[Bike078]

Imagine having one here in my country: "how much does the trust fork (not related to trust condoms) cost?
"Around one hundred thirty thousand pesos"

"And the bicycle frame?"
"A bit more than the fork"

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahaha!

 

[slyfink]

https://www.vitalmtb.com/features/Slow-Motion-Action-of-The-Message-Front-Suspension-System-from-Trust-Performance,2602

 

[WestCoastHucker]

so it allows the wheel to move up and down?

 

[slyfink]

One thing that video and comments crystallized for me is that the linkage decouples rider input from "ground" input. You can see when he lands that the suspension doesn't move much, but that when he hits and object, it moves alot.

IMO, on rear suspension elements, this is desirable because there is also the element of propulsion (pedalling) to factor in. But for front suspension, I'm not sure this is a good idea. I like it when my suspension absorbs a part of the shock when I land a big drop, or land rear wheel heavy and slap the front wheel down. if only for the comfort of my wrists.

I guess this all comes down to pros and cons of riding style and terrain, and personal preference. and cost. can't forget cost!

 

[djjohnr]

I wonder if you get a similar rear bobbing effect to what you get when you run a fork locked out with the rear suspension open.

 

[manhattanprjkt83]

i just want to get on one and see how it feels...

 

[slimshady]

The video is kinda lame, because all and every bump the guy takes ends in a manual. We never see the classic bump-into-something-and-keep-rolling every other fork's test show. I want to see it rolling over an obstacle in slow motion.

 

[Jm_]

Looks like it bottomed out on that 4" bump?

 

[Happymtb.fr]

The rear wheel is tracking the ground better than the front wheel. I doubt that it's only rebound related...

 

[6thElement]

I wonder what happened to seeing more reviews of this thing, nothing from PB that I recall.

 

[canadmos]

I think its coming from PinkBike. Mike Levy has it on that Giant Trance for sure and said in previous articles to trust him, the review is coming. Maybe it blew up and he's waiting for a rebuild?

 

[slimshady]

I wonder what happened to seeing more reviews of this thing, nothing from PB that I recall.

Singletrack has their review up now. Not very enlightening.

 

[roflbox]

I am waiting to see one of those forks on a yeti ebike

 

[sundaydoug]

I got a chance to ride one of these forks on a friend's bike last weekend in Sedona. The best way to describe it is that it seems to "feel" the terrain. Like reviews have already stated it does initially feel over-dampened in the parking lot just pushing down on the handlebars, but when it encounters an obstacle it gives way in a surprisingly supportive fashion. Pushing down on the bars is tough, but put the front wheel up against a curb and you can put the fork into it's travel easily by pushing with two fingers. On the trail I noticed how well it tracked on sweeping, higher-speed, fairly rough turns. It seems to know that it shouldn't dive under braking, but at the same time it's completely active and supportive when it needs to be.

On the other hand, there are two notable downsides. First is that if you're the type of rider that likes to slap the front wheel down frequently (like me) it can feel a bit harsh in those events. It doesn't seem to like abrupt high-speed compression, unless that compression comes from an obstacle in the path of the wheel. It's a slight adjustment and you get used to it pretty quickly.

Second downside is that literally everyone you pass on the trail will stop and ask you about the fork.

 

[Gary]

Bumped into this guy the other day riding and filming the fork for his Youtube channel.

this day to be exact

 

[xy9ine]

I think its coming from PinkBike. Mike Levy has it on that Giant Trance for sure and said in previous articles to trust him, the review is coming. Maybe it blew up and he's waiting for a rebuild?

he's had the fork for over 3 months. that we've yet to hear anything (from any major review site for that matter) is "interesting".

 

[slyfink]

I think its coming from PinkBike. Mike Levy has it on that Giant Trance for sure and said in previous articles to trust him, the review is coming. Maybe it blew up and he's waiting for a rebuild?

or maybe he's not qualified to set it up properly and he's waiting for a team of experts to come up and do it for him.

 

[Jm_]

I got a chance to ride one of these forks on a friend's bike last weekend in Sedona. The best way to describe it is that it seems to "feel" the terrain. Like reviews have already stated it does initially feel over-dampened in the parking lot just pushing down on the handlebars, but when it encounters an obstacle it gives way in a surprisingly supportive fashion. Pushing down on the bars is tough, but put the front wheel up against a curb and you can put the fork into it's travel easily by pushing with two fingers. On the trail I noticed how well it tracked on sweeping, higher-speed, fairly rough turns. It seems to know that it shouldn't dive under braking, but at the same time it's completely active and supportive when it needs to be.

On the other hand, there are two notable downsides. First is that if you're the type of rider that likes to slap the front wheel down frequently (like me) it can feel a bit harsh in those events. It doesn't seem to like abrupt high-speed compression, unless that compression comes from an obstacle in the path of the wheel. It's a slight adjustment and you get used to it pretty quickly.

Second downside is that literally everyone you pass on the trail will stop and ask you about the fork.

Please explain the high speed bump thing, bumps not in the wheel-path? Isn’t that kind of contradictory?

 

[sundaydoug]

Please explain the high speed bump thing, bumps not in the wheel-path? Isn’t that kind of contradictory?

Yea, I didn't do a very good job of explaining that. So here are two scenarios where you'd use high-speed compression:

1. Huck to flat where your rear wheel lands first making the front "slap" down on the ground. Trust fork does not like this type of compression. Or, to put it more accurately, doing this with a Trust fork yields very firm feedback at your hands compared with a telescopic fork. A telescopic fork has more "give" in this situation.

2. High speed into a baby-head rock section without lifting the front end, forcing the fork to absorb straight on impacts. Trust fork very much likes this and absorbs impacts without any apparent loss of forward momentum. This fork remains supportive and fully active which yields excellent front-end tracking.

 

[dan-o]

Yea, I didn't do a very good job of explaining that. So here are two scenarios where you'd use high-speed compression:

1. Huck to flat where your rear wheel lands first making the front "slap" down on the ground. Trust fork does not like this type of compression. Or, to put it more accurately, doing this with a Trust fork yields very firm feedback compared with a telescopic fork.
2. High speed into a baby-head rock section without lifting the front end, forcing the fork to absorb straight on impacts. Trust fork very much likes this and absorbs impacts without any apparent loss of forward momentum. This fork remains supportive and fully active which yields excellent front-end tracking.

What bike was this on?
Any comment re a-c length like other reviews?

 

[sundaydoug]

What bike was this on?
Any comment re a-c length like other reviews?

This was on an Evil Offering. My friend did have a machine shop create a custom lower headset cup that raised the front end by approx. 10mm to compensate for the shorter axle to crown measurement of the Trust fork (compared with a 140mm Fox 36 29" fork).

 

[dan-o]

This was on an Evil Offering. My friend did have a machine shop create a custom lower headset cup that raised the front end by approx. 10mm to compensate for the shorter axle to crown measurement of the Trust fork (compared with a 140mm Fox 36).

I’d love to hear how it rode without the spacer. Of all the claims, the one size fits all is almost hardest to believe.

 

[sundaydoug]

I’d love to hear how it rode without the spacer. Of all the claims, the one size fits all is almost hardest to believe.

So this may have more to do with the bike than the actual fork. The Evil Offering has steep ST/long TT geometry, so that combined with the short A2C measurement of the Trust fork made handling characteristics undesirable (rider weight too far forward), hence the need to raise the front end up to preserve geo. On other bikes you might get away with running the Trust fork as-is.

I didn't ride it without the spacer, the above notes are just feedback from my buddy.

 

[FlipFantasia]

he's had the fork for over 3 months. that we've yet to hear anything (from any major review site for that matter) is "interesting".

saw him riding it in Squamish 3 weeks ago, fwiw

 

[Happymtb.fr]

Bumped into this guy the other day riding and filming the fork for his Youtube channel.

this day to be exact

Did you had a go at it?
The review is interesting and seems to be honest.

 

[Tantrum Cycles]

Did you had a go at it?
The review is interesting and seems to be honest.

Ali is a great rider and good guy. I think it was a decent review.

Maybe Trust should Trust him with a fork

 

[Lelandjt]

This was on an Evil Offering. My friend did have a machine shop create a custom lower headset cup that raised the front end by approx. 10mm to compensate for the shorter axle to crown measurement of the Trust fork (compared with a 140mm Fox 36 29" fork).

So the Trust has 130mm travel and the same a-c as a 130mm Fox? I wish every review of it was on a bike that came with a 130mm fork. I don't have any bikes with 130mm forks so this isn't relevant to me, just a curiosity.

 

[Sandwich]

Doesn't trust claim you don't need a 150mm fork on a bike specced for a 150mm fork because reasons? I feel that every reviewer should take that into account- your a2c is lower and therefore you fuck up your geometry despite their claims.

I'm excited for a new toy (linkage forks) but I hope that they aren't marketed in a way that makes them the panacea to every problem out there.

 

[sundaydoug]

So the Trust has 130mm travel and the same a-c as a 130mm Fox? I wish every review of it was on a bike that came with a 130mm fork. I don't have any bikes with 130mm forks so this isn't relevant to me, just a curiosity.

I'm having difficulty finding specs on current Fox 34 29" 130mm forks, but a 2016 Fox Factory Series Float 34 29" 130mm fork has an A2C of 540mm. Trust's website shows A2C of the Message at 535mm.

Taking my limited riding experience with this fork into consideration, I'd agree that the claim of this fork being optimal for a wide-range of applications is a bit misleading, if only due to the A2C measurement. If there was a way to put this fork on different bikes and somehow preserve optimal geometry I'd say that the claim might have merit, but other than using custom lower headset cups I don't see how that would be possible.

 

[Bikael Molton]

Is the 130 travel on purpose, because they think the trail bike segment sells more, or is there a travel limitation inherent to the linkage design?

Sorry if that’s already been covered.

Less travel combined with steeper head angle is exactly the opposite of where enduro bikes are headed, and what I like to ride.

I wonder if it feels like it wants to low side in turns due to the decreasing front center.

 

[Gary]

Did you had a go at it?
The review is interesting and seems to be honest.

No. We just chatted about other stuff. Yeah, Ali is a really decent friendly guy... super modest too... almost to the extent of putting himself down at times.
I noticed he was running that fork and he explained he was filming it so I rode the adjacent track to him so as not to video bomb him. I'm not actually interested in any linkage forks at all. So much so that I haven't even watched the videos I linked.

 

[sundaydoug]

Is the 130 travel on purpose, because they think the trail bike segment sells more, or is there a travel limitation inherent to the linkage design?

My guess is that for their first product they chose to aim it at a large target market, which would be 130mm-ish trail bikes.

 

[djjohnr]

I forget where but in one article on the fork they stated packaging beyond 130mm was problematic.

 

[jstuhlman]

 

[ianjenn]

I spent $800 more then that on my last BUILD.........

 

[Westy]

I spent $800 more then that on my last BUILD.........

Dental school drop out?

 

[sundaydoug]

Excellent review, nail on the head

 

[Westy]

The fan-base is pretty rabid

probably also has hepatitis and syphilis.

 

[vinny4130]

I want to try this fork I really do, and I think this last review is closer to to the truth than others, but I don’t know if I can get over the expense. I’m sure it’s harder to make and all, but it can’t cost that much to make. The thing is marketed toward shredders but they aren’t the ones able to buy it. The whole time I was watching wwc review I couldn’t help but want to put the Message on a Trail Pistol (sounds perfect). But it goes against what GG is saying in the vital podcast, bikes are expensive enough. People got to make money for there undoubtedly hard work but 2700$ ouch. What do we know, it might not have as much profit margin as we would all assume.

 

[Katz]

...People got to make money for there undoubtedly hard work but 2700$ ouch. What do we know, it might not have as much profit margin as we would all assume.

Wonder if the similarity of pricing between Enve and Trust is a coincidence? Not complaining, folks at Trust can charge whatever they think their creation is worth. I'm just making a casual observation.

JKW was installing one of these forks on his ibis in the Youtube vid he uploaded a couple days ago. Looking forward to his review.