First ride: Cane Creek Invert Gravel suspension fork – Cyclocross Magazine

Cane Creek Invert CS fork. © C.Lee/ Cyclocross Magazine

“Smoother is faster” is a common saying in off-road riding. Faster is not always the desire, but more comfort and more fun are universal desires in our opinion. For this reason, it is popular to equip gravel bikes with suspension in addition to the arms and legs. This comes in the form of simple accessories such as handlebar pads, a suspension stem or a suspension seat post. At the other end of the spectrum, full-suspension bikes are in circulation that are hardly comparable to mountain bikes. This is nothing new, even Johan Musseuw tried one out in Paris-Roubaix a few decades ago.

Suspension stems are light, simple and effective, but the handlebars rotate downward as the stem moves, which is a mild annoyance at best and annoying at worst. Specialized tried to solve this problem with the Future Shock dropper stem. Lauf of Iceland has a very active but undamped Grit Gravel fork, the first suspension fork for gravel bikes. It meets the weight criteria but is unruly to larger, repeated impacts and has a polarizing aesthetic. Fox responded with a short-travel mountain bike fork that evolved into the Fox 32 Taper-Cast.

New, but not the first

Cane Creek introduced the Invert Gravel fork at the 2024 Sea Otter Classic in Monterey, California. As the name suggests, it is an inverted telescopic suspension fork. The most notable feature is its aesthetics. First and foremost, it looks like a beautiful drop bar gravel bike with its smooth carbon fiber fork crown integrated into the aluminum fork legs.

At the Sea Otter Classic, Cane Creek touted the Invert as the “world’s first gravel fork.” I think Lauf deserves that title considering it was released more than 6 years ago. However, Cane Creek entered a more mature gravel bike market and has the advantage of seeing what worked and what didn’t. Their goal was to create suspension that was lightweight, simple, and had good aesthetics.

Cane Creek Invert CS fork with climb switch on top of the fork bridge. © C.Lee/ Cyclocross Magazine

Two models of the Invert fork are available starting at 990 grams for $1100. The 30mm of air-sprung travel can only be adjusted by varying the air pressure. The CS model has a button on top of the left fork crown that Cane Creek calls the “climb switch.” This feature locks the fork’s suspension when activated. The CS model has 40mm of travel, weighs 1130 grams, and costs $1200.

The Invert fork has a tapered carbon steerer and carbon fork crown with an integrated 36 degree crown bearing ring molded in. The fork includes a Cane Creek ZN40 52mm bearing. This is a fairly standard part and hopefully it will fit your frame. The axle to crown distance is suspension appropriate for a bike with 420mm to 435mm axle to crown distance. The fork will easily fit a 50mm tire and is compatible with 650B wheels, although it is designed for a 700C wheel size.

Molded, integrated crown race on the Cane Creek Invert fork. © C.Lee/ Cyclocross Magazine

The lower fork legs are made from solid aluminum and feature a provision for a flat mount caliper for a 160mm rotor and external brake line. The air valve is located on the back of the right post. Cane Creek recommends starting with 95% of rider weight (imperial) plus rider gear. Maximum rider weight plus gear is 250 pounds, 250 psi is the maximum safe air pressure.

Cane Creek Invert fork: machined back of lower stays. The lock rings on the upper stays can be repaired with a standard BB tool for easier maintenance. © C.Lee/ Cyclocross Magazine

The Cane Creek Invert doesn’t have a special motion control system. It’s just a limited 40mm or 30mm travel with wiper seals and two lower stanchions connected by the 12mm thru axle. Cane Creek told me it’s stiff enough and special damping isn’t necessary given the short travel.

Can Creek recommends a 50 hour service interval. The procedure is simple for a hobbyist mechanic who can change a chain, tire or cassette. The service interval consists of an oil change for the 5ml of 15wt fork oil. The two rings on the bottom of the upper fork legs are loosened using a standard BB tool, the oil drained and refilled, then the stanchions are reinstalled and the rings tightened. After 100 hours, Cane Creek recommends removing the air spring for service, a slightly more complicated procedure that can be done at your dealer, although an experienced hobbyist mechanic could also accomplish this.

Can Creek Invert CS fork. This right cap provides access to the air cartridge bolt for the 100 hour service. C.Lee/ Cyclocross Magazine

When the wheel is removed and the thru axle is not installed, each fork post can rotate freely. Cane Creek has avoided complicated designs that would make the posts difficult to move freely and make maintenance difficult.

The ride

We had the opportunity to ride the fork at the Sea Otter Classic. This is certainly not a test ride, but rather an opportunity to see how active the fork is, if the damping is sufficient, how the suspension fork affects steering and handling, and if the lockout is easy to use. I got to test the Invert CS fork on a Santa Cruz Stigmata with a 45mm Maxxis Rambler up front, pumped up to an unconfirmed “around 30 psi.”

The recommended starting pressure for the Cane Creek Invert fork is 95% of the rider’s weight. © C.Lee/ Cyclocross Magazine

Launch pressure was 148 psi, 95% of my 155 pound curb weight. The Laguna Seca Raceway has a lot of varied terrain off paved roads in the area, but I only had the opportunity for a short test drive, so I stayed near the Expo site, which was mostly on hardpack, so I had to find some curbs and other obstacles to test bigger hits. I didn’t even have enough time to go to the off-road demo course for that quick first drive.

First, I’ll say that the fork seems active enough. It moves noticeably with shifting my body weight and during transitions. There wasn’t enough washboard or surface undulation to judge true vibration dampening. Small hops over curbs gave a sense of the progressive rate of the air spring and whether or not the lack of motion control would be problematic. After a hard compression, the fork has no sharp recoil and no wobble is evident. Cornering in parking lots and other maneuvers prove that the inverted design has no immediate quirks. On the Run Grit, for example, if you pushed the bike down hard in a corner, one side would give a little more than the other. This didn’t seem obvious on the Cane Creek Invert.

Cane Creek said the thru axle and short travel showed no issues with uneven stanchion movement in their ride testing. They also blind tested damped and undamped forks and riders couldn’t tell the difference. This led to the removal of the damper to keep the fork simple and lightweight

The lock is easy to use. A simple firm push on the button and the fork locks down. It’s not a 100% lock, not a hard lock, but it’s definitely tight enough to act more like a rigid fork. Twice the climb switch got stuck in a locked position. I was able to get it off after stopping and pushing the button harder. I inquired, and the representatives at the Cane Creek booth had not heard of this experience. I attributed it to a quirk of an early production sample.

Cane Creek Invert CS fork. © C.Lee/ Cyclocross Magazine

We look forward to a long ride and test of the Cane Creek Invert fork when it becomes available later this summer. I think Cane Creek has the right idea with the Invert fork. Smoother is faster, and faster is more fun in many cases.

Cane Creek Invert Gravel suspension fork 990 grams, USD 1100
Cane Creek Invert CS 1130 grams, 1200 USD
Both will be available from the end of June 2024

More info: Canecreek.com