Carbon Forks - How much Comfort? VS Cheap actual suspension.

[bagusbagus]

I have 2 cheap front suspension bikes ( they are there cheapest junk suspensions there are...)
However, they are miles better in comfort than a bike I have access to which has no front suspension.

I hear people talking about the carbon forks and that they provide vibration damping and all that stuff...
all my suspension usage comes to maybe 5-10mm usage? So even the cheapest junk is really nice bonus in the way the bike feels and that's all I need.

How does a Carbon fork on a Decent bike Compares to something like this for only very small actual suspension usage?
Will the crap suspension still give better ''results'' VS a non suspension carbon fork?

[greenamex2]

All I can compare against is my two carbon forked bikes, one is ali framed and the other carbon framed, against a cheap forked MTB and a mid priced short travel forked hybrid (both ali framed).

If I had to put a number on it, I would say that the front of the carbon forked bikes were less than half as compliant as either of the suspension forked bikes.

At the other end, all of the rears of the bikes are less comfortable than the fronts with the exception of the carbon bike which is about equal. Which means that I really wouldn't gain much on the carbon forked bikes even if the front was more compliant.


Which is why I need more bikes!

[lufbramatt]

Get fatter tyres and run them at a slightly lower pressure. Wouldn't worry about carbon forks and "vibration damping". Stuff like that is so subtle it's mainly just for cycling journos to fill reviews with.

[rs4al]

Depends on what you are using the bike for.

Your cheap bikes, I’m guessing would weigh quite a lot and you will probably find the fork weighs in excess of 2kg, whereas a decent carbon fork is about 500 grams.

For road use as another poster said, it’s all about the tyres and what pressure you run them at.