Do I need suspension forks on a hybrid?
Discussion
My daily commuter and general transport hybrid is on the way out, and one of its issues is a lot of play in the suspension forks. This was also one of the failures on my old mountain bike before someone nicked it.
For a hybrid which doesn't go offroad, is there really any need for suspension forks? Some of the local roads and cycle paths around here are brick/block paved, but that's the roughest stuff I ever ride on. Are they just a bit of a fashion thing or is there really much benefit? Would a slightly chunkier tyred bike be better than one with suspension forks?
For a hybrid which doesn't go offroad, is there really any need for suspension forks? Some of the local roads and cycle paths around here are brick/block paved, but that's the roughest stuff I ever ride on. Are they just a bit of a fashion thing or is there really much benefit? Would a slightly chunkier tyred bike be better than one with suspension forks?
Glad to see I'm not alone in thinking they're pointless then. In my defence I bought the bike second hand so ended up with suspension forks by accident not design 
Now the dilemma of running my current bike in the the ground and getting another second hand one to treat equally badly, or spend a fortune on a new one...
Now the dilemma of running my current bike in the the ground and getting another second hand one to treat equally badly, or spend a fortune on a new one...
lufbramatt said:
Nope- and it's perfectly possible to ride a bike off-road without suspension too. complete waste of money and effort on a road or hybrid.
That's true. My first Mountain bikes were a Marin Palisades and an Orange P7, and neither had suspension of any kind. That's what your knees are for! 
boyse7en said:
lufbramatt said:
Nope- and it's perfectly possible to ride a bike off-road without suspension too. complete waste of money and effort on a road or hybrid.
That's true. My first Mountain bikes were a Marin Palisades and an Orange P7, and neither had suspension of any kind. That's what your knees are for! Having a bit of a browse last night and Koga seem to do a front shock that's under the head bearing rather than on the fork legs, which makes a lot of sense if you don't need much suspension travel. Still a bit unnecessary though.
The trouble is now I've started browsing I'm rather liking the look of things like the Koga F3 6.0 at €2k which may be a little over the top for my needs as a replacement for my second hand commuter.
The trouble is now I've started browsing I'm rather liking the look of things like the Koga F3 6.0 at €2k which may be a little over the top for my needs as a replacement for my second hand commuter.
Fwiw, not a hybrid but on my road bike I have zipp 303 firecrest, 28mm schwalbe pro ones at 55psi and they are very smooth indeed. I bought them for comfort as I don't buy into the aero bulls
t, I'll never notice a 5 watt saving. So worth considering a chunky road tire at low pressure over suspension.
t, I'll never notice a 5 watt saving. So worth considering a chunky road tire at low pressure over suspension.I think the answer will always be "it depends" - mostly on what you want to use the bike for.
Do you need suspension/big tyres/low pressures? No, within reason you can do most things on most bikes. Do all of those things help in the right situations and hinder in others? Yes, undoubtedly.
To say suspension on the likes of a hybrid is pointless is just wrong - what is the bike being used for - is the prime consideration simplicity and cost or comfort? Are you ever going to do a bit of off roading with it - is it a "hybrid" that is a XC MTB that occasionally goes on road or a "hybrid" that is a road bike that sometimes goes on a canal path?
To join in with the "its pointless, my bike has solid tyres, no suspension and I use it to go biking with Josh Bender" theme that seems to be taking shape here - I rode Paris-Roubaix (the sportive, not the pro race...) on a stiff road bike, on 24s, with 80psi in the tyres. I didn't "need" suspension or balloon wheels or low pressures - but they all would have helped the comfort levels - people doing it on all sorts of bikes - the people going fast were all on road bikes and grimacing. The people on hybrids/MTBs were going much slower, but smiling.
Do you need suspension/big tyres/low pressures? No, within reason you can do most things on most bikes. Do all of those things help in the right situations and hinder in others? Yes, undoubtedly.
To say suspension on the likes of a hybrid is pointless is just wrong - what is the bike being used for - is the prime consideration simplicity and cost or comfort? Are you ever going to do a bit of off roading with it - is it a "hybrid" that is a XC MTB that occasionally goes on road or a "hybrid" that is a road bike that sometimes goes on a canal path?
To join in with the "its pointless, my bike has solid tyres, no suspension and I use it to go biking with Josh Bender" theme that seems to be taking shape here - I rode Paris-Roubaix (the sportive, not the pro race...) on a stiff road bike, on 24s, with 80psi in the tyres. I didn't "need" suspension or balloon wheels or low pressures - but they all would have helped the comfort levels - people doing it on all sorts of bikes - the people going fast were all on road bikes and grimacing. The people on hybrids/MTBs were going much slower, but smiling.
lufbramatt said:
Trouble is, most of the forks found on hybrids are crap, with elastomers or overly stiff coil springs with minimal damping, weigh a ton (2-2.5kg for a tiny amount of travel), so you'd be better off with a lighter bike and fatter tyres to add comfort. Hence the pointless comment.
This was exactly my experience. My suspension fork hybrid was stolen a few years back, replaced with an almost identical model without suspension so I had a pretty direct comparison. For my purposes - road, gravel, easy forest trail, the occasional rocky area - I didn't miss suspension at all, welcomed the weight loss and wouldn't want it back again on that bike.Bathroom_Security said:
Fwiw, not a hybrid but on my road bike I have zipp 303 firecrest, 28mm schwalbe pro ones at 55psi and they are very smooth indeed. I bought them for comfort as I don't buy into the aero bullst, I'll never notice a 5 watt saving. So worth considering a chunky road tire at low pressure over suspension.
28mm = chunky road tyre t, I'll never notice a 5 watt saving. So worth considering a chunky road tire at low pressure over suspension.
I run 42mm GravelKing Slicks at 40 psi, that has a bit more volume and makes the 28mm GP4000s I have on my road bike look like rubber bands....
Bathroom_Security said:
Fwiw, not a hybrid but on my road bike I have zipp 303 firecrest, 28mm schwalbe pro ones at 55psi and they are very smooth indeed. I bought them for comfort as I don't buy into the aero bullst, I'll never notice a 5 watt saving. So worth considering a chunky road tire at low pressure over suspension.
I consider a hub dynamo essential so I'm really not worried about a few watts extra drag from the tyres t, I'll never notice a 5 watt saving. So worth considering a chunky road tire at low pressure over suspension.I have an old Raleigh Misceo hybrid that I use for work commuting, runs into town etc. It has suspension forks on the front which make it quite heavy. For most of the time I've had it, I have had the forks locked out.
It was sold to me about 7 years ago when I didn't know much about bikes. I doubt I have ever needed the forks on it as it mainly sees road use.
As has been said above, depends on what you use it for. The suspension was used as a selling point to me because when I bought it I was getting back into cycling due to a back injury. In reality, I didn't need to buy that bike, but I didn't know at the time.
Good sales tool for people to use when selling to those who don't know any better.
It was sold to me about 7 years ago when I didn't know much about bikes. I doubt I have ever needed the forks on it as it mainly sees road use.
As has been said above, depends on what you use it for. The suspension was used as a selling point to me because when I bought it I was getting back into cycling due to a back injury. In reality, I didn't need to buy that bike, but I didn't know at the time.
Good sales tool for people to use when selling to those who don't know any better.
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