NameTaken

I've been lurking here for a while and there seems to be a lot of hate for a low end front suspension. The trails I ride vary quite a bit. Some are nicely paved loops, some gravel and/or mulch and others paved but pretty poorly maintained, especially the ones going through my neighborhood. Lots of roots coming up through the pavement, potholes, etc. I also hit some beginner singletracks from time to time.

I had a rigid bike for a while and moving to my Roam 3 has made the ride quite a bit more comfortable. If I'm going up hills I just lock out the suspension then open it up when I know I'm about to hit some rough areas. It's the lightest bike I have ever owned so maybe it's my lack of experience with anything else. I did test ride the escape as well as a few Treks with out suspensions and I didn't really notice a big difference in weight, speed or handling other than that the Roam was more comfortable on bumps. Is the hate just because most people are not doing anything other than riding on the road or is there more to it? Obviously it's not as durable as a $500 fork but is it really as bad as people say?

coominya

bad is a relative word, but if you had ever spent any time on front air shocks you would probably use it to describe them. They are basically old technology, like 60 years old! You feel more comfortable over the bumps, sure, but wait until you get on a bike with modern light weight shocks, ones with proper rebound and compression damping, then the thread title will be.

"WoW, I just upgraded to Air Shocks and what a difference"

But in the meanwhile, enjoy the ride

PS. I bought this for the dirt 6 months ago. It was secondhand but like new. Compared to the other bike I have with coil springs it's like heaven. I could never ride the old one now.

Staypuft1652

Mine sucks. No lockout. Bad would be a word I use to describe it. I have other bikes but I'm too lazy to bother. But that "bad" low end non-adjustable, non-locking fork is the only thing that, along with studded tires, allows me to ride pretty much year round in ND.

Edit: And also disconnecting the front brake.

Doctor Morbius

Two of my bikes have inexpensive front shocks. I don't have a problem with them. I can't tell that they're slowing me down at all, they're uber low maintenance and for the occasional bump in the road they work fine. I ride mostly on pavement.

If I want speed I'll ride one of my road bikes and not a hybrid.

hokiefyd 

I have never owned a bike with front suspension until I bought my Trek Verve last summer (a 2015 model, used). The bike has an upright riding position and the front suspension fork seems to work just fine. It certainly dampens the impacts from driveway cuts, pavement frost heaves, and single track tree roots. I run my tire pressures pretty low for comfort, so I am careful not to crash into bumps that would risk a pinch-flat, so I also don't abuse the fork. It's an inexpensive (but not cheap) Suntour NEX.

You haven't ridden a cheap suspension fork until you try one of those dual suspension jobbies from a big box store. You can straddle the bike and hold the front brake and move the bike back and forth and you can VISUALLY observe the stanchions rocking back and forth in the fork tubes. An NEX fork is NOTHING like this, and it's a precision Swiss watch in comparison.

Everything is relative. There will always be a nicer *something* than what you have available on the market and there will always be a *worse* something than what you have available on the market. Enjoy what you have and don't sweat those who think you should be riding something else!

Edit: I wouldn't call the fork on your Roam cheap. It may be inexpensive, but it's not cheap.

NameTaken

The one in the Roam is the NEX so yeah I'm sure it's better than the dual suspensions that come on the target bikes. I watched a video before I bought it where they had a gopro mounted right behind the fork so you could watch it while he road on different surfaces. It barely moved unless there was a bump. It was what convinced me that it wasn't necessarily a bad thing.

I was doing the Creve Couer Lake loop yesterday evening and noticed a single track running off the trail so I followed it along a 'creek' (more like a tiny river) for a little ways and found a whole other lake with it's own loop. It's little things like this that make me so glad I went with the Roam.

NameTaken

Woohoo! 10 posts. Here's a pic I took off of that track yesterday.

prj71

^^^This.

You don't know what you don't know.

prj71

Ummm...it's an $80 fork.

Staypuft1652

Thats a sweet ride.

travbikeman

It actually doesn't really matter what anyone thinks of your bike except you the one riding it. You enjoy it, then ride till it breaks.

I don't mind the NEX on my Crosstrail, just wish it was lighter. But, in the future that will change when I finally save up money for an upgraded bike.

hokiefyd 

Correct. It's an inexpensive fork. An NEX fork costs as much as an entire "dual suspension" mountain bike costs from Walmart.

NameTaken

Oh, I'm quite happy with it and not really concerned about whether anyone else likes it. When I was shopping around I almost decided to not get the Roam simply because so many people rag on the low end suspensions. Even though out of the 5 or so bikes I tried out that were in my budget range the Roam was the most comfortable to me. I'm glad I made the choice I did.

So I guess what I'm saying is to other people that might be on the fence like I was, if you understand and are okay with it not being as nice as a higher end suspension but just want something basic for less than perfect trails, I think it's hardly a 'bad' thing.

Fbody4life

Same here; when I was doing my research it seems every thread about a bike with front suspension someone felt the need to make the same old "cheap front suspension comment". I looked at similar priced rigid fork bikes; Cannondale Quick 5 disc and Giant Escape 1 still ended up buying the Roam and am glad I did. I keep the fork locked out about 75% of the time but am so glad its there for the other 25%. The only thing I don't like about the Roam is the weight its heavier then my Diamondback mountain bike that also has "cheap front suspension".

Maverick 13330

i have a Jamis Renegade(24lbs) and a Giant Roam3(29lbs).. guess what im going to bring in next week's Gravel World?
The Roams suspension lockout feature made the bike my favorite. Though its a bit heavy for a century it is still my choice. People now are putting a $900 fork in their GGs, seems like its just smart for me to keep my "$80" fork in my bike.

badger1

From the photo you posted, looks like a '18 Roam 3 -- yes? If so, you have the NEX w/coil spring (one side) and hydraulic damping/lock-out the other.

That is a perfectly good, very decent inexpensive suspension fork designed to work very well for its intended purpose. It is a little heavy (materials; coil spring) but very serviceable.

Yes, air forks -- especially air forks with much more sophisticated damping, compression, positive/negative air adjustments etc. are 'better' and much lighter. So what? Coil springs are extremely reliable; their correct operation is not dependent on close-tolerance seals. The key thing with your fork -- and it is one of the nicest features of Suntour's 'trekking' forks -- is the easily-replaceable hydraulic damping cartridge.

That is what differentiates these forks from the undamped pogo-stick junk found on big-box store bikes. The fact that the Suntours are mass-produced, modular, and inexpensive does not mean they are junk. Far from it. The often-expressed classification of a fork like yours in that class of 'suspension fork' is a strawman of the highest order.

As to the usual extension of the negative comments about suspension on bikes such as yours -- that 'no one needs suspension on anything other than a mountain bike' -- that strikes me as misplaced. The only person who can decide whether a given rider needs or wants suspension, even on a bike ridden mainly on paved surfaces, is that person, not someone else. There is no 'right' or 'wrong' here. If suspension is right for you, given how/where you ride, then it's right. The end. You might change your mind later; you might not.

On that point, Maverick 13330 is right on the money. There is an awful lot of development going on right now, at the 'high end' for the moment, of active suspension on 'gravel' bikes, and even on full-on 'road bikes'. That is going to trickle down. One might argue that cyclists who have been using front-suspension 'hybrids' for years -- and been sneered at for so doing -- have been ahead of the curve all this time, and that the 'serious' cyclists are just now beginning to catch up.

coominya

Yes, nice bike. What do you keep in the tail bag?

NameTaken

Right now it's just my keys, wallet etc. I'm starting to venture out farther though so it's probably time to put together a small repair kit.

coominya

I carry some cash myself and a few tools. I hide the keys out back at home, wouldn't want to lose them on the road or trail.

prj71

Should have a tube, toolkit and CO2 cartridge in that bag if you don't carry a pump. Leave the keys hidden back at the car along with the wallet and money.

NameTaken

If I leave the keys back at the car, how do I get back into the car?

prj71

I hide mine in the bumper or wheel well area.

NameTaken

Really, if I was looking to steal a car those are the first places I'd look. Does everyone do this?

coominya

lol, nobody that I know would. I didn't know you had to drive to your riding spot. Perhaps get another small bag you can mount on your handlebars or center tube, at least that way if for some reason it falls off etc you will see it gone straight away and can go back for it? I have never had a tail bag fall off but once I forgot to zip it up and lost a lot of good tools and stuff. It's common to find lost property that has fallen from bikes, I believe they call it trail spoil.


The micro central.

timgriffin2

I have to say that my next bike WILL have a suspension fork. I've had a Trek 7.2 FX for 10 years now and at 61 it feels much stiffer of a ride. I've tried letting some air out at different levels. The tires are 35mm 700's. I could try larger tires - or put the money towards another bike. I've test ridden some with shocks (Trek DS2, Specialized Crosstrail and Crosstrail Sport) and found them to be a much smoother ride. I didn't notice any issue with any added weight the fork would bring and I honestly think running tires lower than the recommended pressure had a more pronounced feeling of slowing me down than the extra fork weight did!