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If only there were alternatives to the tubes sliding in bushings design…
Out of curiosity what other options are there?
hugo7-
Solid, non-suspension fork?
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You could have a linkage driven design which isolates the breaking and loading forces from the device that provides the spring and the damping. You'd probably still end up with a tube sliding in a tube (a 'telescope') to provide the damping and / or the spring, but at least you'd only have one telescope that could be made stronger than a pair, and it wouldn't get fucked by having to deal with breaking and loading forces. On the fringes of MTB land, there is prior art in this, like the Trust fork, but they don't catch on probably because 'normal' motor-x style forks are just about good enough as long as users service their forks every fifty hours or so.
Or you could use a leaf spring design - Lauf is the obvious example of this.
You could also make a better telescope design by using needle bearings to provide the sliding surfaces that are far more resistant to loading, twisting forces - this is what Cannondale have done in their Lefty suspension systems.
ian(conker)
Howard
Yeah. The fork design that just about serves the MTB and Dirt segment albeit with fifty hour service intervals has no place on a vehicle designed to move cargo.
If only there were alternatives to the tubes sliding in bushings design…