Identification and Modeling of a Mountain Bike Front Suspension Subsystem Equipped with a Telescopic Fork and Tire Damping

A key component in the mountain bike industry is the telescopic front suspension, which offers the advantage of improved performance when traversing obstacles and rough terrain and during high impact landings. Over the last three decades these suspensions have become more widely adopted and more complex in design. Despite their popularity, there has been limited reported literature focused on the behavior of the telescopic front suspension as a dynamic subsystem in models commonly used in both the motorcycle and automotive industries, e.g., half moto and quarter car models. This paper presents a system identification and modeling approach that promises a deeper understanding of the dynamic behavior of vehicles with telescopic front suspensions.