Just thinking out loud after reading another thread, but has anybody actually broken a modern fork? I don't mean blown a seal, worn out a stanchion or cracked a dropout bolting it up, but actually snapped or bent one in use or in a crash?

I had one hell of a smack with some Recons a couple of years ago that snapped the frame, but the forks were untouched. I've seen some old bombers bent slightly in a crash too, but it was hardly noticeable, and they were very old….

Anybody?

I broke the internals in my old Z1 Freeride SL's…. does that count?!

And glad i inspired you 🙂

LOL! 🙂

Your thread just got me wondering……

I was going to say "OHHHH NOOOOO! You need a beefy fork on that bike!" But maybe you don't. Maybe nobody does.

I would guess that the flex you would get with a lateral impact on a fork protects the lowers from damage and the internals or the frame cop the brunt of the force on most impacts…. no doubt i will be proved very wrong!!!

If i tell you what I have seen broken at the LBS you wouldn't believe me.

I don't believe I wouldn't believe you. But I need PROOF! 🙂

Not me personally, but in the Pisgah 4 day stage race in October, I saw a broken fork bridge on a Rockshox SID Race fork. I know a lot of people who ride this fork (or the Team/WC) including me and it was the first time I had seen this.

Wasn't that funny for the guy who owned the bike. He had to walk about 20 miles of the course…and we still had two days of racing to go!

I have seen a guy coming with a marzo DJ snapped at the steerer and I mean snapped. Same pair of bloke came with a toy III from 24 snapped too and lately the lbs had to rebuild a pair of wheels as the previous incarnation (with the biggest DH rims from mavic) had given up on life.

I would hazard a guess that for most hard impacts in a suspension sense (i.e. the normal operating mode of a sus fork) there is no danger to the fork as this has been accounted for in the design.
The type of impacts where the fork may be bent/snapped are so severe that the rider would probably be thrown from the bike and it is his/her weight/momentum that would most likely cause the fork to break had they managed to stay on for the duration of the impact. Maybe.

Old SID's or new ones?

There's plenty of borked pace forks about, dropouts falling off etc.

A friend once ran a set of bombers untill the lack of anything resembling a bushing lead to terminal stanchion wear (there was oil coming through!) and a pair of manitou black's litteraly exploded. but both of those are internal issues.

The original 888 lowers had a reputation for becoming twisted (probably because the rest was so stiff there was nothing else to give?)

My mate bent the uppers in a crash on a Suntour M8020 fork but it was so rubbish that even without it it had loads of play, also broke the bolts that were holding the uppers on a RST Omega CL so You could take the fork apart, another RST Gamma had a dropout snapped during a XC race on a friends bike and he had a pretty bad crash caused by it. They were all crappy forks and would die anyway. I had different forks but never had any problems with modern good quality stuff.

the only recent break i have seen was a cracked carbon steerer on a reba wc.

no nothing of its history though could have been over tightened.

I have snapped the forks in the first MTB I had about 10 years ago after about a week. Riding head down along a trail I thought I knew.

Unfortunately that was the next track along and I rode into the first of three sets of doubles at about 20 mph.

Not only did I snap the forks, I bent the rear triangle and lifted my kneecap clean off my kee with the handlebars.

To be fair though it was a cheap bike

Mind you these two guys don't even ask for warranty replacment as they do know why it breakes.

I've seen a set of RS reba's bend drastically at the the crown. They guy who owned them ploughed straight into the back of a parked transit!

I twisted some RST Hi5 lowers, and it took 3 months to get the replacements from the states. Although this was in 1996, and I know fork technology has moved on since then.

2 Sets of Boxxer lowers
2 blown Boxxer Motion Controls
1 dead air cart…

Got fed up of broken RS so tried fox's!
3 broken bladders and lots of crap customer serice…

Back to 2010 Boxxers…
So far good bar having to go back to Fishers for new dampening leg due to mis assembly in the factory

Nope, never bust a pair of forks. Seen manufacturer failures, but not bust any

Someone should do a thread on fork histories, forks i've had

1998 Manitou Spyders – still in my parents garage, elastomer goodness mmm
2000? RS Judy Races – Bushings died – gave them away
2003 Marz Z1Fr – Eta broke, bunged them on my commuter then it was stolen

Forks i currently own

2003 Marz Z1fr – working perfectly
2003 Marz Z1 drop off – ditto
200? Marz MX air – currently under the stairs, but worked fine last time i used them
2005 Marz Z1 Fr – work perfectly
2007? Marz Z1 Sport – ditto

Anyone notice a pattern?

@thisisnotaspoon – new ones. I wouldn't have been at all surprised if it had been the old noodle SIDs but I thought the new ones were much stronger. Pisgah NC terrain is pretty brutal though.

So to sum up, actual snappage or bendage is VERY rare on new forks. 🙂

Bent my Psylo XC's a few years back when I had a fight with a tree. Had only had them for two weeks and they were a write-off!

i separated the crown and steerer on a pair of old manitous, something sx, not sure what! within a few months i snapped a pair of judy dh's which also broke the frame (gt zaskar). a year or so later i blew the internals out of a pair of monster t's on my old stab (almost took my face off, good job i was wearing full face and goggles) then a couple of years ago snapped the dropouts off a pair of rc41s then killed the internals on my dads rc39's. that was it till a few weeks ago when i cracked the steerer on my wifes recons showing her how to 180 to fakie out off the patio wall 😳

This is the only pair of suspension forks I've actually witnessed snap.

i've not broken any in use apart from raking out a couple of pairs of steel rigids years ago, but the CEN front end test broke soem new suspension forks off at the crown/stanchion (like above pic) when we were testing the 09 Altitude 853 frames – they broke off at only just over the CEN cycle target too. the frame went beyond the test by a good anmount and outlasted the forks.

I am amazed we have not broken/ bent the tandem forks – Z1 lites. Mistimed a rock step up the other day – we came to a very sudden halt! The fork bottomed out with a really hard clang but remained straight and true. I really was suprised.

Define modern… Bent the steerer on some '05 66's. Landed with one wheel either side of the landing on a step up though, entirely my fault.

Also popped the rebound cart on some '04 888's, that one wasn't my fault so was infinitely more annoying…

Two guys I know have broken '06-'09 boxxer stanchions, apparently it's quite common.

TJ, older Z1's formm the 2003 (ish) era share a lot of the external parts (lowers and crowns, some steeres and stanchions depending on models) with the dirt jumper forks. Not supprising they survive everything!

rockshox mag 21, snapped my fork brace after a crash and part from blown internals and scratched stanchions i've been lucky with forks . Frames however…………………