Lockout on your forks on or off for climbing

ageis

Hi

I watched a video on GMBN by neil i, in which he said the lockout on my forks lockout should be on for climbing and off for decents.

Just to be clear, he means when am climbing my forks should be locked out i.e. not compressing and for decents it should be compressing to soak up the bumps

If so am a nooob been having it on all the time. I went llandegla (blue) and the climb at the start almost KILLED me. The decents were totally worth the effort though. But am just fat old man and need to loose weight.

fenix

Yes lock your forks when you climb - you want them rigid.

Unlock for bouncy descending.

davesnothere

Lock and compress them down as low as they can go before you start climbing

ageis

can I make the excuse it's too hard to reach because it's an entry level fork without a remote :P

fat daddy

I always forget to unlock mine once I reach the top ... AND as much as it will compress if you hit a drop hard enough, I have had a few close moments starting a descent with the forks locked.

so now I just leave it off ... I don't find it makes much difference anyway when climbing .. perhaps if you climb at a speed that would compress the front, but I go up so slow that it stays pretty much fully extended anyway

cooldad

Depends. Climbing smooth stuff, maybe. Often climbing rougher stuff it's good to have the suspension working for you to ride over bumps instead of bouncing off them.

Also depends on the bike, the forks, etc. Simple lockout or adjustable platform?

cooldad

DavesNotHere wrote:

Lock and compress them down as low as they can go before you start climbing

Huh?

davesnothere

cooldad wrote:

DavesNotHere wrote:

Lock and compress them down as low as they can go before you start climbing

Huh?

On my (now ancient) bike you flick the lever and it locks the rebound. You compress the fork and it goes down but not up again. When you get to the top flick the lever back and it extends to full travel. ETA i think they call it

Is that not a thing anymore?

cooldad

Not much, no. Old Marzocchis?

davesnothere

Yes, still going strong, must be 10 years old.

I always thought it was a good system, gave a better position for climbing

oxoman

Never both locking mine unless on very long flat sections. The start of Llandegla is just a steady incline but it would be worth locking out going up.

cooldad

DavesNotHere wrote:

Yes, still going strong, must be 10 years old.

I always thought it was a good system, gave a better position for climbing

Great forks. I just sold a set with the same travel adjust. Well used but still perfect. Not a mark on the stanchions.

OMark

When you lock out the fork to climb it will automatically rebound to uncompressed and then not allow you to compress it. There is no way to compress and lock on modern forks, at least that I know of.

figbat

I only really bother on road or smooth trail climbs. As above, I have forgotten to unlock more than once.

The Rookie

To lock or unlock depends very much on the forks and terrain, the climb at degla isnt at all technical so its worth considering locking out the forks if they are hydraulic, but I still wouldn't lock out basic mechanical lock forks.

I run the threshold on mine very soft so ride 'locked' quite a lot.

LimitedGarry

The general wisdom will tell you that locked for climbs, unlocked for descents.
Since the spring in my damper got screwed and I had to ditch the remote, I realised that lot of the time I was locking and unlocking the fork simply out of habit. Now I leave it on for most of the time, only lock it on some of the climbs or on tarmac. To be honest, on a lot of the climbs here, I can't really tell whether my fork is locked or not, especially if I'm keeping a steady cadence. I can, however, tell immediately when my fork is locked on a bumpy descent.

thistle_

The Rookie wrote:

To lock or unlock depends very much on the forks and terrain, the climb at degla isnt at all technical so its worth considering locking out the forks if they are hydraulic, but I still wouldn't lock out basic mechanical lock forks.

I run the threshold on mine very soft so ride 'locked' quite a lot.

Lock them when I'm out of the saddle only - so sometimes the hairpins coming out of the car park (for fun) or sometimes on double steep.
My forks don't really bob when climbing unless I'm out of the saddle.

mattyfez

Yeh depends on the characteristics of the particular fork, I generally only lock mine when on the road, or a similar smoothish hard surface.
Mine still has a little bit of give when locked, but it doesn't travel through it's length by any means, it's just a tiny bit of give as if to say 'did you mean to hit that kerb like a steam train?'

RichardSmart

I wouldn't even bother locking-out your fork unless you either are riding on roads, or have a remote lock-out. I've NEVER* locked-out my fork, and it doesn't take any more effort to get where I want to go. Of course, Specialized have "Brain" forks, which lock-out automatically, and Scott have Twinloc, which you control from a switch on the handlebar, but only on fairly expensive models. So, as I say, I wouldn't even bother.

* I used to commute every day on my Scott Genius MC10, and, as I say, I never locked-out my fork.

JGTR

RichardSmart wrote:

I've NEVER* locked-out my fork, and it doesn't take any more effort to get where I want to go.

You've never ridden the South Downs then

Locked out or not, you will still get to the top, but firmer suspension makes a big difference on long climbs

rockmonkeysc

Depends on the fork. Some are more bouncy than others. My Rockshox Pike RCT3 climbs perfectly without locking.

concorde

I'll lock out forks and shock if climbing fire roads or other smooth inclines. If it's at all bumpy or technical I leave them open, makes it more comfortable and you don't bounce off rocks or roots etc.

RichardSmart

ageis wrote:

Hi

I watched a video on GMBN by Neil i, in which he said the lockout on my forks lockout should be on for climbing and off for descents.

Just to be clear, he means when am climbing my forks should be locked out i.e. not compressing and for descents it should be compressing to soak up the bumps.

If so am a nooob been having it on all the time. I went llandegla (blue) and the climb at the start almost KILLED me. The descents were totally worth the effort though. But am just fat old man and need to lose weight.

I wouldn't bother locking-out the fork for climbing - I never do, and I rarely lock-out the rear suspension on my Scott Genius MC-10., either - if I am on a road I will lock it out, but off-road, virtually never - there are always going to be small undulations for which suspension is designed. Imagine you were in a race - would you stop your bike to fiddle with the suspension and risk losing places? Unless you have a new(er than mine!) Scott Genius, where you can lock-out both ends from a switch on the handlebars, it seems a bit unnecessary. As I say, I absolutely NEVER lock-out my fork.

JBA

Why would you have to stop to lock or unlock your suspension? Just do it on the move.

The Rookie

It's a low mount shock on his bike, without a remote it would be impossible to do it on the move!

RichardSmart

JGTR wrote:

RichardSmart wrote:

I've NEVER* locked-out my fork, and it doesn't take any more effort to get where I want to go.

You've never ridden the South Downs then

Locked out or not, you will still get to the top, but firmer suspension makes a big difference on long climbs

Absolutely but locking-out your forks just seems a bit unnecessary - I do lock-out the rear when I'm riding on flat ground (or on the road) but it just seems a wee bit too much of a faff to lock-out the fork. Not to mention that, unless you're riding on the road, there are still going to be bumps and undulations when you are going uphill. So don't worry about locking-out your suspension unless you can do it from your handlebars...

mattyfez

Depends I can easily lean down and flick my crown lock out if it's not too bumpy.

It's useful as it prevents nose dive under heavy braking, and if I'm stood up giving it some oomph, I lose power due to front end Bob as there's a lot more weight over the bars.
My forks don't fully lock anyway, there is still a tiny bit bit of give in them.