Lauf forks

I follow a guy on Instagram who runs it. It's not really a suspension fork replacement, but he says it's good for taking out the edge and loves it for cross country in the West coast.
 
Grateful rider is currently testing one on his SS. I rode with him on his maiden voyage and he seemed to like it. I would guess he has some more miles in it at this point so maybe he'll chime in with some more info. Personally I would want more travel, but that's just me. Looks really cool though
 
They've been around for a while and I still want one because Iceland!

They'll never replace air suspension, but I can easily see them on rigid bikes in place of the famous carbon Niner forks and such. I would love to try one.
 
I just started riding one. There's 60mm of travel. No adjustments. It's laterally stiff and steers well. This is replacing a rigid fork and it does exactly what I hoped it would, takes the edge off. I haven't climbed with it yet so I can't comment there. However I didn't notice any bobbing when accelerating out of the saddle.

I don't think this will replace a 120mm fox but if you're looking for a short travel light weight alternative, it's worth a deeper look.
 
This is my next upgrade. I have been saving up for this and put off retirement so I can get one. They run about $900.00 and change.
 
5" fat tire does the same for a lot less coin. I still don't understand putting a suspension fork on a fat bike. Let's really make my fatbike heavy. Then again my skinny wheeled bike is rigid too.
 
Very interesting. However, is still almost twice as heavy as the Niner fork, and twice as expensive.
 
why piss away so much money on a fork that barely works when you could have one that works awesome and locks out when you need it for the same price........
 
i've got an idea for a trailing link/torsion bar fork - need to use a rim brake tho....damn!

that funky bend looks like a weak spot,

like the concept - might pre-bend the springs down to create more travel.

are the springs tapered at all? (variable rate spring if you are into that stuff)

expected life?
 
fidodie said:
i've got an idea for a trailing link/torsion bar fork - need to use a rim brake tho....damn!

that funky bend looks like a weak spot,

like the concept - might pre-bend the springs down to create more travel.

are the springs tapered at all? (variable rate spring if you are into that stuff)

expected life?
Click to expand...

That funky bend is kind of why I like it, actually. It just looks... different. They only come in two spring options for below and above a certain body weight.

I know a woman in Iceland that rides regularly with a guy that has one of the original Lauf's. Second year on it and loves it. Still, it's not for everything. I can see it's use on a hardtail XC race bike, but that's about the extent outside of casual trail riders with $900 to blow. Being a leaf spring though, I can't imagine the spring rate to be very modulated if I can call it that. Leaf springs tend to be harsh near their limits. Just my take until I get a chance to ride one.

I'd imagine it would last as long as a carbon frame would outside of getting beat up. No maintenance required outside of hosing it down with the rest of your bike.
 
I had a chance to ride one at Frostbike last week in MN. I had low expectations, but I came away surprised how much I like it. I am not running out to buy one, but I came away liking it way more than I expected. It looks scary as hell, but once you are on it you certainly forget about it and just got. It takes a little edge off and maybe gives some more confidence without the weight of a sus fork. The real conversation was that the Bluto basically doesn't work in the cold so this becomes a real advantage in the cold.

It was cool to be able to ride 4 & 5" tire bikes, Steel, Alloy and Carbon all back to back. We rode in fresh snow and packed trail.

My personal findings were that Carbon rims made more of a difference in ride quality than frame material.

I was really trying to decide if I could put up with the super wide BB/q-factor on the Ice cream truck and Blackboro.

Tires make or break the ride for sure, but carbon rims make a change that can't be ignored.

As for frame material, I was surprised how much I liked the steel Ice Cream Truck. The carbon Beargrease carbon was still the champ in my eyes.

And yes, the bucksaw is a freaking blast.
 
one of the top adventure racing teams in the world ran these forks at the AR world championships and will be running them this season as well.

like it was already said in this thread..this isnt really a replacement for a conventionally sprung fork, instead its more of a bridge between rigid and suspension.
 
One of the best features is that you can't really see it once you're actually riding the bike it's mounted on.
 
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