Okay, so I rode the new Lauf fork today for two laps around Browns Creek Trail in Elizabethtown, NC. Ive been dying to see what this oddball fork will ride like, and now after waiting for three months to get it and a night to install it, I finally got to give it a try. Before buying it I had several concerns: 1) It has only 60mm of travel as opposed to the 80mm and 100mm travel I have on my Fox Terralogic forks. In fairness, I am not the most aggressive rider but I bottom the 80mm fork quite often and the 100mm occasionally. Having only 60mm was a concern. The technical data all said that because the movement was not straight but rather curved, and because the leaf springs got progressively more resistant the more they flexed, it rode like a typical XC 80mm to100mm fork. Reviews seemed to agree, but I was skeptical. Another concern I had was its stiffness. An all carbon fork with smallish tubes seemed to be ripe for lateral flexing (go into a turn and the wheel moves outward at the top). Finally, lets admit it... this is one ugly@ss fork. Leaning forward and then curving backward?! Would I be able to look at it without wanting to turn away? So after the ride here are my impressions: For those of you familiar with the feel of riding a rigid carbon fork, it has the agility and quickness of a rigid fork only without the bone-jarring bumps when riding over roots and rocks. There seems to be zero lateral flex -- certainly less than my similarly priced traditional forks. It has the quickness of a rigid fork -- I kept thinking I was riding rigid only I would get to bumps and I would flinch in anticipation (like on a rigid fork) only there would be no beating. It seemed to dampen the bumps just as well as my Fox Terralogic forks or my Manitou Tower Pro fork. Way better than some of the cheaper forks Ive ridden. In short, it rode just like a rigid fork without being rigid. I was frankly amazed. On the other hand, it is still ugly as a mud wall, but even that is growing on me. Oh, and I never bottomed it once. As you begin to compress the leaf springs, the spring rate increases, effectively giving you plenty of dampening with no apparent bottom. Best of all, it weighs 1.5-2 lbs less than traditional hydraulic/air shocks. I am glad I decided to try it.
Posted on: Sat, 09 Aug 2014 21:10:08 +0000
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