I have few regrets in life
But one of them is all the brilliant descents i rode on miserable rigid forks. I can remember stopping as the pain was unbearable on more than one occasion
Many cheao bikes have a heavy fork that has no real movement, so they might as well be rigid....
specialknees - Member
For downhill or bumpy stuff I get it but honestly how many of us ride that type of thing day-in day-out.?
How many of us have locked our fork-out and not noticed for the next 4 miles?
If I cant get a good DH run in, no matter how short, then I don't count the ride as fun. For me riding is throwing the bike around bouncing and popping off everything I am capable of as fast as I can. In all honesty I could ride nearly everything I do on a rigid but it would be slow and sketchy and I wouldn't enjoy it. I'm sure some people enjoy riding smooth bridleways and the like at 20mph on rigid bikes, which is probably the best tool for the job, but that isn't for me.
As for the argument that sub £300 bikes are better equipped with rigid forks from new then I couldn't agree more. As I have said above some terrain is better on a rigid and typically this is the sort of terrain that beginners start on. When they move onto more challenging stuff then suspension becomes more sensible.
like above, I tend to alternate depending on where I'm going, what I'm going to be doing and/or whether I feel like a change. Carbon rigids and a fat front tyre are ok for most general XC mincing. Like Ampthill, there have been occasions when a good descent has been ruined due to lack of some front suspension.
When I see someone riding with a rigid fork over bumpy terrain or whatever, I just think what an idiot.......
I'm the same when I see people dancing or freerunning.. haven't they heard of TV and buses..?
Idiots
rigid forks rule. they're for proper hard riders only.
emac65 - Member
When I see someone riding with a rigid fork over bumpy terrain or whatever, I'm not in awe of them regardless of how skillful they think they are,I just think what an idiot.....
emac65 - Member
I also ride with rigid forks, at times
idiot...
He didn't say he used rigid forks on bumpy terrain
I'm not in awe of them
why do you think they give a toss what someone else thinks about them? some folks just ride bikes 'cos they enjoy it you know rather than some sort of alpha male pissing contest that many on narrowmindedtrackworld seem to be involved in 
I've spent a fair bit chopping and changing.
The only fork i miss is a set of 2005 mx pro's which were beautifully bedded in.
Currently running a set of on one rigids.
I've seen plenty of riders, with rigid forks, making mincemeat out of people of 5+ inches of suspension, christ I'm a crap rider and I managed to lose someone on an Specialized Enduro on the last decent at ByC on a 15 year old singlespeed, and enjoyed Llandegla rigid kona caldera.
The bottom line is that it's not about the bike.
The bottom line is that a rigid fork on a low end bike means more profit for the manufacturers, **** all to do with anything else.
Fully Rigid Woodpile by rOcKeTdOgUk, on flickr
I used the above at a trail centre yesterday, it was great fun, really enjoyed it, i've never ridden a trail centre rigid before, I didn't miss the sus forks, however..i would have been faster with them
Oh, yes amedias i'm an idiot, but an out there riding a bike rather than judging one 
i will be fitting a rigid salsa cromo fork/or equivalent to my duster sometime next year (as i remember the old days of riding fully rigid 
Jeez, it always ends up with a bit of hating on this forum! Answering the op, cheap sus forks weigh twice as much, but offer little to no gain over a rigid fork, waste of time.
I have an alpine 160 which I can use for really rough days, but have just gone down the rigid with a big front tyre route and I'm really enjoying it. Local trails become new and exciting, then I can swap the wheels and use it to commute. I fully intend to use it for some bigger days out, maybe not the fastest, but still plenty fun!
having recently used several low end hire bikes with cheap Suntour forks fitted to them I can certainly say that a much lighter and rigid fork would vastly improve the performace of the bike. Cheap forks are heavy, do not move through the travel properly and make an otherwise decent bike quite cumbersome.
Kev
Oh, yes amedias i'm an idiot, but an out there riding a bike rather than judging one
damn you and your not having to be at work!
I have a week off next week, I'll be riding (my rigid) bike every day so I can build up some Karma points for the evenings job of being an Internet Judgementalist...
FunkyDunc - MemberThe bottom line is that a rigid fork on a low end bike means more profit for the manufacturers, **** all to do with anything else.
If the rest of the spec is identical, you're right. But that's not likely to be the case.
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