Relative noob question!
How much difference does it make?
Is it faster?
Is there a point when it's so rough that it works against you?
Personally, I find reducing the travel to 100mm makes a bigger difference on the few times I bother to change my fork settings for an uphill. Generally, I only lock out for road sections.
I've mostly found that forks that lock at full travelfully extended make the front of the bike more wandery - it's often better to run the fork unlocked so that once you shift your weight forward the head angle steepens and makes life easier.
On fire roads/road though it can make a big difference to perceived effort running the fork locked out.
[i]How much difference does it make?[/i]
Approximately sod all.
I took the bar-mounted lockout lever off completely on my rebas and now run them without any lockout capability.
I don't miss it.
Lock out on a road climb is worth it, but TBH otherwise it's a gimmick
it depends on you, the climb, your prefered style of climbing.
If you keep relatively still on the bike and climb in a seated position without bobbing it makes no difference at all. If you bob loads and bounce around then locking the forks out makes sense. If you ride on the road out the saddle and honk up the hills you want to lock your forks. Rougher climbs are a little easier with unlocked forks.
The only time I use mine is uphill on tarmac when I feel like getting out of the saddle and sprinting.
This happens about 2% of the time - it is nice to have though I suppose if it doesnt cost any more money.
[b]How much difference does it make?[/b] naff all
[b]Is it faster?[/b] is it faster than what? if you want to be faster up a specific (smooth surfaced) hill without changing your bike or your fitness or your percieved input level...... maybe very slightly
[b]Is there a point when it's so rough that it works against you?[/b] yes
its a suspension fork, work with it and learn to ride uphill with it to your advantage
locking the fork means the A2C is longer so the front end will feel lighter/wandery, it also means you have the feel of a rigid fork with the added weight of a suspension fork plus the unnecessary gubbins that can go wrong
On the HT I like climbing out of the saddle so lockout works ok for that, but on a FS its just a gimmick. Long fire road perhaps you might bother with it. Most of the time I end up forgetting the bloody things still locked when I set off down again. 🙂
I certainly found mine useful at the gravity enduro this weekend. there were a couple of mid stage stomps up fireroads where i was out of the saddle giving it some and I think that it helped.
It's a big benefit for out of seat climbing.
Always seems to make me a little faster. I have a gopro video of me racing a mate, and just when he's making a comeback I reach down and lock the fork out. Then I win. Bwaa haha aha aha aha aaaaaaa..
Pretty much what I thought from my experience, just wanted to check I wasn't missing something!
Cheers