What is the purpose of suspension lockout?

Question

I'm trying to decide which 29'er bike I want to purchase and one of them has lockout. I know what lockout does but I'm not sure what it is used for and if I will need it.

Thanks

Answer 1

I disagree with all this talk of "wasting a lot of energy". When I am riding with constant pedal force, the suspension compresses very little, if any. The severe loss of efficiency occurs when power peaks to the pedals occur - sprinting or hill climbing. IMO the effect is very roughly up to 30% when sprinting. With climbing it depends on the terrain and your willingness to adjust gears. Keep a stable, high cadence* (as if riding on a road) and there will be no unnecessary compression at all.

Now, locking the fork is useful for road biking, right? If you ride at a constant, high, boring cadence on the flat, boring road - no unnecessary compression. In my country, even in the capital, most roads have mean distance between road holes in the order of tens of meters.

So I do not lock my fork. I suffer in sprints (sprints are bad for your knees), but ride more comfortable through road defects.

Note: I have not used high quality forks with suspension lockout(nothing over a hundred bucks) - so it could be that my answer is irrelevant.

_{* high cadence == low pedal force (for the same power output)}

Answer 2

Lockout gives the rider blow-off valve adjustment options (how loose or stiff the compression force is on bike) not only helps pedaling efficiency while climbing/flat trail mode, but also gives the rider options to unlock when riding DH. High end forks have abilities to lock out/adjust blow off, also adjust travel on the fly while riding, like a swiss army knife for ALL conditions, and gives the rider advantages for racing, all mountain, casual non competitive riding too. Non-lockout forks are either for DH (200mm travel), or cheaper alternatives where efficiency in pedaling isn't important.

Answer 3

When you're riding on roads you, generally, have close to no need of suspension, but because you've got it you'll be wasting lots of energy which will be going into the shocks and not into the pedals and cranks.

If you don't need the suspension, it's going to be much more efficient to be able to disable it.

If you know that you're never (or close to never) going to be riding the bike on paved surfaces then you probably won't need the lockout, but if that's not the case, then you almost certainly should favour the lockout.

Answer 4

You turn it on when riding on smooth surfaces or going up hill to improve pedal efficiency. It's hard to know if you will need it in advance because without riding the bike you won't know how well the suspension design handles pedal bob (the energy lost by the bike suspension compressing under pedal forces), try and get a test ride.