While I was at Sea Otter, Formula showed me early prototype’s of a new fork and wheelset. They are now much further along with the designs, and they have continued with the development, and they had their latest beta specimens on display. The Thirty3 fork is a cross country fork (80/100/115mm travel), that uses 33mm 7000 series aluminum stanchions (hence the name), QR or 15mm axle, straight or tapered steerer, that comes in black or white. The air sprung fork, has a closed cartridge damping unit, with compression and rebound damping adjustment and has a lock out. A future model will most likely have 150mm of travel. Prices, weight and availability are not known.
The Volo wheels are pretty trick, and use 26″ or 29″ Scandium rims, forged and anodized hub bodies, 24 spokes in a 2 cross pattern, with front QR or 15mm, and QR or X-12 for the rear axles.
The 4 pawl free-hub, uses an external bearing technology, which puts the cartridge bearing as outward as possible, for durability and load distribution. Weight hovers at a light 1417 grams. They also have a version that uses a carbon tubular rim. Prices and availability are not known.
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Really.. another fork manufacturer?
Don’t get me wrong, I love my Forumla brakes. Can’t hardly ride w/o them. But getting to the suspension biz seems a little weird for Forumla. We already have 6 or so suspension manufacturers in mountian biking, and frankly, when the product works, they all do a pretty darn good job of doing what they do. Why do we need another, what is this Thirty3 going to offer that other forks don’t?
Yes, the fork and wheel market is crowded and highly saturated. They make great brakes, and I would have thought they should stick with what they do best?
@adam: Agreed. We already kinda have that situation, this won’t help at all.
Will the fork be 650b compatible? In other words, will it fit a wheel with a 700mm radius?
I will check with Formula, but I would assume that it is made specifically for a 26er?
Unfortunately capitalism prescribes constant growth and since they’ve pretty much did what the can on the brake market they will need to branch out to keep growing.