Do rigid forks hurt your front wheel?
05-08-20, 06:33 PM
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Do rigid forks hurt your front wheel?
I've been wanting a dirtjumper/ a bmx, and I see people doing huge drops to flat on rigid forks. I am wondering if axles and hubs and rim's go quickly? On my 29er with air assist rockshox I managed to bemt the qr axle (twice). Alsi as a trials unicyclist (yes we exist haha) I've destroyed hubs rim's, spokes and everything. Just wondering if I get a bike with a rigid fork if I'll be replacing wheels alot or not?
05-08-20, 06:40 PM
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Recent studies have shown that you reduce whell live over 52.76% with ridgid fourk.
05-08-20, 06:45 PM
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I've been wanting a dirtjumper/ a bmx, and I see people doing huge drops to flat on rigid forks. I am wondering if axles and hubs and rim's go quickly? On my 29er with air assist rockshox I managed to bemt the qr axle (twice). Alsi as a trials unicyclist (yes we exist haha) I've destroyed hubs rim's, spokes and everything. Just wondering if I get a bike with a rigid fork if I'll be replacing wheels alot or not?
05-08-20, 06:52 PM
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I've watched a friend of mine nail dirt jumps all-day in his backyard with no issues. I would think that the short spokes and smaller rims are stronger, just from a physics standpoint, and are likely built with abuse in-mind. I would assume the hubs are also built with the idea that they're going to see quite a bit of "heavy duty" use.
05-09-20, 10:05 AM
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If Danny MacAskill can ride without suspension then so can you 
You'll never do anything more extreme than what he does (unless you are insane) 
You'll never do anything more extreme than what he does (unless you are insane)
05-09-20, 10:25 AM
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Your weight and the rims and the spokes all matter a lot for this. I baby my wheels and don't even jump curbs on my fixed fork 26 inch mtb, but if I had double wall rims and were under 200 lbs then I would not be concerned much doing jumps.
05-09-20, 03:16 PM
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I don’t think riding rigid is any harder on the fork, rims, or hubs. Or anything on the bike, really. Couple reasons...
First, the majority of the weight on a bike is the rider and even on a rigid bike, that is suspended. The difference is that your arms and legs are the suspension instead of a fork and shock. This is why drops and blowing through rock gardens is easier on a suspended bike. The suspension is dissipating all that energy hitting the wheels instead of you.
Second: because of the first point, even if it is the case that dropping to flat or blowing through a rock garden is a little harder on the rigid fork/wheel, in reality you don’t drop as far or hit the rock garden as fast on a rigid.
Guys dropping big drops or blow through rock gardens on rigid bikes can do so because they can effectively use their arms and legs as suspension to absorb the shocks.
First, the majority of the weight on a bike is the rider and even on a rigid bike, that is suspended. The difference is that your arms and legs are the suspension instead of a fork and shock. This is why drops and blowing through rock gardens is easier on a suspended bike. The suspension is dissipating all that energy hitting the wheels instead of you.
Second: because of the first point, even if it is the case that dropping to flat or blowing through a rock garden is a little harder on the rigid fork/wheel, in reality you don’t drop as far or hit the rock garden as fast on a rigid.
Guys dropping big drops or blow through rock gardens on rigid bikes can do so because they can effectively use their arms and legs as suspension to absorb the shocks.
05-09-20, 08:04 PM
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Let's not forget Ashton and Danny and others doing RoadBike Partys... I'm still amazed the bikes used in each handled it all. No idea how many wheels or tires though!
05-10-20, 07:08 AM
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Okay so turns out the bike is a 24 inch, but so saying the weight hitting the wheel is the same on both, isnt that wrong? Isnt it more like, you have a chissil(your forks) and hit it with a hammer(your weight coming down on the forks) in a concrete floor(your wheel), the concrete breaks (for rigid forks), but for suspension forks, you have a chisel but theres a spring on top of it(suspension forks) so when the hammer (your weight coming down after hitting a jump), comes down onto the chisel, by the time the spring bottoms out and transfers its weight onto the concrete floor(wheel), it will be slowed enough not to break the concrete
05-10-20, 07:17 AM
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But I weigh 140 and I'm pretty okay at soaking up landing, that's why i started this thread, to figure out how in the world Danny's front wheel isnt disinegrating its self
, but it makes complete sense about your body being the suspension
, but it makes complete sense about your body being the suspension
05-10-20, 07:34 AM
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Okay so turns out the bike is a 24 inch, but so saying the weight hitting the wheel is the same on both, isnt that wrong? Isnt it more like, you have a chissil(your forks) and hit it with a hammer(your weight coming down on the forks) in a concrete floor(your wheel), the concrete breaks (for rigid forks), but for suspension forks, you have a chisel but theres a spring on top of it(suspension forks) so when the hammer (your weight coming down after hitting a jump), comes down onto the chisel, by the time the spring bottoms out and transfers its weight onto the concrete floor(wheel), it will be slowed enough not to break the concrete
Except that you are not like a hammer.
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05-10-20, 09:55 AM
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I've been wanting a dirtjumper/ a bmx, and I see people doing huge drops to flat on rigid forks. I am wondering if axles and hubs and rim's go quickly? On my 29er with air assist rockshox I managed to bemt the qr axle (twice). Alsi as a trials unicyclist (yes we exist haha) I've destroyed hubs rim's, spokes and everything. Just wondering if I get a bike with a rigid fork if I'll be replacing wheels alot or not?
Front wheels are fairly bombproof. The symmetry of the wheel makes the forces on the wheel fairly even. Hub mounted disc brakes introduce dish to the wheel which reduces their strength some but they are still stronger than rear wheels. The shorter axle also makes them stronger. I’m not sure how you bent a front axle but I suspect it’s related to a fork problem rather than a hub problem.
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Plan Epsilon Around Lake Michigan in the era of Covid
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Pokin' around the Poconos A cold ride around Lake Erie
Dinosaurs in Colorado A mountain bike guide to the Purgatory Canyon dinosaur trackway
Solo Without Pie. The search for pie in the Midwest.
Picking the Scablands. Washington and Oregon, 2005. Pie and spiders on the Columbia River!
05-11-20, 01:48 PM
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Frankly, you need to work on your landings.
Front wheels are fairly bombproof. The symmetry of the wheel makes the forces on the wheel fairly even. Hub mounted disc brakes introduce dish to the wheel which reduces their strength some but they are still stronger than rear wheels. The shorter axle also makes them stronger. I’m not sure how you bent a front axle but I suspect it’s related to a fork problem rather than a hub problem.
Front wheels are fairly bombproof. The symmetry of the wheel makes the forces on the wheel fairly even. Hub mounted disc brakes introduce dish to the wheel which reduces their strength some but they are still stronger than rear wheels. The shorter axle also makes them stronger. I’m not sure how you bent a front axle but I suspect it’s related to a fork problem rather than a hub problem.
