We've brought together the best budget mountain bike forks we've tried and tested that offer great performance without costing an arm and a leg.
Suspension forks are virtually standard issue on all the best modern mountain bikes thanks to the ability to improve steering control, traction and comfort to the rider. While the best money-no-object suspension forks can cost well over £1,000, this guide concentrates on the cheaper end of the market. Fear not though; there are some amazing high performance options at half the price of the premium models that work just as well in most situations and are often easier to adjust.
Looking for rear suspension? Check out our guide to the best mountain bike rear suspension shocks. And don’t forget, in order to make the most out of your suspension you’ll need to take time to set up your mountain bike suspension.
The Marzocchi Bomber Z2 Rail is our top budget pick.
1. Marzocchi Bomber Z2 Rail
Best budget suspension fork
Weight: 2,010g | Offset: 44mm, 51mm | Travel: 100, 120, 130, 140, 150mm | Wheel sizes: 27.5 or 29in | Rating: 9/10
Reasons to buy:
- Simple to set up
- Lots of grip
- Stiff chassis
- Great price-to-performance ratio
Cons:
- Carrying some extra weight
- Lacking a bit of support
- Basic adjustments
Marzocchi is the budget sub-brand of Fox, and the Z2 is basically a Fox 34 Rhythm with a different brace, shaped like an ‘M’ in reference to the Marzocchi logo. The internals and adjustment are all fairly simple, but the performance is perfectly judged for the price, with excellent ground-tracking and grip. Hit something bigger, or land a drop, and there’s no harsness or clunking. It’s also built with durability in mind, so you can spend more time riding and less time servicing.
Read our full test test review of Marzocchi Bomber Z2 Rail fork
2. RockShox Domain RC
Best budget e-bike fork
Offset: 44mm | Travel: 150, 160, 170, 180mm | Wheel sizes: 27.5 or 29in
Reasons to buy:
- Unbelievable-value-for-money trail/e-bike fork with 38mm upper tubes
- Available in 29 and 27.5in options with four travel options from 160mm to 180mm
Reasons to avoid:
- As to be expected, the Motion Control damper performance is not quite at the same level as the Charger 2.1
- Stock mudguard is way too short for UK conditions
The RockShox Domain is a burly enduro/e-bike fork at a budget price. It gets 38mm upper tubes, just like the expensive Zeb, comes in 27.5in and 29in wheel versions, and travel options from 150mm right up to 180mm. As such it makes a brilliant upgrade for a budget e-bike, where the extra weight and forces involved will noticeably benefit from all that extra muscle up front. Yes, the damper is less sophisticated than the one out of the Zeb, but it’s effective and can be upgraded at a later date. Simple to set up and built to take a load of abuse, the Domain is a heavyweight champ.
Read our full test test review of RockShox Domain XC fork
3. Suntour Durolox 36 EQ RC2
Best budget fork for tunability
Weight: 2,180g (190mm cut steerer) | Travel: 140, 150, 160, 170mm | Wheel sizes: 27.5 or 29in | Rating: 8/10
Reasons to buy:
- Excellent damping and tunability for the price
Reasons to avoid:
- Weight penalty over more expensive options from Fox and RockShox
- Compression damping might be too firm for lighter riders
SR Suntour packs a lot of adjustment and sophistication into the Durolux 36 EQ RC2, despite undercutting most of its rivals. The damper design is similar to top-end Fox and RockShox models, and you get control over high and low-speed compression damping as well as low-speed rebound. There are even air valves to purge excess pressure built up in the lower legs, like its premium rivals. Performance is really good, with a supple response to bumps and a stiff chassis that is perfectly suited to most trail bikes.
Read our full test test review of Suntour Durolox 36 EQ RC2
How we test
With all our fork tests, we always seek to ride them on the widest variety of terrain possible. Usually that includes areas such as the Surrey Hills, Yorkshire Moors, Lake District, Forest of Dean and even bike parks such as Revolution and BikePark Wales.
Usually forks are tested back-to-back on the same tracks, fitted to the same bikes, by the same testers to eliminate as many variables as possible and really hone in on performance.
High and low-speed compression adjustment is rare on budget forks to save money and keep it simple.
What to look for in the best mountain bike forks
Trickle-down technology means that the more basic forks in a manufacturer’s range are often better than the best models from five years ago.
While the big brands like Fox and RockShox dominate the market, competitors often punch above their weight when it comes to budget forks. Players such as Marzocchi and SR Suntour and X-Fusion, among others, delivering great performance without the eye-watering swing tags.
The primary role of a fork is to reduce the harshness of bumps coming at the rider, which allows gives them greater and more consistent control and reduces fatigue. There’s a lot more detail to explore, though, so here are some of the key points to consider when choosing a new budget fork.
1. Travel
Suspension forks come in various travel options, but if you’re upgrading the fork on your current bike, you should generally keep travel consistent. So if your bike has a 150mm fork as standard, usually the best option is to upgrade it with another 150mm travel fork.
The only real exceptions to this rule are if your bike has the same amount of travel front and rear, in which case you could go for a fork with 10mm more travel up front (due to trigonometry, a fork’s vertical travel will always be less than the distance the legs can slide).
‘Over-forking’ your bike will change the geometry, however, which can be either good or bad (or both) depending on the bike. It will slacken the head angle and the seat angle, raise the BB a touch, raise the front end and reduce the reach. Of course, this also means that choosing a longer travel fork is an option if you actually want to change the geometry of your bike.
As a rough rule of thumb, XC bikes will have 100-120mm of travel, trail forks will have 120-160mm travel, and enduro bikes will have 160-180mm.
If you ride a hardtail, the temptation is to chuck a massive travel fork on the front to compensate for the lack of rear suspension. But because a hardtail effectively pivots around the rear axle as the fork compresses, the geometry changes drastically and the handling can become unpredictable and erratic. So the sweetspot for a trail hardtail – even one with long-low-slack geometry – is often 130-140mm.
SR Suntour makes some excellent budget forks.
2. Air spring
Most forks use air as a spring medium. Why? Well it’s light and it’s highly tuneable. With just a shock pump you can change the spring rate to suit a wide range of rider weights.
Using coil springs would mean sourcing and swapping springs to get the right sag, which is costly and time consuming.
Additionally, the spring curve can be tuned by changing the volume of the main air chamber, so you can make the fork more progressive and harder to compress deeper in the travel, or more linear so that it’s very plush and easy to use all the travel. Dialling in air pressure is via a Schrader valve (like a car tyre) and typical pressures are between 50 and 100psi.
3. Volume spacers
As explained above, most modern air forks – even budget models – let you tune the ride characteristics by changing the size of the positive air chamber by adding or removing volume spacers.
These are usually added by deflating the fork and unscrewing the air cap, giving access to the air chamber. The spacers usually snap or thread into place, making it a simple job to do, even at the side of the trail if you have the right tools.
In simple terms, adding spacers reduces the size of the air chamber and makes the fork more progressive (harder to compress as it moves through the travel). Taking spacers out increases the volume and makes it easier to achieve full travel. Most forks will have a recommended number of spacers at any given travel, along with a maximum number of spacers.
Low-speed rebound adjustment is a vital feature that lets you tune the return speed to the spring rate – basically the air pressure in the fork.
4. External adjustment
The level of damping adjustment on a fork varies dramatically depending on price, with only the most expensive models offering total rider control. Dials on the top and bottom of the fork legs adjust parameters to tune support and control.
Separate damping dials allow specific tuning options as to how much oil is allowed through ports and shims inside to absorb impacts, but more options also introduce more opportunities to mess up settings.
Having said that, most suspension brands and bike companies now offer decent tuning guides according to body weight, and these will give you a good start point to work from.
5. Chassis
Stanchion diameter is an important metric for overall stiffness, with thicker fork legs generally adding weight. Bushing size and overlap, plus crown and brace construction also affect rigidity. Tapered steerer tubes are the norm – 1 1/8in to 1.5in at the base. Lower-leg assemblies use cast magnesium to save weight, and the forks here use a Boost 110mm axle spacing with quick- release-style or Allen-key fixings for the wheels.
6. Positive and negative springs
Within the air spring there are typically two separate elements balancing breakaway friction and small-bump sensitivity against support. A negative spring pushes back against the main positive spring, and either takes the form of a separate (automatically equalising) air chamber or a coil spring.
SR Suntour has an expanding locknut design for its through-axle.
7. Offset
Fork rake or offset has evolved as an important design element. Most brands now offer two different offsets in each wheel size, ranging from 37mm up to 51mm.
It’s complicated, but offset affects steering feel and tyre stabilising force, so shorter offsets offer more stability and a ride quality that emulates a slacker head angle, while still keeping the bike’s wheelbase shorter.
8. Compression damping
Compression damping controls the rate at which displaced damper fluid is allowed to move during bump events. Low-speed controls low shaft-speed impacts like body weight shifts and rolling terrain, and high- speed damping absorbs harsh impacts like square bump faces and landings. Forcing oil through ports or shim stacks generates damping resistance, with energy converted into heat.
9. Rebound damping
This is the damping circuit that controls the speed that the fork returns to sag after a bump event. Low-speed damping is the most common external adjustment. The damping circuit uses orifices and shim stacks to regulate the oil flow – ports can be opened or closed and shims made stiffer or softer. Some systems also act ‘dynamically’ and respond differently according to the shaft speeds (the speed the legs slide up or down).