What was your first ever suspension fork?

Sikora

Just been reminiscing about the parts available for bikes in the late 90's when i had my first proper mountain bike. Hope and Hayes had just released the first disc brakes on the market and most forks were using elastomers.
Which brings me to the question - What was the first suspension fork you ever owned?

For myself it was a pair of non adjustable RST 281's, which i later upgraded to a pair of adjustable Marin Tuned 381's, get in!
No idea on the travel of either, i just knew they were better than rigid!

nicklouse

RS Jett XC long travel.

dirtbiker100

i think mine were RS indy's maybe. 60mm probably. they were on a mid 90's stumpjumper that got nicked within 2 weeks

lost-time

I got some Manitou things from the Bromley Bike shop in the early to mid '90s.(PeeWee (Dave) Hemming was in there at the time). They were elastomer and you could change the rubbers for different 'settings'. Had them for quite a few years until I sold the bike. They looked fantastic... All black with silver writing and a large aluminium crown. The RS forks out at the time looked crap compared to these but I doubt their performance matched the RS!

impished

RST Hi-5's on a Marin B17 1999!!!!
Good old elastomers, gave nice smooth travel, suprisingly controlled rebound....
And then when the wether got below about 15c the elastomers would freeze!!! back to rigid

zero303

2001 Rockshox Judy Cs on a Scwhinn Moab 1 Disc. They weighed a metric tonne but were surprisingly good performers for the money and time.

I resisted forks for such a loooong time, hence the quite recent date lol

Big Red S

RST 381TL.

Then I upgraded to some RS Quadras.

supersonic

First I ever rode was a Quadra 5, first I owned was an Indy XC, 63mm travel.

john74

not sure what they were but they were on my 1992 ralaigh activator 2. 10mm of travel

explosifpete

I had a pair of rockshox mag 20s that I upgraded with a mag 21 brace. sweet.
I even painted them purple, well they had to match my barends!

supersonic

Ah, I still long for those retro days. Its all boring nowadays, everything sems to work and no purple.

dave_hill

I had one of the very first pairs of Pace RC35s, then a set of Rock Shox RS1s, Mag 20s, and some Mag 21s (Bontrager revalved job)

nicklouse

reading this reminds me of how anti Suspension i was untill the end of the '90's.

supersonic

I think you more than made up for it now ;-)

I can remember the strangest fork I ever rode - a Hannebrink Bat Fastard

Oldskool_Paul

I had some Rock Shox Quadra's, they were 'long travel' 60mm jobs if I remember right. I went back to a fully rigid Cannondale after that episode.

The old Manitou forks looked ace

Matteeboy

I avoided any form of bounce until last year.

So Fox 90RL air jobby - works a treat.

explosifpete

I had a pair of manitou (sport?) and they had a huge 35mm of travel,
I then went for a pair of rst mozo with mojo springs and everyone was amazed that they had 110mm of travel , but they did flex about a foot or so!

Blundell

RST's Mozo pro's, xtr grey... they were the dog's.... oh no they were crap... flexatron if I remember right. Saying that though they were pretty light.

Hey I remember riding my rigid trek zx6500 for the first couple of times, it quite literally bought a tear(s) to my eye(s)!

stumpyjon

RST Mozo Pro's. Thought they were great until I got a bike with Fox Talas last year. Since getting the Fox forks I thought I'd have a proper go at setting up the Mozo Pros. Can't even set the sag properly, even with the preload adjusters fully back off . Thinking of skimming the sides off the elastomers to see if I can get a bit of movement out of them :shock: .

BlackSpur

Zoom Endura 386 - absolutely dire. Rigid in the cold, pogo sticking up and down a huge 70mm travel at other times. Then they seized up completely after going doown a kerb.

rob cole

Specialized Future Shock (made by Rock Shox) in 1992, worked very well but only 1.9" travel

added a M2 Metal Matrix fork brace the following year, which made the feel torsionally stiffer


next fork was a Rockshox Mag 10 with LT (long travel) kit raising travel to 2.3" in 1993

next fork was a Rockshox Judy DH in 2004 with 3" travel and strange elastomer (rubber) spring bumpers and a leaky plastic damping cartridge that was soon replaced with a steel coil spring and metal cart from White Bros.

Blundell

I always have a joke with one of my mates about my old RST's... I think he said at some point they were marketed to be 'lighter than sids'... for some reason that always makes me laugh... just don't know why... maybe it's that sort of double double bluff: or maybe it's reminiscing as to how sketchy the font end of the old trek used to be.. yeah, the latter is the real reason!

supersonic

RST XMO were very light!

djr2110

RSTs with claimed 4.5" of travel (cannot remember the name), but they were bright yellow and pitched my GT arrow head up like a chopper.
Elastomers were pretty shoddy and ended up drilling holes in them to get them working more softly!!
Those were the days, tektro vbrake boosters in all the anodized colours of the sun and x-lite bits were for the people with deeper pockets!

Dave

supersonic

^ Mozo Pro 4.5 ;-)

jbford

I had some Manitou 3 forks. Thought they were the bollocks! Elastomers that were lovely and springy in the summer and rock solid in the winter, I had to replace them all the time because they kept on splitting!

Ah, the old days! Remember when Marin brought out the Dual Sus bike with Manitou 3s on front and rear (instead of the seat stays)? How I lusted after that bike! :oops:

supersonic

The Manitou FS!

teacherman

Rock Shox Judy T 2's that came as stock on my Trek. After a fully rigid bike I thought they were the nuts

The Big Cheese

RS Judy's back in 99 - they were great....

On a Scott Team Racing frame.. or as my mates called it..."Captain America's bike" :oops:

supersonic

Judy TT - Indy internals in a Judy Shell ;-). I had a 2000 Race, nice fork (and a 2001 race)

BlackSpur

supersonic wrote:

The Manitou FS!

Spinergys LOL!