[HRDTLBRO]

I don't know about you dudes, and about all this talk, but the only thing on the front of my bike is a good, cheap ho'.

 

[binary visions]

Not that this is a debate, but is that really a response? Of course the origin of a word has a very large part in defining its usage. If etymology didn't play a part, then words would mean whatever we wanted them to, and as such, there would be no standard, and communication itself would be very difficult. This website is based in the US, and I think it right to delineate the fact that here in the US, we call them forks, or if talking about one, a fork. That's not to say that Canadians, United Kingdomers and all others aren't welcome, just so say that we shouldn't change the way we say things in order for someone else to understand (and no, that doesn't refer to alternate explanations, but solely to word definitions).

No, the origin of a word defines its original usage, and doesn't mean that a word can't evolve.

You did, in fact, call people ill-informed, as well as lesser-educated:

<snip>there are ill-informed people that still call them forks<snip>
as the lesser-educated ones still refer to them as forks<snip>

...and the point here is not changing what you say to fit other people. Nobody is asking you to start referring to them as forks. The point is simply that there is no reason to stomp around claiming that your way of saying it is correct - if the original poster wanted a definitive answer on what was the correct way of saying it, he's sadly misinformed. My guess is he just wanted to know who said fork and who said forks.

 

[caboverpete]

The pluralisation probably came from the term 'pulling down your pants' which in just about any instance would imply pulling down both your underwear and your outer pant.

That has to be the most asinine thing ive ever heard.

 

[klunky]

are these forks?

 

[narlus]

i saw this today; very appropriate for this thread:

 

[OGRipper]

I want to start one about "I could care less" v. "I couldn't care less."

 

[Megan Black]

i gotta real question about my front forks. i heard somewhere that what most people refer to as a double crown forks are, in fact, technically triple crown forx, because there are in fact, 3 sets of stanchions and conversely, the widely known "single-crown" forques are really double-crown fork because they have 2 sets. is this true?

and if so, do i call triple crown forxs just a fork or forks?

thanks

neaky:

 

[OGRipper]

Megan, someone is confused.

The crowns are the parts where the two fork tubes (stancions) and the steer tube are attached.

Most dh forks have two crowns (one above and one below the headset, or "upper" and "lower"), two fork tubes (stancions), and one steer tube.

They used to be (and are sometimes still) called "triple CLAMP" forks because the crowns clamp in three places: two stancions and one steer tube. I don't think there is any such thing as a triple crown fork, unless it's a moto thing. Whoever is saying "triple crown" probably means "triple clamp."

Single crown forks only have...one crown, right below the headset.

Either way (SC or DC) there are still only two stancions.

As for fork v. forks, it's up to you and I don't think it matters whether it's a DC or SC fork. Or, ah, forks.

 

[YETI187]

it's a suspension mechanism :eviltongu

 

[shootr]

Beware of some Canadians too, as the lesser-educated ones still refer to them as forks in the singular.

Yes, we oft make this mistake, as we are used to only operating Dogsleds, and as such have no real understanding of the Mountain bike terminology.
Perhaps you could provide us with it's lexicon.

 

[shootr]

Megan, someone is confused.

The crowns are the parts where the two fork tubes (stancions) and the steer tube are attached.

Most dh forks have two crowns (one above and one below the headset, or "upper" and "lower"), two fork tubes (stancions), and one steer tube.

They used to be (and are sometimes still) called "triple CLAMP" forks because the crowns clamp in three places: two stancions and one steer tube. I don't think there is any such thing as a triple crown fork, unless it's a moto thing. Whoever is saying "triple crown" probably means "triple clamp."

Single crown forks only have...one crown, right below the headset.

Either way (SC or DC) there are still only two stancions.

As for fork v. forks, it's up to you and I don't think it matters whether it's a DC or SC fork. Or, ah, forks.

Correct about the Triple CLAMP.
of note, very very often people make this confusion, The Stanchion is ALWAYS the upper part of a telescoping fork which firmly attaches to the crown, the lower part is ALWAYS "the slider", this does NOT change when refering to inverted fork designs, the lower tubes are the SLIDERS not the Stanchion as most people incorrectly label them.

 

[BigEBiker]

i think we should be worrying about much more important issues involving our words, like starting some sort of petition to get "funner" into the dictionary.
i'm serious, it needs to happen.

 

[ChrisRobin]

hehehe...I love useless threads like this....

Whatever, it's just the way Europeans or whoever will refer to suspension forks. As far as Canadians using that term, that makes me cringe! But they're usually burnout kids on the west coast asking $800 for a 1999 Monster T (no offence to the cdn west coast peeps here!)