Prototype long-travel inverted suspension fork spotted from… Magura?

I’ll say the same things that I say every time an inverted MTB fork comes out:
1) The Cannondale Lefty is the only USD fork that is equal or superior to standard forks in terms of torsional rigidity
2) Nearly all inverted MTB forks use special techniques to regain part of the rigidity that they lose by using a braceless design: two crowns on a non-DH fork (Cannondale, Maverick); bigger thru-axle (Maverick- 24mm thru axle, Rock Shox RS-1, faux 27mm); crowns with collets instead of bolts, press-fits, or bonding (DVO Emerald- prototype only); one piece carbon crown-uppers (Rock Shox RS-1); key-in-lock axle-dropout interface (Manitou USD forks); integrated axle-lower legs (Cannondale); square legs instead of round ones (Cannondale); inner and outer legs that lock into each other with special channels in the fashion of dropper posts (can’t remember who); leg guards doubling as a very long brace (DVO Emerald)
3) Most of these stiffening techniques could be also be used, and indeed a couple occasionally have been used, on conventional forks to make them even stiffer
4) In spite of all the efforts to make up for the loss of stiffness that comes with eliminating the brake brace, most of the inverted forks (to my knowledge, correct me if I am wrong) are heavier and torsionally flexier than other forks in the same class.
Maybe this Magura fork will throw something new out there that will change the game and make their USD forks better than most others, let’s see.

As long as it doesn’t blow out the seals, doesn’t bind and can be pushed hard – I like em.

@Tim

How long have you worked at Cannondale?

@i-
1)”Every single company making forks for MTB has had a prototype USD fork”. OK, true. But Fox decided not to produce its (DH, dual crown) inverted fork. There was a prototype, and that was all. But yes, all other companies have even gone into production with their USD forks, although sometimes with limited runs.
2) As I understand it, MX bikes have weight floors, i.e., they can’t go below a certain minimum weight so the guy who has enough money to ride super-light, super-flickable, super-expensive and disposable bikes doesn’t have an advantage over other riders who can’t afford such machines. That means bike and fork makers can beef up lots of parts with chromoly steel construction. But- this is just my impression. I am not into MX, so my idea could be totally off; disabuse of my mistakes if need be.
3) I can definitely accept that suspension engineers and the bike industry might know more than me. You won’t find me designing forks. But- if we’re talking about collective decisions, then the industry definitely collectively decided a long time ago, around 1993, that telescopic single crown forks with a brace and the thin legs up top is the way to make forks. Just as a guess, more than 99% of suspension forks sold in the last decade have been non-USD. The number of USD forks being sold has always been small; each brand has one or maybe two USD forks out at a time, and these make up a very small portion of sales, aftermarket or OEM. That’s the collective decision of the industry. Also- while I accept that the industry might have a better idea of what to make and how to make it than I do, I also won’t discount my own taste and long experience riding bikes and observing the bike industry as a rider, shop worker, and yes, consumer. The bike industry is an industry like any other; overall, it gives us better and better stuff, but does make serious mistakes. It also gives us innovation only in a trickle, so we keep paying for incremental improvements. If I were in charge- I would do the same. What was a fad before- oval chainrings, press-fit bottoms brackets, internal cable routing- is absolutely reviled this decade, and then comes back as a fresh innovation the next. Big companies do sometimes make dumb stuff for bad reasons. Think those Shimano Dual Control brifters from around 2003.
–
Rigidity- yes, absolute rigidity is not a goal. It is my mistake for not saying that. Rigidity is partly a matter of taste- and weight, and riding style and conditions. Some people will be happy with the torsional rigidity of a USD fork with a 15mm thru axle, others like me won’t. Some couldn’t care less, and just want to ride. Still- while I haven’t crunched the numbers and looked at every fork on the market and its competitors, USD forks with a single crown end up being around a pound heavier than their non-USD competitors, are flexier in torsion to a degree that I personally dislike (I won’t invalidate others’ opinions for not caring as much about this, it is a matter of taste at the end of the day), and cost more because of small production runs.

The issue was kind of up right back in the beginning of Tim’s post. USD forks work for MX because MX bikes have power to spare, so weight isn’t so much of an issue. In the world of pedal bikes, where power is in short supply, people will pay 200% more for a part that weighs 45g less. In this supremely weight conscious world, USD forks just don’t make sense – and that’s why they’re so rare.

I find myself strongly agreeing with Tim. Am I a bad person?

@Bud – I agree with his Lefty comments ,because I made the same judgements independently. (Plus I think the Lefty’s hub insert scheme is clever but WHY leave the disc rotor on the hub. OMG put the rotor on the chassis, and then the wheel on the rotor flange, like a car wheel. Could reduce number of bolts messed with per wheel removal from three to one.)

However, I am a bad person so I’m afraid I can’t answer your question.

USD forks = bring out the haters! I’m just amazed at the pushback. If you’re so against them then don’t buy. Personally I am all for folks testing these in the name of progress.

I think this type of work could work quite decentely, if designed decently;

– 30mm axle
– NO round tubes, make them square, ala cannondale, or make them oval. There was a brand with a prototype of inverted fork with oval legs, eliptical, or something like that, instead of round. I think it’s the brand that dt swiss purchased, pace, but i really really can’t remember now.

I think german-A forks or the springleaf one has some benefits, but the inverted fork is very complicated and expensive to really make them nice. Not like the pieace of shit the RS1 is.

Materials and processes along with economy of scale play a large part here.
I can remember when a major fork manufacturer categorically stated that 100mm travel forks could never be made with a single crown.

I still don’t think that having the sliding bits down in the crap will work long term, the sides of my forks have scratches all over them.

The single biggest improvements to today’s forks for me would be to make them last a whole bunch longer between services.
My car shocks go until the car is trashed, pulling the lowers on my mtb’s every 30h is just too short of an interval.

Any news on this fork? Will the offer a version for non e-bikes.
Allot of interesting things going on around unconventional forks. Sad that the X-Fusion Revel seems to be a bluff, and that the Motion France did not succeed on funding https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/929331044/motion-france-dynamic-anti-dive-mtb-fork/updates
I will be the first one to sign up if the can make it alfordabe..

I would live to try one on my Tantrum

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/812273700/tantrum-cycles-the-missing-link-in-full-suspension/comments