For analog mountain bikers (you know, those who pedal entirely under their own power), the real news here is the all-new EQ air spring in SR Suntour’s XC, Trail and Enduro forks. Scroll down now. But if you’re into eMTB and tired of those anemic fork crowns destroying the big, bad head tube aesthetic, fret no more. The new 1.8 SuperTaper solves that by putting not just a bigger lower steerer tube diameter, but a massive crown below it. Here’s how it looks on a bike:
Looks nice, no? With more and more fork manufacturers using overbuilt, non-hollow crowns on their eMTB suspension forks, this offers other potential improvements to save weight without losing strength. After all, larger diameter tubes and box sections can be lighter and stronger, so we see a good future. But, also, it just looks better.
If that e-bike looks super streamlined and you eye doesn’t catch a weirdly small fork crown, chances are good you’ll see that little “1.8” on the bottom of the fork leg. The standard is coming, and we’ve reached out to other fork makers to see who’s on board…updates as we get them.
SR Suntour EQ air spring updates
The new EQ system replaces the coil negative spring with an air spring, which makes them about 40-60 g lighter depending on model. It also improves set up in that the negative spring will now be automatically set to match rider weight and riding style. How so? Like other dual air systems (which is most of them), as you pressurize the positive, there’s a check valve inside to also pressurize the negative once you compress the fork. Whereas a coil spring has a fixed spring rate, the air spring is set to whatever you need it to be.
Their testing showed that it provided better, smoother small bump sensitivity, which can be felt as less vibration at the handlebar. They say it also provides a more consistent feel throughout the travel. The only downside is that it’s a little more of a process to change the travel, but let’s be honest, how often are any of us doing that?
Look for it on the Axon (XC), Auron (Trail, All-Mountain), and Durolux (Enduro, Freeride).
