In this article I’m going to provide you with my opinion about which suspension forks for hardtails are the very best.
Front suspension is usually categorized into a certain mountain bike discipline. This means you’ve got your XC, trail, enduro, and downhill options (there’s even a gravel option nowadays), A hardtail is only going to make sense in the first two categories, those being cross-country and trail riding.
That’s because a full suspension mountain bike is much more able to handle rocky terrain at high speed. The lack of a rear shock is fantastic when climbing and on flowy trails (XC) and still great and very much fun on fast descents, provided you know how to pick your lines and there isn’t too much chunk to rattle your bones.
When diving into those two categories of mountain biking, there are many options to choose from. And with an unlimited budget it’s much easier to pick the best, since you basically pick the most expensive.
In spite of there being some arguments when the most expensive one won’t be the best, I’ve decided it would be a good thing as well to include some budget options.
I’ve also included variations of the same fork type, because brand’s descriptions of their products are more marketing and sales than anything else. This way actually can find out what type of money get you what fork and features, and you know if and when you’re going to need those features.
Because of the large number of options I’ve included a table overview at the end of the article. Let’s see what I came up with with this overview of the best suspension forks for hardtails.
RockShox Recon Silver RL
RockShox Recon Silver RL (Rebound and Lockout) has a number of things going for it that set it apart from the pack of budget-friendly MTB forks.
The most obvious one is the price, which sits just above 200 USD depending on the travel you choose. This is very cheap for a 32mm stanchioned front suspension offering low-speed compression and rebound damping.
Because of its popularity and widespread appeal, RockShox has been smart enough to offer them in a broad range of travel, ranging from 100 up to 150mm of travel, for 27.5 and 29 inch wheels, 1.5 tapered and 1 1/8 straight steerers, various fork offsets, ample tire clearance, and Motion Control damper with Solo Air air spring.
The RockShox Motion Control damper is a budget-friendly option with minimal adjustability, offering an incredibly easy setup. It’s the oldest and most simple damping technology in RockShox lineup, with more complex variations either no longer available or being replaced by newer compression damping-technology.
The damper offers a single dial for open and closed low-speed compression damping. A full lockout can be enabled and completely closes the compression oil ports. The damper also offers a neat failsafe mechanism, which opens the compression valve cover on a locked out fork during a big hit, preventing possible damage to the internals and enabling fork travel again. It allows for a single big hit before a spring closes the valve cover again.
The SoloAir air spring simplifies suspension setup by being able to inflate both positive and negative air chambers using a single schrader valve. It means you always run the same pressure in both chambers. Although it is easier to set up, the fact that there’s no independent configuration of both air chambers does away with customisation of the initial travel characteristics, which translates to fine tuning small-bump sensitivity.
Since both chambers run the same pressure, it’s not possible to run a higher pressure in the negative air chamber, which is used for the downward stroke since it sits at the bottom of the air spring. This reduces the small-bump sensitivity obtainable with this type of air spring.
Simply looking at the specs and what you need to pay for this fork versus high-end ones, which are 2 to 4 times as expensive, it’s very easy indeed to see why this one also sells 2 to 4 times as much. Probably more than that.
- Incredibly well-specced budget offering from RockShox. Many configuration options to suit a wide range of bikes. Cheapest fork with 32mm stanchions.
- None within this price range
RockShox Judy Gold RL
The RockShox Judy Gold RL is an affordable option for XC enthusiasts looking for a tunable front suspension that’s lightweight.
More expensive than the extremely budget-friendly Recon Silver RL, the Judy Gold RL is over a pound lighter for a 29 inch 100mm travel (versus the 29 inch 120mm travel of the Recon). That’s the kind of weight that’ll be noticeable in handling and climbing.
It achieves this rather drastic reduction in weight by being offered with aluminum rather than steel stanchions with a width of 30 instead of 32mm. And those travel options are more cross-country or light trail oriented, ranging between 80 to 120mm.
Furthermore the fork is just as tunable as the Recon with both the Motion Control damper and DebonAir air spring, offering compression and rebound adjustment with a lockout, and similar air spring adjustments as other forks in the RockShox lineup.
- Budget-friendly, lightweight XC and light trail fork with top-end damper and air spring for its price class
- None within its price category
RockShox 35 Gold RL
The RockShox 35 Gold RL is an incredible fork for the money, because it’s the only top-end suspension sporting 35mm aluminum stanchions you’ll be able to buy. So if you’re looking for added stiffness for your trail or enduro bike, and want a highly tunable fork that is still affordable, this is one of the few if not the only option there is.
With a travel range between 100 and 160mm, and the ability to mount massive 2.8 inch tires, the fork covers almost the entire trail and enduro range. Those of you who want to ride with 170 or 180mm should look elsewhere.
With all other modern configuration options, like a BOOST axle width, 220mm rotor, and both 1.5 and 1.8 inch tapered steerers this fork will fit any modern mountain bike.
The Motion Control damper and DebonAir air spring are top-end suspension technology used for the budget-friendly lineup, allowing for compression damping, rebound adjustment and air spring ramp control with volume spacers.
- The best budget-friendly trail and enduro fork with 35mm stanchions
- Max travel sits at 160mm
RockShox SID Ultimate
With 35mm stanchions the RockShox SID Ultimate is pushing the limits of what the average person will put on their cross-country rigs, and with both 110 and 120mm of travel available, this fork is the burlier brother of the featherweight SL version.
Nonetheless the fork is still very much specced as an XC weapon, albeit a very hard-hitting one, with a 44mm fork offset, the minimal Charger Race Day Damper, and Debonair air spring. When compared to Fox 34 Factory, there’s basically no weight difference (40 grams). At least not one that matters.
On the other hand, a significantly larger max rotor size at 220mm, and a max tire width sitting at 2.6″ definitely moves this fork into trail riding territory as well.
The fork offers an interesting mix of both XC and trail disciplines, with the no-frills damper and air spring setup in a lightweight chassis, combined with trail riding characteristics. if you’re into hitting big jumps, where independently adjustable high- and low-speed compression with 130mm of travel and up are more suitable, but want a light, stiff chassis that’s still very good for climbing, and pedaling in general, this might be the fork for you.
The fork offers one of the very best mid-stroke support in an almost linear travel, which aids the rider in really using the bike as an efficient tool for getting through corners and playing on the trail.
In a way it’s more flexible than the 32 super-light, super-fast SL Ultimate, because it’s strong enough with the right amount of travel for a really fast trail bike or a plusher but slower XC one. Just to get things straight, this is not a pure trail fork, so don’t expect it to be. If you push the fork on a really rough trail, you’ll simply blow through the damper.
- Interesting mix of burly XC and light trail characteristics in an excellent front suspension for racing.
- If you only do trail riding, you might want to pick a beefier fork
RockShox SID Select
Just like the SL the standard Ultimate also has its Select version, swapping out the Charger Race Day Damper for the Charger RL with otherwise similar specs. This time it adds 130 grams to the overall weight of 1671 grams while reducing the price by more than 200 dollars.
- Significantly less expensive than the Ultimate for similar ride characteristics for the average person a slight weight penalty.
- None
RockShox Lyrik Ultimate
When you start comparing the big brands in front suspension, probably the most popular comparison is the one between RockShox Lyrik Ultimate and the Fox 36 Factory. Here’s my take on that comparison.
Although there are obvious similarities, there are a number of differences which might nudge you into the direction of one over the other. As for similarities, they both come with 140 to 160mm of travel, 15×110 axle width, 44mm rake, tapered 1.5 inch steerers and for both 27.5 and 29 wheel sizes.
The difference, besides the damper, is small as well. 35 versus 36 mm stanchions, 220 versus 230 max rotor size, 3.2 versus 2.6 inch max tire width, which you’re probably not going to need for normal trail riding, and a pretty similar weight and price as well. And you can leave your zip ties at home, since the Lyrik also features lower leg bleeders to remove pressure buildup caused by sucking air into them.
Then for a little bit of tech-talk about the damper. The RockShox Lyrik Ultimate features the Charger 3 damper, offering a 15-click dial for low-speed compression adjustment, within a 5-click dial for high-speed compression adjustment. This pretty extensive low- and high speed adjustment can be achieved without introducing additional harshness and loss of control.
The Charger 3 offers a 18-click rebound adjuster knob at the bottom of the damper, which means you cannot independently adjust high- and low-speed rebound. This improves ease of setup at the cost of adjustability. The damper does not use an expanding bladder (neither does Fox’ GRIP2), which is a more durable construction offering a lower risk of stiction and smoother fork action.
It also has more oil volume using a spring-backed floating piston to control oil flow, making it the plushest fork in RockShox’ catalog. Even more so, because both damper and air spring are offered with otherwise optional ButterCup suspension technology.
It reduces high-frequency vibrations otherwise known as “trail chatter”. This is the result of a fork not being responsive enough to handle small rocks and roots, directly translating the impacts to your body, causing fatigue, hand numbness, and even neck and shoulder issues on longer rides.
The buttercup on the damper side essentially holds two elastomers looking like small rubber pucks between a metal plate sitting within an aluminum housing, at the end of each shaft. The air spring side only has one of those pucks, with an o-ring sitting on the upper side. That’s because the air spring is much more effective on compression (downward stroke) not on the rebound (upward stroke).
They function as a suspension within a suspension, offering about 4mm of vertical compliance, taking out the smallest of trail irregularities, before the more advanced suspension technology is activated and reducing roughly (a claimed) 20% of trail chatter.
The first thing I thought as a guy having bikes with 30-year old suspension on it, was that it was nothing else than an elastomer with a fancy name slapped onto it. But it’s not, and it would be unfair to compare technologies decades apart. The only thing from a durability and financial perspective is that it definitely does add more components and complexity to the overall fork.
An air spring is made up of a shaft on which in this case a floating piston is installed, sitting between two seals. The Debonair+ air spring improves upon earlier models, by swapping out the plastic shaft for an aluminum one.
Larger volume negative air chambers for all three iterations is achieved by hollowing out the top hat of the piston. Just as with Fox’s Float EVOL air spring, the DebonAir+ larger negative air chamber offers a more linear spring curve and a reduced risk of bottoming out.
All skepticism aside, the suspension giant has outdone itself by creating the Lyrik Ultimate, which could indeed be the ultimate trail riding front suspension to dig deep into your wallet for.
- The best trail fork currently on the market
- None
Fox 32 Step-Cast Factory
You can’t talk about XC front suspension without mentioning the gold standard, which is the Fox 32 Step-Cast Factory. As gorgeous as it is expensive, it’s a premium cross country suspension for going fast and riding hard.
Being offered with a classic 100mm of Kashima coated travel, ensuring many miles of racing with an extra coating on the surface of the stanchions for improved longevity and a slight reduction in stiction. The fork comes in a 27.5″ and 29″ version, with a rake 44 or 51mm, and fits brake rotors between 160 and 180mm for the 27.5″ and up to a massive 203mm for the 29″ version.
The fork provides a tire clearance for tires with a width up to 2.4″, so you can go pretty aggressive with your front tire, which is kept in place with a standard 15x110mm Kabolt axle. A 100mm version is also available for 29″ wheels.
The fork offers increased torsional stiffness over previous generations, but it’s only when demanding the most out of the fork and having ample experience with older versions that you might notice a tiny increase in precision. It only means the Fox 32 has only improved an already great product.
Then there’s the damper and air spring, both highly tunable. The FIT4 damper is a sealed closed cartridge system, which offers a 3-position lever with on-the-fly settings equating Open (no damping), Medium, and Firm damping (high-speed compression) configurations. The settings can be configured with a single dial.
Inside the big lever sits a smaller knob offering 22-click low-speed compression adjustment, to stiffen the fork and provide more support of the top of the stroke (available in the Open setting).
If you think 22-clicks gives you a lot of adjustability, you’re absolutely right. In fact the majority of riders won’t touch it and just use the Open setting most of the time. That doesn’t mean it’s a useless function. It’s not, and especially of smooth, flowy trails with sharp turns and small jumps, firming up your ride can add a touch of fun and playfulness to it.
The FIT4 damper offers a 10-click rebound adjuster knob at the bottom of the damper, which means you cannot independently adjust high- and low-speed rebound. This improves ease of setup at the cost of adjustability.
The FLOAT EVOL (Extra Volume) air spring has a larger negative air chamber, besides the standard positive one. Aside from supporting your weight in a neutral position, the air spring offers a more linear spring curve that’s supple off the top on small bumps yet still has the support to resist bottoming out on those big hits.
The size of the positive air chamber can still be reduced as you’re used to with air volume spacers, without affecting the functionality of the negative chamber. By reducing the air volume of the positive air chamber you make the fork act more progressive, resisting bottoming out more for those of you who like to ride hard and aggressive.
The amount of adjustability, when properly set up provides a tremendous control and support, making this the go-to option for fast XC racers and ambitious amateurs.
- An XC suspension fork that holds nothing back. Highly adjustable, race-quality front suspension for ambitious cross country racers.
- Seriously expensive. Amount of adjustability might prove to be too much for many riders
Fox 32 Step-Cast Performance
There are a lot of similarities between the Performance and Factory version of the Fox 32 Step-Cast. So let’s see if the difference in price might be worth downgrading without losing too much functionality.
The answer to that question of course totally depends on your needs. Suffice to say that this is a great cross country front suspension. The biggest difference is the damper, which is a more straightforward GRIP damper within a stanchion without the characteristic Kashima coating.
The GRIP damper has a single 3-position lever for external compression adjustability, with infinite adjustment in between 3 detents. A 10-speed rebound adjuster can be found at the bottom of the damper. The dial is tight enough to stay in place even on rougher rides.
What that means is that the fork is just as exceptional as the Factory version. It performs the same, offers great on-the-fly adjustability, and will greatly extend the types of ground you can cover. But it’s not Fox 32 Step-Cast Factory, which is the tiniest bit better and offers a mode of adjustability the majority prefers (a dedented one).
Whether or not that’s worth almost 200 USD is up to you.
- Solid value-for-money for fast XC racing for people who don't like to constantly tinker with their suspension
- People underestimate the value of Kashima coating for fork longevity
Fox 34 Factory
Though they might have very similar looks and even share the same name the Fox 34 Factory is still a very different fork than the Fox 34 Step-Cast Factory.
The latter fork is very XC-oriented, with a focus on weight reduction (Step-Cast), tire clearance in line with the popular 2.25 width of cross country tires, up to 120mm of travel, and a FIT4 damper with optional lockout for climbing and sprinting.
The Fox 34 Factory sits much more squarely into trail territory by moving the max travel to 140mm and offering the highly adjustable GRIP2 damper, which has both high- an low speed compression adjustment (instead of only low speed). The option to dial in your compression adjustment for both high- and low speed starts to make more sense if there’s more travel to work with, hence you don’t see this damper on XC forks.
With the GRIP2 damper the Fox 34 is the first four-way adjustable front suspension in their lineup. Besides a little weight penalty over the FIT4 damper, and the fact its a bladder-less cartridge damper that holds more oil, by far the biggest difference between the two dampers is the amount of adjustability. The GRIP2 goes all-out in this respect with a 16-click dial for low-speed compression adjustment, within a 9-click dial for high-speed compression adjustment.
That immediately showcases the target audiences for this fork, since both damper options are available with the Fox 34 Factory. The 3-position lever to quickly configure your compression is incredibly easy to setup for every rider out there, and is still a fantastic option for this fork. The GRIP2 damper is the better option for quickly traversing rough terrain, and is the core reason why it makes its appearance on a trail fork.
The FLOAT EVOL (Extra Volume) air spring has a larger negative air chamber, besides the standard positive one. Aside from supporting your weight in a neutral position, the air spring offers a more linear spring curve that’s supple off the top on small bumps yet still has the support to resist bottoming out on those big hits.
The size of the positive air chamber can still be reduced as you’re used to with air volume spacers, without affecting the functionality of the negative chamber. By reducing the air volume of the positive air chamber you make the fork act more progressive, resisting bottoming out more for those of you who like to ride hard and aggressive.
I’ve already meantioned this is a much more trail-worthy partner than the Step-Cast. Besides the different damper, the Fox 34 Factory has a max tire clearance of 2.6 inches, which covers the entire range of trail tires and probably enduro as well. The orange version only comes with 140mm of travel, while the black one is also available in a downcountry-ish 130mm.
- Same name as the Step-Cast, very different but excellent fork for short-travel trail riding
- Max travel of 140mm
Fox 34 Performance Elite
The Fox 34 Performance Elite is the non-Kashima coated version of the Fox 34 Factory.
All premium front suspension has anodized stanchions to protect them, increasing its longevity and durability, and offer low-stiction, smooth performance. The Kashima coat enhances both by smoothing out the microscopically rough bumps in the anodization layer even more with the characteristic bronze coating.
As far as damper options are concerned there’s only one, which is the FIT4, which can adjust the low-speed compression in a 130mm travel fork. The entire package makes this a somewhat more affordable option for endurance XC and/or short-travel light trail bikes.
- More affordable Fox 34 for endurance XC and light trail riding
- Only comes with FIT4 damper and 130mm of travel
Fox 34 Performance
As far as entry-level goes with Fox the Fox 34 Performance is the most affordable option with 34mm stanchions, coming with 140mm of travel and the GRIP damper.
This damper further simplifies the setup. The GRIP damper is a compression-damping technology that offers 3 on-the-fly settings equating Open (no damping), and Firm damping configurations with infinite adjustment in between 3 detents. The settings can be configured with a single dial.
Furthermore it offers a 10-click rebound adjuster knob at the bottom of the damper, which means you cannot independently adjust high- and low-speed rebound. This improves ease of setup at the cost of adjustability.
With 3 settings including dedents in between, there’s still a ton of low-speed compression adjustment this fork offers. And you might argue that, for obvious reasons, a well configured GRIP2 damper improves support and stability for your mid-stroke and your big hits.
But that’s emphasizing the willingness and ability to configure your damper correctly. This much more straightforward approach to front suspension adjustability will probably suit more riders.
- Meant for the majority of riders who want a hassle-free Fox front suspension for short-travel trail bikes
- GRIP damper lacks sophistication in mid-stroke and tail-end of the travel when compared to the GRIP2
Fox 36 Factory
Probably every “best of” list concerning trail suspension has this one on its list, which is the Fox 36 Factory. And with a travel sitting in between 150 and 160mm for the black version, and 160mm for the glossy orange one, it has trail ridding written all over it.
Max rotors of 230mm, tire clearance up to 2.8 inch, and the GRIP2 option for both 29 and 27.5 wheels, means you get all the adjustment you’re ever going to need to shred basically any kind of trail. And depending on your bike and weight, this fork can also be used for more enduro-style adventuring.
Just as the Fox 34 Factory, this one with 36mm stanchions still offers the FIT4 damper as well. The FIT4 is the top-of-the-line damper for Fox’s XC lineup, so one is not really better than the other. The difference resides in its usage, and where adjustability of high-speed compression starts to make more sense.
A 160mm travel trail bike can definitely be used on hard-hitting terrain where you want to maximise your control and finetune the mid- and end stroke of your compression. It’s not to say that you can only do that with the GRIP2 damper, you can just do it in a more fine-grained way.
But you not only have the damper side to contend with, there’s also the FLOAT EVOL air spring with independently adjustable positive and negative air chambers. And on top of that, you can change the volume of the air chamber with volume spacers to change the linearity of the spring curve. Or rather, in layman’s terms, how fast the fork will stiffen when going through its travel. The less air volume the quicker it stiffens.
I guess all I’m trying to say here is that you can write an encyclopedia about the amount of adjustability you can tinker with the top-end version of this fork. It’s just mind-boggling. So to end this little review, that’s both its strength and maybe its downside.
The Factory version of the 36 is nothing short of absolutely awesome. It’s one of the very best trail forks ever made, and you can play with the configuration to your heart’s content. The specifications besides the adjustability of the fork are outstanding and will support any configuration of trail bike. It’s up to you whether you want to go for the FIT4 versus the GRIP2.
- Gold standard for trail suspension
- Price. GRIP2 might be over-specced for the majority of riders.
Fox 36 Performance Elite
It’s very interested to see that where the Performance Elite for the Fox 34 favors the FIT4 damper over the GRIP2, it’s just the other way around for the Fox 36 Performance Elite. In this case, there’s only the GRIP2 damper option. All other options (except for Kashima coating and additional rake options) are exactly the same.
What we can learn from that is what I already concluded earlier. High-speed compression adjustability, something which only the GRIP2 offers, starts to make more sense with longer travel forks. In this case the Fox 36 Performance Elite only comes in a 160mm version.
And just to reiterate. The GRIP2 damper has a total of 25 settings to configure, divided into 16 clicks for low-speed compression adjustment, and 9 clicksl for high-speed compression adjustment. And if you’re willing to spend the kind of money for this type of fork, you’re also somebody who’s willing to spend the extra time setting it up correctly.
Whether those assumptions from Fox’ sales department is true is up to you of course.
- Saving those 100 bucks you'd otherwise spend on orange lower legs and still get all the specs of a Fox 36
- GRIP2 only (no FIT4) with no Kashima coat
Manitou Markhor
My heart rejoices in the fact that there’s still a manufacturer of front suspension that deems it wise to offer a fork for 26 inch mountain bikes. And just as legendary as the brand itself was in the 90s with the Manitou Markhor you can mount a new front suspension to your old rig. Making this fork, one of the best options for 26 inch mountain bikes.
Of course there’s also a 27.5 and 29 inch version of this fork. The fork is internally adjustable to various travel lengths residing in cross country territory, from 80 to 110mm. So it’s not only for bike restorers, but also for (patient) DIY bike mechanics.
Featuring 30mm stanchions, 9mm dropouts or a BOOST thru axle, the fork is available in a 1.5 and 1 1/8 steerer, increasing its versatility of being used for older style bikes.
It has a reverse arch, which means the arch sits at the back of the legs, not the front. The benefit of such a setup is a small reduction in weight and/or a small increase in stiffness. A much bigger benefit is that the arch serves as a protection against dirt and mud getting onto the stanchions and seals. You also move the brake hose to the back of the suspension, which is arguably a more protected area than sitting out front.
MTB suspension is actually suspension you find on regular motocross bikes turned upside down. Normally the lower legs are up and the stanchions come out of them at the bottom. Because of stiffness problems MTB suspension has evolved into the design as we know it. The biggest downside of the MTB design is that dust seals face upwards and are far more exposed to debris moving past them. The reverse arch goes a long way in protecting both your stanchions and seals, thus the entire fork, from getting contaminated.
Whether you like the aesthetics of the reverse arch is of course a personal choice. The downside of the arch bearing the brunt of everything the front wheel picks up and throws at it, is that the open parts of the arch clog up, but that’s a small price to pay for the benefits this construction offers.
The fork has a fairly standard lockout for the damper, so no compression adjustability besides open and closed. A rebound adjuster knob with infinite adjustment sits at the bottom, and a simple schrader valve is used for your air spring. The lockout will still allow for a small amount of travel when activated. The entire process is as straightforward as its easy, which probably suits the target audience for this budget-friendly option.
- Reverse arch construction improves longevity, reduces need to clean seals, and increases stiffness. Lots of options for XC oriented bikes, including a 26 inch version. Travel can be reduced using spacers.
- None
Manitou R7 Pro
If you’re a person who likes to tinker with her/his fork than you might want to look into the Manitou R7 Pro when looking for an upgrade for your XC bike.
An absolutely stunning fork in high-gloss black with reversed arch, a shiny oversized crown slanting onto the the 32mm stanchions, silver retro-styled brand decals.
Not everyone will want to swap forks between frames, but if you do you can quickly change a 120mm one into a 100mm. You can do this because the air spring side doesn’t have a dimple to self-balance the positive and negative air chamber. This means you can adjust the travel using volume spacers.
In terms of adjustability the Pro model is the way to go (versus the Expert) offering the XC VTT Pro damper, and Dorado Air air spring with IVA air volume spacers, which you’re going to need. Since you can independently adjust the negative air chamber of the air spring you can over-inflate it to increase small bump sensitivity.
I won’t really go into the details of the damper technology, other than to say it has dual shim stacks to offer optimum oil flow across the entire travel range while in lockout mode. It’s not perfect but it does translate into improved control for high-speed sections while maintaining some form of low-speed compression that’s firm enough for XC requirements.
The fork is offered in both 27.5″ and 29″ versions. This means that although 29″ might be the XC standard, shorter riders can have a high-value XC fork for their 27.5″ bikes as well. And it comes in every imaginable fork offset as well, with brake rotors theoretically up to 203mm and a tire clearance of 2.7″. Though that last number might be a bit too ambitious.
It’s a unique fork in the XC range offering loads of versatility for people who’re willing to dive of the deep end and get more out of their suspension. If that’s not you, you don’t need me to tell you to stay away from this fork.
- Gorgeous fork for the home mechanic and the ambitious DIY tuner.
- Not a fit-and-forget type front suspension. Damper isn't dedented.
Manitou Mezzer Pro
The Manitou Mezzer Pro deserves its place on this list, simply because it’s a fantastic brand making a fantastic-looking, hard-htting yet very versatile, 37mm stanchioned fork.
When talking front suspension, all the attention goes to Fox and RockShox, leaving all the other brands to work harder to get the same kind of recognition. So the big question is of course whether or not it measures up to the Fox 38 and Zeb Ultimate.
Simply looking at the specs, it does. Apart from the 37mm stanchions, the fork is offered with 140 up to 180mm of travel, so it can take plenty of abuse. It has all rake options you’d want, standard 15x110mm axle width, able to hold a 223mm rotor, and featuring the MC² damper and Dorado Air with IVA volume spacers.
I don’t usually care all that much about weight, especially not in the enduro and downhill category, but the weight of this fork at 2032 is markedly lighter than both the Zeb Ultimate and Fox 38 Factory.
A lot can be said about brands using proprietary marketing slang to denote ride characteristics of forks. Manitou coined the term IRT (Infinite Rate Tune) volume adjuster to be able to reduce air volume in the positive air chamber of the air spring with the need to open up the fork and add volume spacers. While maybe not a game changer, it’s incredibly user-friendly to finetune mid-stroke support with a higher degree of adjustability on the fly.
In less technical terms it means that for the majority of your ride (not to slow, not too hard) you can expertly dial in your ride preferences to get the most support possible from a fork within this category, with a smooth and supple ride as a result.
The Multi Compression Control (MC²) damper provides an independently adjustable high-speed compression circuit which combines with an independently adjustable low-speed circuit to offer an externally adjustable, on the fly high-speed blowoff threshold and tuning range. It offers 10 clicks of low-speed compression adjustment, and 4 clicks of high-speed compression adjustment.
Furthermore the fork has a 10-click rebound adjuster. And all MC² dampers include the hydraulic bottom out (HBO) system, which kicks in the final millimeters of travel. It’s not as nuanced and sophisticated as the most premium options out there, lacking sensitivity to smooth out the trail chatter.
The fork shines in its versatility with a starting travel of 140mm attainable without changing the air spring. With a relatively easy DIY job, you can add a number of travel spacers to get to the desired travel effectively. Maybe not as versatile for true enduro riding, the fork offers a wide application of riding styles with a user-friendly setup and incredible plushness for probably the far majority of riders.
- Incredible plush mid-stroke support with intuitive air spring tech. Versatile and beefy long-travel trail fork
- Not the best true enduro fork.
Marzocchi Bomber Z2
The Marzocchi Bomber Z2 shares the same air spring as the Fox 34 Rhythm, which means you also get the same adjustable travel within a single front suspension, from 100mm up to 150 of travel.
Being able to use high-grade components from its mother company pays dividends, creating one of the best-performing forks in its price category for budget-minded people. The Marzocchi Bomber Z2 is one of the best examples where you can obtain a premium riding experience without paying top dollar simply because the fork doesn’t bear the name Fox or RockShox.
The FLOAT air spring sits in Fox’s top-of-the-line XC and trail forks and can be found here as well. It supports installing volume spacers to reduce the size of the positive air chamber for increased progressiveness and bottoming out resistance. Since the volume spacers do nothing with the negative air chamber (used for the downward stroke), small bump sensitivity is minimally impacted.
The Rail damper is where the biggest difference sits. It’s a semi open-bath construction, which means the containing cartridge is removed and the internals are sitting in the shaft of the stanchion, which reduces complexity and costs. It arguably is a design that needs less maintenance as well, because of the larger volume to hold oil and the lack of a bladder, which is a delicate part of the damper. An increase in weight is the downside.
Whatever the design, the heavy Z2 does smooth out the trail as none of its competition does, reducing trail chatter to an absolute minimum. And the easy adjustability of both external damper and air spring, as well as the ability to reduce air volume enables you to finetune the entire length of travel to your specific setup, just as you would with any of the most expensive forks out there.
And they come in a glossy red finish as well, what more could you ask for?
- Remarkable trail fork offering the best value-for-money for a mid-tier suspension fork. Highly adjustable with Fox premium internals to smooth out any trail.
- None for its pricepoint
DVO Diamond D1
The DVO Diamond D1 is a rare beast on the trail. It’s easier to spot a Lefty than someone riding DVO suspension. That’s a shame, because the front suspension with 35mm stanchions is well-suited for the more tech-oriented DIY tuners.
Though not as well-suited to deal with true enduro and downhill riding, more flowy trails with the occasional rough stuff thrown in between is no problem at all for the fork, which comes with 140 to 170mm of travel, depending on your wheel size.
The air spring side features a negative spring you can preload to set for small-bump sensitivity using an allen key. Since it works besides support for mid- and end stroke, it’s a very easy way to get a very plush feel for the initial part of the travel. At a certain point in your travel it opens up for mid-stroke support you control with your standard air pressure. It’s an intuitive design that’s fun and easy to tinker with, and to create a pretty distinctive setup which’ll suit your trail riding characteristics.
Where the Manitou Mezzer Pro has external mid-stroke adjustability with the IRT volume adjuster, the DVO Diamond D1 focuses more on the initial part of the travel. Which makes sense since this fork sits more squarely into trail riding territory.
- Trail fork for DIY tuners. Excellent small-bump sensitivity
- Unable to beat Fox and RockShox when the going get's tough.
MRP Ribbon SL
The MRP Ribbon SL differs from other more race-oriented XC forks. It’s heavier and comes in a 130mm version and is the only high-end XC fork in a 1.128 (1 1/8) tapered steerer. With 35mm stanchions in combination with the weight, you can clearly see why it you shouldn’t compare this fork to your Fox 32 or RockShox Ultimate SL.
MRP calls this an endurance XC slash trail fork, which basically means longer slower rides, instead of shorter faster trips. Its direct competition would be the Fox 34 and RockShox SID Ultimate, the latter also coming with 35mm stanchions.
The 120 or 130mm version with a choice of 44 and 51mm rake can be internally adjusted to a 110mm fork. Although actually setting it up this way means you’re probably introducing an off-balance rig, with your rear shock being underpowered with respect to this front suspension. So either 120 or 130mm is the way to go for this fork.
It means it’s a beefy XC fork with proper trail capabilities that’s meant for hard riding, since there’s a noticeable stiction in the beginning of the stroke. What it does to your riding style is enabling a planted feel on bumpy, high-speed sections, while it very quickly ramps up in the last third of the travel. It might actually outshine both the Fox 34 and RockShox SID Ultimate. Those forks however, offer better small-bump sensitivity.
Another downside of such a late ramping up of the fork is that it’s less playful while cornering and on small jumps. Instead of properly pre-loading the fork, you simply use the suspension and it stays in mid-stroke or halfway there.
The FulFill Air air spring’s dual air chamber can be independently inflated. This means you can overinflate the negative, or lower chamber for additional support and provide greater control for small-bump sensitivity. Increased control on harsher terrain, and reduced risk of bottoming out are also more highly tunable. The increased adjustability of the air spring does mean it takes a little more time to setup correctly.
Just as with the Baxter fork MRP has made a smart move when trying to compete with the big dogs, by making a similar product with distinct enough characteristics to target a specific niche. A true downcountry XC fork for the most aggressive trails within this discipline are up for grabs with this fork.
- Great downcountry option for staying in control on fast, rocky trails
- Less playful than its competition with prolonged mid-stroke and late ramping up.
Specifications suspension forks for hardtails
Name | Price | Wheel size | Travel | Stanchion | Rake | Axle | Rotor size | Max tire width | Damper | Air spring | Steerer | Color | Buy at Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
RockShox Recon Silver RL | 268 USD | 27.5″, 29″ | 100mm, 120mm, 130mm, 140mm, 150mm | 32mm straight wall steel | 37mm, 42mm, 46mm (27.5″) 42mm, 46mm, 51mm (29″) | 15x100mm, 15x110mm BOOST 9x100mm QR | 160-220mm | 2.45″, 2.8″ | Motion Control | Solo Air | 1.125S, 1.5T | gloss black, matte black | |
RockShox Judy Gold RL | 376 USD | 26″, 27.5″, 29″ | 80mm, 100mm, 120mm | 30mm straight wall aluminum | 40mm (26″) 42mm, 51mm (27.5″) 46mm, 51mm (29″) | 15x110mm BOOST 9x100mm QR | 160-185mm 160-220mm | 2.3″, 2.4″, 2.8″ | Motion Control | Solo Air | 1.125S, 1.5T | gloss black, matte black | |
RockShox 35 Gold RL | 483 USD | 27.5″, 29″ | 100mm, 120mm, 130mm, 140mm, 150mm, 160mm | 35mm tapered wall aluminum | 37mm, 44mm (27.5″) 44mm, 51mm (29″) | 15x110mm BOOST | 180-220mm | 2.8″ | Motion Control | DebonAir | 1.5T, 1.8T | gloss black, matte black | |
RockShox SID Ultimate | 1001 USD | 29″ | 110mm, 120mm | 35mm tapered aluminum | 44mm | 15x110mm Maxle Stealth | 180-220mm | 2.6″ | Charger Race Day | DebonAir | 1.5T | gloss blue, gloss black | |
RockShox SID Select | 790 USD | 29″ | 110mm, 120mm | 35mm tapered aluminum | 44mm | 15x110mm Maxle Stealth | 180-220mm | 2.6″ | Charger RL | DebonAir | 1.5T | matte black, gloss black | |
RockShox Lyrik Ultimate | 1107 USD | 27.5″, 29″ | 140mm, 150mm, 160mm | 35mm tapered wall aluminum | 37mm, 44mm (27.5″) 44mm (29″) | 15x110mm Maxle Stealth | 180-220mm | 3.2″ | Charger 3 w. ButterCup | DebonAir+ w. ButterCup | 1.5T | gloss black, meadow green | |
Fox 32 Step-Cast Factory | 949 USD | 27.5″, 29″ | 100mm | 32mm 7000 series aluminum w. Kashima coating | 44mm, 51mm | 15x110mm (Kabolt orange), 15x100mm, 15x110mm (Kabolt black) | 160-180mm (27.5″) 160-203mm (29″) | 2.4″ | FIT4 3-position lever, FIT4 2-position remote | FLOAT EVOL | 1.5T | gloss orange, gloss black | |
Fox 32 Step-Cast Performance | 769 USD | 27.5″, 29″ | 100mm | 32mm 7000 series aluminum | 44mm, 51mm | 15x100mm, 15x110mm (Kabolt, QR) | 160-180mm (27.5″) 160-203mm (29″) | 2.4″ | GRIP | FLOAT EVOL | 1.5T | matte black | |
Fox 34 Factory | 949 USD | 29″ | 140mm (orange) 130mm, 140mm (black) | 34mm 7000 series aluminum w. Kashima coating | 44mm (orange) 44mm, 51mm (black) | 15x110mm (QR orange), 15x110mm (QR/Kabolt black) | 180-203mm | 2.6″ | GRIP2, FIT4 | FLOAT EVOL | 1.5T | gloss orange, gloss black | |
Fox 34 Performance Elite | 869 USD | 29″ | 130mm | 34mm 7000 series aluminum | 44mm | 15x110mm QR | 180-203mm | 2.6″ | FIT4 | FLOAT EVOL | 1.5T | matte black | |
Fox 34 Performance | 749 USD | 29″ | 140mm | 34mm 7000 series aluminum | 44mm | 15x110mm QR | 180-203mm | 2.6″ | GRIP | FLOAT EVOL | 1.5T | matte black | |
Fox 36 Factory | 1139 USD | 27.5″, 29″ | 160mm (orange) 150mm, 160mm (black) | 36mm 7000 series aluminum w. Kashima coating | 44mm (orange) 37mm, 44mm, 51mm (black) | 15x110mm KaboltX | 180-230mm | 2.8″ | GRIP2, FIT4 | FLOAT EVOL | 1.5T | gloss orange, gloss black | |
Fox 36 Performance Elite | 1049 USD | 27.5″, 29″ | 160mm | 36mm 7000 series aluminum | 44mm | 15x110mm QR | 180-230mm | 2.8″ | GRIP2 | FLOAT EVOL | 1.5T | matte black | |
Manitou Markhor | 300 USD | 26″, 27.5″, 29″ | 80mm, 100mm, 110mm | 30mm | 15x110mm BOOST 9x100mm QR | Kwik Toggle w. TPC | TS Air | 1.125S, 1.5T | gloss black | ||||
Manitou R7 Pro | 980 USD | 27.5″, 29″ | 100mm, 120mm | 32mm | 37mm, 44mm (27.5″) 44mm, 51mm (29″) | 15x110mm Hexlock | 160-203mm | 2.7″, 3″ (27.5″) 2.7″ (29″) | VTT Pro | Dorado Air w. IVA | 1.5T | gloss black | |
Manitou Mezzer Pro | 1100 USD | 27.5″, 29″ | 140-180mm | 37mm 7000 series aluminum | 37mm, 44mm (27.5″) 44mm, 51mm (29″) | 15x110mm Hexlock | 180-223mm | 2.9″ | MC² | Dorado Air w. IVA | 1.5T | gloss black | |
Marzocchi Bomber Z2 | 519 USD | 27.5″, 29″ | 140mm, 150mm (27.5″) 100mm, 120mm, 130mm (29″) | 34mm | 44mm (27.5″) 44mm, 51mm (29″) | 15x110mm QR | RAIL | FLOAT | matte black | ||||
DVO Diamond D1 | 749.00 – 1024.00 USD | 27.5″, 29″ | 150-170mm (27.5″) 140-160mm (29″) | 35mm tapered wall aluminum | 37mm, 44mm (27.5″) 44mm, 51mm (29″) | 15x110mm BOOST | 160mm | 3″ (27.5″) 2.5″ (29″) | D1 | black, blue, green | |||
MRP Ribbon SL | 1050 USD | 29″ | 110mm, 130mm | 35mm | 44mm, 51mm | 15x110mm BOOST | 180mm | 2.5″ | EssenTTial | FulFill Air | 1.125T, 1.5T | gloss black |
Johan van Seijen
FoundeR Restoration.bike
Johan van Seijen is the founder of restoration.bike. His passion for cycling in general, and restoring older bikes turned into a website to share his knowledge with a broader audience. Starting out on his father’s road bike and riding classics as the Amstel Gold Race and Liege Bastogne Liege he has shifted his attention to trail, XC, and gravel riding since. No matter how much he loves writing about everything related to cycling, nothing beats actually using his ever-expanding bicycle collection.
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