How to Buy a Mountain Bike Suspension Fork

Video Transcript

"So this is how to buy a suspension fork for your mountain bike. There's a few things that you are going to want to do, first think about the type of riding and what you are going to be doing with the bike. Whether you are going to be cross country mountain biking, dirt jumping, down hill or free riding, cause all the forks are designed for different things and you want to make sure that you get the fork designed for you. The shock on this bike here is basically your base model cross country shock. It has the dampening on one side so you can make it a little bit harder, stiffer ride. And it's a Lastimers and Oil. It's a decent shock for beginners but if you are going to get into more racing, they make other shocks that are a lot lighter weight that are air dampening on them and better quality. The next shock that I'm going to show you is a little bit more extreme, it's made for more dirt jumping and rougher riding. It has a lot more suspension, this shock here has five inches of travel on it. It's still one of the more base model shocks. It's got the dampening on this side so you can kind of tune it to your weight. And once again they do make these shocks, this is a base model. You can get them that are air much more dampening so you can really get the shock tuned into your weight and your riding. This shock here is for down hill or free riding. There's a lot more suspension, this one here has eight inches of travel on it. It's got adjustments on both sides and a rebound on the bottom so you can really tune the shock into your riding specifications. All shocks range from anywhere from a hundred bucks up to about sixteen hundred dollars for something like this one here."