New Take On Suspension — The claim was simple and hard to believe: “A 29er suspension fork that weighs half as much as its competitors and is 100% maintenance free.” But after a few months of testing our staff jumped on the Lauf wagon.
It uses a unique leaf-spring design. Wrote contributing editor Jason Magness: “This fork caught my eye instantly, looking like something out of a slick minimalistic carbon-fiber future. But the specs are what really caught my attention — 990 grams, 60mm of travel. As an XC racer, I’d be trading 50% of the travel in exchange for over a 2lb weight savings.”
Magness went on to train for a month with the fork and then rode it for a weeklong adventure race in Ecuador.
“The fork takes some getting used to, and it also has drawbacks like no dampening and no rebound adjust,” he said. “But for long XC riding and adventure racing it was amazing — it is the perfect compromise between standard suspension and rigid light carbon.” Go here for GearJunkie’s Lauf Fork preview story.
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