Iceland: Lauf Forks
As we started the last leg of our Iceland tour met Bergur from Lauf on a fat bike. He was riding through downtown Reykjavik on his way to work and I said, “Hello.”
Just up the street from the intersection where we met is Lauf’s offices and Bergur is in charge of production.
Lauf is an Iceland company that’s developed a leaf-spring suspension fork. I haven’t ridden it yet, but contributor Nathan Wright has and shared his impressions with me
Lauf reimagined short travel suspension. They did away with the complex compression, damping and rebound of a telescoping fork and created a new method of controlled suspension that focuses on keeping the wheel in contact with the ground and maintaining traction.
It is not for trail riding or big hits, but it fills a niche where a suspension fork is a burden due to its weight, but traction and control are required for maximum performance. Delivering this in a lightweight, well-engineered design adds to its wow, look at that factor.
In other words, the Lauf adds just enough travel to take the edge off and for us roadies into gravel now, there are Open U.Ps and 3T Exploros out there with a Grit attached.
Bergur handed me his business card and I’ll follow up with more questions. I’d like to know more about the development timeline.
The inventor of the fork worked at Ossur, an Icelandic company that develops prosthetics; most famously, the Cheetah Extreme running blades.
