Honorable Mentions
Not content to let RockShox and Fox steal the show, here are three mountain bike suspension forks from other companies that our readers give high marks. It is worth noting, however, that we had to go all the way down to #19 overall just to pick up these 3 brands!
Cannondale Lefty (Enduro)
The Cannondale Lefty Supermax technically took 11th place in our survey, but if we add in generic references to “Lefty” forks (er, struts), the Lefty could have scored even higher. No matter: the Lefty Supermax is one pretty amazing strut, offering up to 160mm of travel. Many enduro riders are choosing the Lefty Supermax for its light weight and overall stiffness.
Of the riders who voted for the “plain” Lefty, many have perhaps recognized the ability to run fat tires on a fork that offers up to 130mm of travel. Cannondale features the Lefty 2.0 on their own 27.5+ bikes, the Bad Habit and Beast of the East.
DVO Diamond (Enduro)
DVO is “a new suspension company with 80 years of experience” and their Diamond fork is clearly popular among our readers. The Diamond is an enduro race fork and comes in both 27.5 and 29er versions with 130-160mm adjustable travel (via internal spacers). At 2,100g, the DVO Diamond isn’t the lightest enduro fork on our list, but the weight is still fairly reasonable.
DVO touts high and low speed compression adjustments, “off the top” negative spring adjustment, and a closed cartridge bladder system. The Diamond retails for $999 USD, though we recently spotted the 29er version on sale for just $599 at JensonUSA.
DVO Diamond Boost Trail Fork 27.5", 170mm, 15mm Axle, Tapered
$991.49 Tree Fort Bikes AD
MRP Stage (Enduro)
The MRP Stage is yet another enduro fork to make the list and offers a number of travel options from 120mm (29er, internal spacers) up to 170mm for the 26/27.5 fork. The 26/27.5 Stage fork weights start at 1950g, which is very competitive with some of the top enduro forks in our survey.
The Stage retails for $989 USD and can even be ordered online directly from MRP.
MRP Stage 34mm Wiper Seal Kit
$39.95 Jenson USA AD
One final note about these results: Looking at the fork market, it seems consumers are gravitating toward mostly XC and enduro forks, leaving the trail category stuck in the middle. Perhaps this isn’t a totally accurate observation–the trail fork designation does bleed into both XC and enduro in the minds of many consumers anyway. Still, there’s the possibility that after years of subdividing the MTB market into narrower and narrower niches, we’re finally settling into three main categories for bikes (XC, enduro, and DH.)
Your Turn: Are you surprised by the results of our survey? What is your favorite MTB fork?
