolute size.
So why don't all manufacturers just put bigger negative chambers on their forks and shocks? If it's as easy as keeping the positive chamber the same size and putting in a bigger negative chamber, why not do it? It’s true that if you have too little negative volume, the air spring will feel harsh off the top. You'll have to push a lot of force into the fork to overcome the positive air chamber, and you have to overcome seal friction on top of that. This is why manufacturers have moved to larger negative chambers lately- it results in forks that can be run at much higher pressures while still being plush off the top, because the large negative spring force helps overcome the positive spring and seal friction. In turn, higher positive spring pressures allow the fork to stand higher in its travel near the sag point, which is good for maintaining ride height and chassis stability.
But as the great philosopher Barry White once said, too much of anything is not good for you. If the negative spring is too big relative to the positive spring, the fork will be too soft off the top. What that will feel like is a fork that dives into the top of its travel. It will be too easy to initiate travel, meaning that the fork dives in at first and then hits a wall when the negative spring gets overwhelmed by the positive spring. This would feel similar to the effect of running too many volume reducers, because they’re both essentially reducing positive chamber volume relative to negative chamber volume.
So maybe this new fork from Kornelius feels amazing, but maybe it just feels amazing in the parking lot. Other manufacturers have the ability to make bigger negative springs and they don’t, and I tend to think there’s a reason for that. This could be the best feeling fork ever, but you can color me skeptical.
Don’t we call that Rock Shox and it’s a bad thing?
Pre 2.1 upgrade...
I want this fork for my Lenz Behemoth. Then I can x-up both bikes to the right. (no, I cannot x-up at all)
www.pinkbike.com/news/the-worlds-finest-dh-bike-challenge-pinkbike-poll.html
Also me: Why does Pinkbike keep referring to the left fork leg as "the right fork leg?"
PS nothing against to Germans or fork performance
Will pinkbike be getting one to review?
Lyrik damper side Boxxer air spring!
&B. f*cking hard LOL
*Cries in Pole Evolink*
It is the left leg of the fork.
Less goooo