Product Spotlight: Speedline Carbon Fork

The Speedline Carbon Race Fork is the ultimate blend of performance and durability. It’s also the lightest offering on the market. And honestly, you’ve probably heard all of this before. But today, we’ll provide evidence and explanation for why these forks are in a league of their own.

We’ll go deep into the construction of the fork, while also highlighting each of the materials used during production. Those who ride it know it’s the real deal, but now it’s time to explain how and why these forks are the crème de la crème! 

It all starts with quality ingredients 

The material used to produce the Speedline Carbon Fork is what makes it stand out against the competition. We all know that the secret to cooking great food, is having great ingredients! Regardless of how skillful the chef is, the quality of ingredients has the largest impact on the final product. 

I may be getting a tad side track here, but we used that same logic when designing the Speedline Race Fork.

We’ve said it before, but not all carbon is created equal; with each grade possessing different properties making them ideal for various task. We made sure to not only choose the highest quality ingredients, but also the best ingredients for the job. It’s all done with the goal of producing a quality Race Fork, highly specialized for the modern BMX Race Track! 

The Race Fork Recipe

Our raw Carbon material is sourced from Toray and we use their material for every Carbon Fiber Supercross product. Whenever purchasing this material, we have a laundry list of options. Some materials are more expensive than others, but they also produce a higher quality product. However, it isn’t as simple as choosing the most expensive material and calling it good. With Carbon, it’s about choosing the right material for each job!

Every Supercross BLK and Speedline Carbon fork is constructed from Torray’s T700s, High Modulous, Nano Carbon Composite Material…

Sounds fancy right?

Now, what does all this complex engineering terminology really mean? 

Understanding Modulous

As mentioned before, Carbon Fiber comes in various forms and quality ratings. For our premier line of Carbon Race forks, we use a High Modulous grade of Carbon Fiber. 

Modulous refers to the stiffness of the fibers within the Carbon weave. So a High Modulous sheet of carbon fiber contains stiffer strands than those of a Standard or Intermediate Modulous. To keep it simple, the higher the modulus rating, the stiffer that component becomes. The Lower the Modulous, the more bend and flex that piece has. 

Torray also produces an Ultra-High Modulous grade of Carbon Fiber, which is the stiffest of all. However, we choose not to use that material within our race forks.

*Ultra-High Modulous is featured within our latest Carbon Chassis, The VISION F1! Click here to read about our latest offering.* 

We choose High Modulous Carbon to produce a fork that’s stiff in the corners, but still has some compliance (give) to withstand big impacts and crashes. If we used the Ultra-High  Modulous for our forks, we’d have something that’s extremely stiff. However, it would be more likely to snap under heavy impact because the Fibers are so stiff and incapable of bending.

There’s a delicate balance to Carbon Fiber components that many don’t realize. You want the parts to be stiff, but making them too stiff leads to brittle components. Remember the concept of choosing only the best ingredients? This is where that idea really comes into play! You want the highest quality, but you also want the best for the specific job. 

Nano Alloy Resin?

Along with the High Modulous Carbon Material, the forks also feature a NANOALLOY resin to improve durability and increase safety measures. When the NANOALLOY resin is infused into the fork, it slightly alters the properties of the Carbon Fiber. 

Remember how we choose High Modulous to allow the fork a bit more compliance? NANOALLOY resin allows for even more High-Impact compliance without any loss in overall stiffness.

Thanks to the resin, high speed impacts that could snap any fork, will actually cause our fork to bend, instead of snap!

A fork without NANOALLOY resin would shatter into a million pieces upon impact. This is not only unsafe for the rider but also bystanders of the event as shards of carbon would be hurled towards them, possibly resulting in injury.

This special resin causes the Carbon to act more like plastic whenever struck at high-speeds. The forks feature a flexible deformation, meaning it will bend before it shatters.

Check out the two images below for a more visual representation of NANOALLOY. 

By adding NANOALLOY resin to our products, we’re able to choose higher grade modulous to increase stiffness while the resin provides enough compliance for proper safety during unexpected events.  

Ideally, the goal is to never put your forks in a situation where they may fail. However, we understand that sometimes things do happen! NANOALLOY resin applies an extra layer of safety in the event that things do go wrong. Instead of a sudden snap and you hitting the ground, the forks will bend, in most cases allowing you to ride away from the incident! 

Selecting the Right Combination

As for the actual Carbon material, we use Toray T700s grade material. Again, this isn’t the stiffest material Toray produces, but we’ve selected this material for performance reasons. We want the fork to be stiff but not too stiff that it snaps under impact. By selecting T700s we get a good mix of stiffness and compliance to keep the front end feeling smooth but also stable. 

One-Piece Construction

We also looked into different methods of construction for our forks. Traditionally, companies will use multi-piece construction to save money and keep production simple. Multi-piece construction is where two or more pieces are bonded together to produce a singular carbon fiber component.

Refer to image above to see the differences in construction.

For the Speedline fork, we choose Monocoque, or one-piece construction. Monocoque construction is the most efficient and premium method for producing carbon fiber componentry. The forks are produced within a single mold meaning there are no welds, joints, or bonding areas within the fork. The absence of bonding areas saves weight and produces a fork with no weak points. Bonding areas are typically the first to fail under heavy impact. By going with a monocoque fork, we minimize weight to just 16oz (for the pro fork) and ensure the fork is structurally sound! 

All The Other Goodies

Then of course, the specs! These will vary depending on the size fork you are purchasing. Instead of laying them all out one by one, I’ve linked the product page to each fork size down below. Click on your desired fork size and the specs will be located in the product description! 

JUNIOR AND JUNIOR CRUISER RACE FORK - 3/8" DROPOUTS

PRO AND PRO CRUISER RACE FORK - 3/8" DROPOUTS

PRO AND PRO CRUISER RACE FORK - 20MM DROPOUTS

TAPERED FULL CARBON FIBER 20MM BMX PRO FORK - 20MM DROPOUTS

What You Get!

At Supercross, we’re committed to providing you the very best. But we also strive to back up these claims through producing articles that bring you evidence, like the very one you’re reading right now. This fork is a perfect example of how we go above and beyond on every project to make sure your Supercross bike is ready for whatever you throw at it.

We started from the ground-up, refining every detail to ensure we had the perfect  blend of durability and performance with this fork. All of this adds up to provide you with the lightest Pro Carbon Fork on the market. And now after reading this BLOG, you understand what makes this fork truly the best!

Who is this for? Anyone that’s looking for a reliable fork that can last multiple seasons while also keeping weight to a minimum! 

Click here to get shopping for your next Carbon Fork.

Stay tuned as we’ll be releasing a Youtube version of this product spotlight very soon!

- Written By, Jonnie Vance