Rockshox drives it wide

Until now, fatbike riders have had to rely exclusively on the comfort of oversized tires. But this is now set to end, as suspension pioneer Rock Shox is launching a front suspension system specialized for fat bikes with the Bluto fork.

The Rock Shox engineers didn't have to reinvent the suspension fork with the Bluto. The Rapid Recovery rebound mechanism, which is designed to ensure that the fork works actively on many successive hits, the 15 millimeter Maxle Lite thru-axle or the so-called Solo Air air suspension are all familiar ingredients for a Rock Shox suspension fork. The 32 millimetre diameter of the "Upper Tubes" must be enough to give the colored fork stiffness at the front.

The fork chassis, however, clearly takes on a new dimension: the thru axle measures 150 millimetres in length. The matching wheel size is 26 inches, the suspension travel is 80, 100 or 120 millimetres. In terms of weight, the scales remain at around 1800 grams. The Bluto fork will be available for the first time from June 2014.

www.rockshox.com