What were the first suspension forks that actually worked?

[big.eck]

z1 bombers without a doubt


























but i'm not as old as most on here

 

[FairfaxPat]

Lawwill Leader-2.5 inches of smooth travel, adjustable spring rate, and good damping in 1991.

 

[orange71]

not a popular choice, but Vectors.

Light - tick

stiff - tick

>2" travel - tick

 

[Xesh]

I think that the Cannondale Headshok was a good fork for a '93 model. Certainly stiffer than most of the conventional forks at the time anyway.

 

[dyna-ti]

Amp forks
Or the Z series of Bombers Z1/Z2

 

[Scrat]

Z1 bombers,

But i'd say Boxxers were the first fork that you could point at anything and not have to wonder if you would make it to the other side, and traverse ruts at retarded angles

 

[Tulstar]

Another vote for the Bombers

Awesome forks.

 

[Crayons]

Got to be the Scott UniShocks – team issued and everything, so they must have worked… right?

I'll get my coat

 

[stevet1]

Z1 Bombers no contest, everything before was concentrated on being as light as possbile while just taking the edge off.

 

[nimbus]

Thanks for all the replies so far folks; very interesting. Lots of votes for the Bombers, which I'd suspected might be the case. Superficially (such is my knowledge of fork internals), they seem to be the earliest design that has 'survived' (more or less) into the modern era.

Opening a further can of worms, what was the shortest travel on the early Bombers - 63mm? What adjustments did they have?

Pondering the age old question of period correctness vs. useful parts...