Kuwahara's Original Front Suspension Forks

[New York Albertan]

Were these any good? And, anyone still have them on their original Kuwahara's??

 

[Imlach]

Were these any good? And, anyone still have them on their original Kuwahara's??

All old suspension forks are in my opinion trash

Unpopular opinion perhaps

Rigid is the way to go

 

[New York Albertan]

Yep. I tend to agree. At least for my purposes.

 

[Tsundere]

All old suspension forks are in my opinion trash

Unpopular opinion perhaps

Rigid is the way to go

I agree, suspension is not there for comfort as many seem to think, but to improve traction when travelling at speed across rough terrain. Early iterations were incredibly heavy and surprisingly ineffective, and all suspension old and new is only going to be of use when riding off road at speed, everywhere else it's just extra weight to propel, they sap energy by generating pointless vertical motion and represent a very real potentially high risk point of failure, if suspension gives the bike will not ride.

This is of course a mountain bike forum, so yes, if you're looking to put a bike together for riding exclusively up and down mountains then you need to at least consider suspension, however if you intend to ride mostly on tarmac and on the occasional light trail then common sense dictates that you must go for a rigid bike.

 

[Imlach]

I agree, suspension is not there for comfort as many seem to think, but to improve traction when travelling at speed across rough terrain. Early iterations were incredibly heavy and surprisingly ineffective, and all suspension old and new is only going to be of use when riding off road at speed, everywhere else it's just extra weight to propel, they sap energy by generating pointless vertical motion and represent a very real potentially high risk point of failure, if suspension gives the bike will not ride.

This is of course a mountain bike forum, so yes, if you're looking to put a bike together for riding exclusively up and down mountains then you need to at least consider suspension, however if you intend to ride mostly on tarmac and on the occasional light trail then common sense dictates that you must go for a rigid bike.

And that's all you need to know Everton

 

[New York Albertan]

And that's all you need to know Everton

 

[joglo]

Were these any good? And, anyone still have them on their original Kuwahara's??

Hi, maybe it would be good if you can explain a bit more into detail what kind of Kuwahara original suspension fork do you mean?
Or what year of Bikes?

Kuwahara had 1990 something one could call suspension, a headset with 10mm rubber damping ring. This system was called IMPACT Resist.

Maybe not a great innovation as the bar was still fixed to the fork, so not damped at all.

Later in 1993 Kuwahara had for some models a option to get it also with Tange Struts or Showa (hydraulic) Suspension Forks.
Do you mean those?
They had been at a level of other suspension forks from that time. The Showa was pretty modern, but rather exotic. I think it will be pretty hard to service or repair one nowadays.