Big airs, giant jumps and gigantic tricks require MTB Fforks which can take some punishment forks not designed for this purpose are liable to be damaged or worse break ; causing serious injury to a rider.
A dirt jump ( DJ ) bike will sometimes be a hardtail and front suspension, though some riders do still prefer firm forks. Dirt jump forks will have little travel of 80-100mm and are typically coil sprung as well as being much heavier because of the increased strength than those designed for other mountain bike disciplines.
If you know anything about dirt jumping you’ll know the name Marzocchi probably the best known and most generally used make of forks on dirt jump bikes with their infamous dirt jumper range.
The dirt jumper range starts with the entry level DJ3 fork. It’s a quick-release fork, but the straightforward forged lowers are very well proved re slam proofing. The coil-sprung internals get a simple but effective bottom out damper for slam control. They may also be stiffened up for emergency-only movement ( if that is’s what you are after ) by charging the auxiliary air spring.
The range then moves up to the Dirt Jumper one & 2 models, which, in the recently asserted 2010 models will utilise the updated Open Bath RV damper, which features outwardly adjustable rebound damping. The Dirt Jumper one & two models feature a coil spring and a low pressure pre-load system.
Weighing in at only 2240g for an open bath, coil sprung fork the DJ1 weighs a great 355g less than the 2009 DJ1 while increasing strength by thirty percent.
If you can’t spring the £190 £500 ( $200 – $1000 ) that the dirt jumper range can cost may want to instead consider a rigid fork. The advantages are not only cost, stiff forks such as the Charge Nozzle will not only cost you less but will also weight a ton less than suspension forks meaning you are able to save extra weight that may help you with getting some of those technical tricks nailed.
Tags: forks, mountain bike forks, mtb forks, suspension