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SR Suntour introduces 1.8 SuperTaper steerer tubes (and upgrades their air springs)

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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:

SR Suntour 1.8 SuperTaper oversized tapered steerer tube for e-mountain bikes makes a stronger fork and crown

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.

SR Suntour 1.8 SuperTaper oversized tapered steerer tube for e-mountain bikes makes a stronger fork and crown

SR Suntour 1.8 SuperTaper oversized tapered steerer tube for e-mountain bikes makes a stronger fork and crown

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

sr suntour EQ Equalizer dual air spring for xc trail and enduro mountain bike suspension forks makes them lighter and more sensitive

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.

sr suntour EQ Equalizer dual air spring for xc trail and enduro mountain bike suspension forks makes them lighter and more sensitive

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?

sr suntour EQ Equalizer dual air spring for xc trail and enduro mountain bike suspension forks makes them lighter and more sensitive

Look for it on the Axon (XC), Auron (Trail, All-Mountain), and Durolux (Enduro, Freeride).

SRSuntour.com

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schmamps
schmamps
4 years ago

The Overton Window shifts again.

At the current (no pun intended) rate, motorized cyclists are but months away from having a complete and separate e-rated suite, from frames to contact points and apparel. The only thing shared with their “peers” will be places to ride. What a time to be alive.

Marc L
4 years ago

“People who pedal under their own power”
Mountain bikers? Tyler, please understand that “analog mountain bikers” comes off as condescending, as though those who don’t use motors are somehow stuck in the past. Motorized bicycles require a qualifier, bicycles do not.

Hamjam
Hamjam
4 years ago
Reply to  Marc L

I took it as a joke in the other way.

Mark Evans
Mark Evans
4 years ago
Reply to  Marc L

Really? Dude, go for a ride you seem stressed.

Jarrod Moore
4 years ago
Reply to  Marc L

Are you saying people who ride e-bikes aren’t “mountain bikers” too? That’s more condescending that what Tyler wrote. Language must exist to differentiate between the two. What terminology would you prefer? ( I don’t ride an e-bike, fwiw)

Celest Greene
Celest Greene
4 years ago
Reply to  Jarrod Moore

Well, they’re e-bikers. Pretending that motorized bicycles are the same as non-motorized bicycles is nonsense.

ben
ben
4 years ago
Reply to  Jarrod Moore

as an ebike isn’t a mountain bike, people riding them aren’t mountain bikers…

Huffagnolo SuperMagna
Huffagnolo SuperMagna
4 years ago
Reply to  Marc L

Why must analog be condescending? What is wrong with analog things? Why must you hate on the analog stuff as if it is somehow inferior?

Ride a bike and complain less! E-bikes, non-E-Bikes, heck even some of those big lumbering recumbents, I digitall (yuck yuck)

As far as forks are concerned I want to see something like what Cane Creek has done with their new Hellbender BB self lubing and highly durable! Don’t know if it would work but it would be cool!

Frank
Frank
4 years ago
Reply to  Marc L

I too object to “analog bike” because it is a muddle-headed analogy. e-bikes are not digital, they are motorized.

JNH
JNH
4 years ago

Heavy, fat and ugly, perfect for E-bikes! DVO’s solution of a normal sized but reinforced crown and steerer is far more elegant. It also puts DVO forks firmly in the eye of taller and heavier bike riders, I bet they’ll sell plenty to non-E-bike users too. These, not so much.

Smokestack
Smokestack
4 years ago
Reply to  JNH

The unintentional funny bit in what you type is I remember reading Bryson’s (then of Marzocchi) response to Manitou’s debut of the 1.5 steerer waaaay back in the day in MBA and he poo-poo’ed the idea saying it wasn’t necessary. Now here we are in an age where 1.5 tapered’s have been the norm on near all bikes with single crown forks, to say nothing of road bikes. Jury may be out on this one as they haven’t even called the case yet, but I for one will welcome it if it stops more crowns from creaking over time.

JNH
JNH
4 years ago
Reply to  Smokestack

Remind me how many Manitou style straight 1.5 steerer forks are on the market today? That Bryson fellow might have known what he was talking about, he might still do with DVO’s solution. The crowns are creaking because they’re being made too light, making the steerer wider won’t change anything if the casting is too thin and the interface is still too small.

Tim
Tim
4 years ago
Reply to  JNH

I might be wrong, but I think the 1.5″ standard originated with Cannondale around 2003 with one of the early generations of Lefty forks.
Well, in response to your rhetorical question, about how many 1.5″ forks are still on the market today. The answer of course is none, but the the 1.5″ standard was adopted for the lower parts of forks, while 1.125″ was kept for the upper part. So the 1.5″ standard did succeed on the part of the bike where it was needed.
You might well be right about castings for crowns being too light; I’m not qualified to answer.

David Coughlin
David Coughlin
2 years ago
Reply to  Tim

cannondale’s 1.5″ (actually 1 9/16th”) steer tube started in 92 with release of the headshok. it was out of necessity to fit the shock and needle bearings into the headtube. It was carried over to the Iefty. the lefty was essentially a triple clamp fork and was just fine with a 1 1/8th steerer tube. I remember when manitou came out with there 1.5 straight steerer I was so annoyed that that the stems wouldn’t fit my beloved cannondale’s.

Mark
Mark
4 years ago

I’m all for getting rid of fractional inches, but why not make it rounded metric instead? Otherwise I fear we’ll soon see it being referred to as 45.7mm. Really, just make it 45mm.

Yeah, you’ll have mixed units, but which is worse, mixed units or mixed fractional and decimal? 1.8 to 1-1/8″ tapered, 45.7 to 28.6mm tapered vs. 45mm to 1-1/8″ tapered or 45 to 28.6mm tapered.

Really, there’s going to be no nice way of referring to this. I sure hope 1.8” isn’t them rounding 1-3/4” to the nearest single decimal point.

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