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i need a new bike for my daughter and am hoping to kindle her interest in riding off road. the specialized hot rock looks like just what she needs but they dont come cheap.my main dilema is will a sus fork be worth it.a nice plush one would help no end,but are the ones on kids bikes any good or just cheap tat? one would hope the rst ones on the hotrock are good considering how much it costs. my main concern is the front to rear movemnet you can get in really cheap and nasty forks moreso than the travel and plushness.
any experiences?
The RST bushings aren't as bad as some suntour ones, but don't expect anything amazing. Saying that, they are nice and lightly sprung and spesh would sort you out if you had any problems
My sun has the 20" spesh hot rock. Whilst the fork isn't the best, it is half decent and better than most of the competition for around the same price.
TBH at 20" consider Isla Bikes
No (As someone who's son has a Hotrock 20)...but he does like having suspension like his Dad!
If she is not going to ride anything too bumpy/rocky then deffo go for the isla bike.
All 20" suspension forks are pretty crap but the spesh one seemed better than everything else I looked at (kona, Scott, ridgeback)
There is no such thing as good cheap suspension. Kids bikes with it weigh a ton.
had a ridgeback 20" and more recently a 20" hotrock and the hotrock is lighter and nicely finished with low standover - would say good value and from kids point of view looks good
understand the comments about kids bikes with suspension some are real horror shows especially full suspension takes some convincing them that they aren't proper bikes
Get the Hotrock if you're anticipating doing anything gnarlier than trail-centre blue. the RST forks are at least pretending to be built to take it. The forks on cheaper bikes are just welded tubes (uppers) and the lowers are tubes with the ends squished together into a vague drop-out shape.