Full Suspension Fork Developed for Extreme Freeride Mountain Biking

Published by Wiley-Blackwell, a study in Sports Technology describes the engineering considerations, design tools and developmental processes of the new model full suspension bicycle fork.

Among the more significant engineering contributions in this project were the structural design and analysis using computer-aided finite element support, new material evaluation, seal design, modeling of complex system dynamics and the breadth of testing to prove that the design meets internal and external standards.

Free-riding is a style of mountain biking that pushes the limits of what is possible on a bicycle. Freeriders pedal their bicycles to remote epic locations and repeatedly navigate dirt jumps, ladder bridges and rock drops. Users at this extreme end of mountain biking ride drops larger than the riders’ standing height and other technical terrain that was only dreamed of a few years ago.

Intended for the freeride bicycle market, the company claims that the RockShox Totem suspension fork possesses all the critical characteristics required for this extreme category of riding. It is stiff, highly tunable and weighs less than six pounds, making it a perfect component for the freeride bicycle that needs to perform like a durable, downhill racing bike one day and a light-weight, all-mountain cross-country bike the next.