Motorcycle Forks & Components

The front wheels of almost all types of motorcycles are connected to their frames using forks via triple clamps or yokes. The majority of motorcycle forks are designed to incorporate the front suspension and braking system while allowing the front wheel to rotate about the steering axis during maneuvering. Besides dampening the shocks from road irregularities, your fork can define the handling and style of your machine. You can always upgrade your front suspension and improve the appearance of the front end of your bike to match your style and meet your needs with high-quality products offered in our selection of motorcycle forks and components.

The most popular type of front motorcycle suspension uses a telescopic fork arrangement with a shock-absorbing mechanism. It is a relatively simple, efficient, and reliable construction that offers a perfect combination of handling and cushioning. A steering stem holds both top and lower triple clams creating a steering axis. These clamps keep fork leg tubes parallel and perfectly aligned. At the bottom, fork leg tubes are connected via the wheel axle. Inside a standard fork tube, you can find a damping system with a coil spring. A spring compresses absorbing the energy of impact but rushes to release it immediately. A damper reduces spring oscillations transforming kinetic energy into heat.

Older motorcycle models came from the factory equipped with so-called damper-rod forks where damping is performed by oil that is forced into tiny openings in a fork leg every time the wheel hits a bump. The outer fork tube reacts to road irregularities, while inner tube with a spring performs the role of a plunger that presses oil into the leg. In systems with fixed fork leg orifices, if the wheel moves up and down slowly on minor bumps or at low speed, oil flows through holes without much resistance, which means that such a suspension becomes too soft at lower speeds and too hard at higher speeds or larger bumps.

A cartridge fork was introduced to solve this problem. Instead of fixed orifices, oil flows through a series of shims stacked against the face of the piston. They deflect more at higher speeds allowing for less restricted oil flow. In such a system, valves are enclosed into a cylinder cartridge attached to the bottom of the outer fork tube, so it moves up and down when the fork compresses and rebounds. In the cartridge, one piston with a check valve is fixed to the end of a damping rod and allows oil to pass through during rebound strokes while the check valve on the lower piston traps oil in the cartridge. As the fork compresses, the two pistons change roles providing effective damping.

Besides telescopic architecture, there are few variations of motorcycle forks, including leading and trailing links, telelever, duolever, springer, and others. Springer forks with outer, chrome-plated coil springs give motorcycles a classic or vintage look. For those who want to change the style of their bikes, we can offer a wide range of lower fork covers, fork boots, fork tube covers, fork guards, and much more. On the digital shelves of our online store, you can find a variety of complete regular and inverted front end kits, fork legs, springer fork kits, oil lock collars, fork springs, seal bullets, monotube cartridge fork kits, seals, bushings, and so on.