Front lockout, when to use, when to not ?

weeksy59

So then,

What's the rules on front fork lockout lads ?

When is it beneficial, when is it not ?

What sort of terrain ? what is a no no ?

Obviously downhill and XC are No ? but what type of hills are a yes ? What sort of conditions ?

The Northern Monkey

I only ever used mine if i hit a road... on trails I found it to be more trouble than its worth.

Turned it on for fireroad a few times but then always forgot to turn it off and it spoiled what would have been a very good route.

ride_whenever

I leave mine on most of the time, with the floodgate set faily light, so the forks start to move when it gets rough.

I've found a bar-mounted lockout makes remembering, or releasing the lock mid-descent much easier.

The Northern Monkey

ride_whenever wrote:

I leave mine on most of the time, with the floodgate set faily light, so the forks start to move when it gets rough.

I've found a bar-mounted lockout makes remembering, or releasing the lock mid-descent much easier.

Yea i'd def agree with that... pain in the arse reaching down to your forks every 5 mins

weeksy59

new forks have bar mounted Poploc

However i had them on my Cube for the 2 weeks i owned it and kept forgetting too LOL.

M6TT F

only turn mine on for road sections - as for bar mounted poploc - just another thing to clutter up the bars! it really aint difficult to reach a few inches

ride_whenever

the RS poplocks don't really clutter the bars, they mate rather nicely with shimano shifters just fitting under the gear indicators and not obscuring anything.

weeksy59

M6TT F wrote:

as for bar mounted poploc - just another thing to clutter up the bars!

I only put my hands on the rubbery bits called 'grips' so am not too worried about anything else mounted in the middle bits

projectsome

mine is off 90% of the time. I know most of the routes I ride so I can easily slow down a touch and put it on.

hoochylala

weeksy59 wrote:

new forks have bar mounted Poploc

However i had them on my Cube for the 2 weeks i owned it and kept forgetting too LOL.

Hehe - had mine on my cube for last 8 weeks but don't think I have ever used it - too busy trying to catch breath and gulp water on fire roads i think must try and remember - wouldn't fancy turning it on/off on fork whilst at speed, i would prob miss and shove my hand in the wheel!

cat_with_no_tail

M6TT F wrote:

only turn mine on for road sections - as for bar mounted poploc - just another thing to clutter up the bars! it really aint difficult to reach a few inches

^^^ What he said

supersonic

weeksy59 wrote:

So then,

What's the rules on front fork lockout lads ?

When is it beneficial, when is it not ?

What sort of terrain ? what is a no no ?

Obviously downhill and XC are No ? but what type of hills are a yes ? What sort of conditions ?

There are no rules ;-) Use when you feel is appropriate.

weeksy59

supersonic wrote:

weeksy59 wrote:

So then,

What's the rules on front fork lockout lads ?

When is it beneficial, when is it not ?

What sort of terrain ? what is a no no ?

Obviously downhill and XC are No ? but what type of hills are a yes ? What sort of conditions ?

There are no rules ;-) Use when you feel is appropriate.

But there must be good/bad times ?

supersonic

Generally I use when on the road, or sometimes climbing. All the rest of the times the fork is unlocked.

Over rough terain I wouldn't lock it lol, but some forks, such as RockShox motion control, have tunable blow off thresholds so some may well run it locked and so it only moves over the bigger stuff.

With a non hydraulic lockout I would never use it locked over rough terrain, as the lack of blow off may damage the internals.

cee

i only use mine on the road on the way to and from work.

even climbing offroad, i turn the lockout off, and to be honest, don't really notice any bob bob!

I do try to pay attention to how much my body moves on the bike though, and aim for any movement to be as smooth as possible.

grumsta

I use it on road generally, and on fire-road most of the time, definitely when climbing.

schlepcycling

I use mine on the road and also when climbing off road.

just g

never use it - tried on once years ago decided it wasnt required and never bothered again. don.t quite see the point of spending £100's on suspension and then turning into a rigid bar

Raymondavalon

Got lock outs on two bikes
I used to use it when climbing steep hills but I refrain from using it at all now, as I sometimes forget to unlock the darned forks and don't do myself or the forks any favours when that happens. Nowadays I only turn the lockout on when I come across some asphalt

neil_sheehan2000

I read a good article in Dirt years ago that basically slagged off all suspension fork fads. Their point against lockout was what's the point in spending extra money/carrying extra weight so you can ride on the road?

Which is a fair point, except when the forks that come with your bike already have these features. Made me think about the point in spending extra for these things though.

As for when to use lockout, personally I haven't bothered since the novelty of having it wore off.

weeksy59

Hopefully then the Toras are just 'better' than my current forks LOL.

whydoesitalwaysrainonme

lockout for road/fireroad and not locked out for everything else, you cant get much more simple than that also you might decide that a certain part of the trail is suitable to use lockout so you use it then, it's all up to you really.

weeksy59

Worked brilliantly... apart from the fact i kept forgetting to unlock for the downhills LOL.

Airienteer

Hope your fork has a blowout!