I picked up a Commencal 365 a couple of days ago with the intention of doing some longer fitness rides and eventually touring with it. It’s bare stock at the moment, so an alloy frame, fork, wheels, and bar, it makes for a fairly jarring ride around the local FSRs.
I’ve been recommended the Rodeo Adventure Labs Spork 3.2 as it has a similar rake to the stock fork (50mm vs stock 55mm). Likewise with a Whisky fork, but I can’t remember which one. I’ve also looked into the Fox gravel fork which is 40mm travel with the 50mm rake.
The way I see it the pros to a carbon fork are:
– much lighter
– has mounting points
– usually a little cheaper
– much lower maintenance
Whereas the pro to the suspension fork is:
– softer, more tunable ride
Has anyone got any experience between the two, any recommendations either way, or should I start looking at other options for a softer ride first?
by the_other_skier
8 Comments
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Bike: [Commencal 365 Race](https://www.commencal.com/us/en/commencal-365-race-2/22G365E2.html?cmnclredirect=true&lang=en_US)
Only modification so far is flipping the brakes moto style.
Accessories:
– Ass Saver Win Wing
– Apidura frame bag
– Specialized Zee bottle cage and some random cage
Located in sunny Squamish, BC
Suspension forks also require maintenance.
I personally feel that if I want suspension on my ride I’ll rather just take my XC-bike. The less stuff that requires maintenance the better on my gravel bike. My gravel bike is also my principal winter bike and full length mudguards for gravel suspension forks are hard to get ahold of.
If your gravel looks like that AND you like going faster and faster, I’d be team suspension all the way. There’s other better solutions for cargo mounting and like you said, the only big disadvantage here is less than 2 pounds of weight and annual 20-minute maintenance. With even a 40mm suspension fork you will be able to go faster over rough terrain much more comfortably. I feel like even 2.5” tires on a steel fork on my gravel bike wasn’t nearly as smoothed out as 40/50mm tires plus a 40mm suspension fork, the fork does a better job eliminating that wheel skip and traction loss from rolling over a bump than bigger tires, or I assume a carbon fork (never used one for off road)
hmm what’s the tire pressure at? If you can get that down (and going tubeless gives you more wiggle room to lower it), it may take more of the edge off. Other relatively easy stuff you could do is redshift suspension stem, and a flexy seatpost like Specialized Terra or Canyon VLCS. Fork-wise I’d probably go carbon. The shock travel is obviously nice, but for me not worth the weight and having to service it.
Sram tire pressure guide [https://axs.sram.com/guides/tire/pressure](https://axs.sram.com/guides/tire/pressure)
I’ll leave the suspension to my MTB.
Not because a tuneable comfy fork is bad. But because tire setup on a gravel bike does so much.
And on my MTB, the bike I am blasting over rooty trails and rocks, focusing on descending I am happy to do the work to keep it running.
But on the light bike that I only occasionally get to take on trails and want to get out of the door and get lost on? I’ll prefer some slight carbon flex and not worry about strict service timings
I rode the first generation Lefty Oliver/Slate and although it was very fun, the significant weight penalty and maintenance costs outweighed the benefits.
I now run suspension stems (CC eSilk, Redshift) and think you get a lot of the same benefits at a fraction of the weight. Combined with tire inserts and lower pressure, it’s enough for most gravel.
There’s so much variety in terrain and preferences you’ll never get a consensus. I personally wouldn’t do it, I’ll keep suspension to my mountain bike and stay quick and light and rattly with my gravel bike.
But I’m a luddite with this stuff.