What's a U-Turn fork do

JimboM

Hi all

Only just got my first bike but already reading through the forums to see what upgrades I'm likely to want to do

Seen a few references to U-turn forks, can someone explain what these are/do

Cheers

Jim

hoathy

u-turn is the brand name for rock shox travel adjustable forks. this feature is on Pikes, Toras, Revelations, Recons, Pyslos, Dukes and a bunch of others.

JimboM

Thanks for the info

On the same subject then, what is the point of adjustable travel ? Why not just leave the fork set at max travel? To my thinking if the terrain isn't too rough then the fork would only use (say) 75% anyway or am I missing something

Cheers

Jim

nicklouse

try climbing with a long travel fork.

JimboM

nicklouse wrote:

try climbing with a long travel fork.

Isn't that what the lockout is for ?

Sorry, I'm real new to this and the whole fork thing is totally confusing me, even after reading the FAQ

Whytepeak

Both lockout and u-turn can help climbing. 'Lock down' forks incorporate both features.

Lockout is genrally used for road riding, as it reduces the loss of kinetic energy to suspention compression, similar to leaning the bike over one way then the next when cranking uphill.

U-turn reduces the travel and the length of the fork, and increases the head angle. This makes the steering more suitable to low speeds, and puts the bars lower down, so you can get into a comfortable riding position.

U-turn also makes longer forks more suited to shorter travel frames, e.g, RS Pike forks are often used for 4x, and run at 100mm.

Lock down forks can be wound down (reducing travel and fork length), and then locked out.

beski

You wind the fork down for shorter travel when climbing. If you try to go up steep hills with it set at long travel the geometry of the bike is affected, then the tendancy is for the front wheel to lift off the ground. Conversely the longer travel gives better geometry for down hill.

Jayng

from beginner to beginner. A u-turn fork or talas or ATA, well, any adjustable travel fork will help you ride, not necessarily better, but definitely easier. See a hill, turn the travel down, lock-out the suspension and pedal easily, see a downhill, turn the travel back up and enjoy the ride.

You'll slowly learn to challenge yourself by adjusting your travel higher to climb hills, then only use long travel forks that can't be adjusted. Kind of like learning to walk before you run.

JimboM

Thanks guys, slowly starting to make sense now

Cheers

Jim

CycloRos

You generally choose a fork to suite the frame and your riding style, travel adjustable forks are useful but only on frames that can take the change in geometry.

You'll see a lot of full suss bikes being fitted with adjustable forks to enable the rider to tweak the settings to make the bike handle to their personal preference.

junglist_matty

Travel adjust forks are just pointless in my opinion.

If you have something like PIKES:

- Riding along, come to a climb
- Lockout the forks
- Start winding down the travel (thats about 17 full turns of the adjust knob)
- Get near the top
- Start winding up the travel (thats another 17 full turns of the adjust knob)

- You've just wasted loads of time winding up and down the travel that you could have spent concentrating on riding properlly rather than leaning over trying to wind the travel whilst climbing.


Just my thoughts... You should buy a fork that works for the bike... build a 4x bike, use a 100mm fork i.e. Argyle. Build an XC bike, use a SID or Reba fork etc....

Plus I don't know anyone and haven't seen anyone out on the trails who has U-Turn forks that has ever bothered to adjust their travel using the U-Turn.
Its there for marketing gimick, just another thing to put on the box to try and sell more forks by making it look better and more attractive than the model sat next to it by some other manufacturer.

I think TALAS is slightly better because at least you only have 3 adjustments (2 clicks) to get the forks down to min travel), not 17 adjustments like the PIKEs.

supersonic

But it allows you to tailor the travel and/or geometry to your liking. Certainly not a marketing gimmick, is a highly succesful, award winning and very well received system. If I go for a XC type ride on the Zaskar, I'll set at 100mm. If I want to use it for harder riding and more downs, I'll set at 130mm. I do that before the ride - maybe change once in the ride.

Just because X manufacturer says their frame should have 140mm forks doesn't mean you want that - it allows you to experiment and get exactly what you want, and chop and change.

great system.

Biggus86

+1 Super.

Yeah, climbing with long travel forks is a barst, but if you can, you may want to wind down the travel. It helps a lot, but 99% i just lock them out.
Yes, RockShox's system is a bit annoying for this type of use as its just fiddly, unlike Fox's TALAS

M.C.

My RS Lyriks adjust from 160mm to 115mm at the flick of a lever, just flick and push down and the fork drops down. Flick it back and the fork rises up, done in seconds and it makes a massive difference going back up them there hills.

KonaKurt

My U-Turn Revelations are superb and very useful when used correctly (as I do)!

Some riders say that it's a pain in the ass to have to stop a ride each time you need to adjust travel for uphills and downhills. I disagree, because not only does it only take a few seconds to adjust, but trying to climb or drop with an unsuitable fork travel greatly reduces handling and also the fun factor!

By the way kids, NEVER try adjusting them while your weight is on the bike (as a mate of mine did). Ruins them, expensive job.

KK

CycloRos

+1 sonic and kurt.

The opinion that travel adjust systems are a marketing gimmick is just wrong! They allow precise setting up of the fork to the riders personal taste and to what matches the bike and riding conditions.

The Pike on my Duster spends most its life 115mm cos that's what seems to work best for me and the bike and i rarely adjust it. Couldn't do that with a fixed travel fork.

and adjusting on the trail is common too... if there's a massive climb ahead it gets wound down/locked out before, and wound out again for fun time on the descent.

and the other thing to remember is cost, buying a new fixed travel fork everytime you fancy chopping and changing frames/geometry/riding style will soon mount up!

UncleMonty

I find U-Turn really helpfull, on one of my regular routes i'm more or less climbing for the first hour and a half then have a fun 20 min decent, I start locked off then wind my Tora's all the way out for the home leg, lots of fun to be had with the extra travel.

bungalistic

junglist_matty wrote:

I think TALAS is slightly better because at least you only have 3 adjustments (2 clicks) to get the forks down to min travel), not 17 adjustments like the PIKEs.

It's not often I change my pikes that much in travel, usually run them on 120mm or 140mm, I only use 100mm when bike is in transport to minimise chance of marking a stanchion.

The u-turn isn't perfect and as you say there are quite a few clicks before you get significant changes but it's the only system on offer that changes a sprung forks travel.

The talas are air and a slightly diff system, some would say better others would say more to go wrong.

I hardly ever use lock out on my forks either doens't seem to make any different on how I climb hills (slowly no matter what)

x-isle

nicklouse wrote:

try climbing with a long travel fork.

Yep, it's really hard, I've started using a rope instead now.

KonaKurt

On the subject of U-Turns, has anyone ever damaged their forks by overwinding the travel key too far out? Personally, if I ever want my maximum 140mm I wind them all the way carefully to the last click, then notch back two or three for safety. I presume that RockShox have designed them to be used safely AT the last click out....?

By the way, does the same apply for winding them too far IN (short travel)?

KK.

ride_whenever

It's great on a bikte like the 456 as it completely changes how the bike plays. For just riding round trails run it at 125mm good for up and down. Wind it down for doing multiple runs of technical climbs. Wind it out for sessioning long downhill sections.

The time you spend waiting for people on their do-it all fixed length bikes you can adjust the travel to suit the upcoming terrain!

KonaKurt

I can't beleive that some people actually buy more than one pair of forks, for the sake of different travel lengths for different circumstances!!!

Investing good money in a quality pair of U-Turns is all you need!
And don't forget that lowering your travel to a minimum is also handy, for any fast road riding you might do. Better stability.

KK.