The SR Suntour GVX is an all-new gravel suspension fork that, priced at just $500, seriously undercuts all of the other commonly-available suspension gravel forks on the market.
Coming hot off the heels of the launch of Cannondale’s full-suspension Topstone, and going head-to-head with the likes of the Fox AX and, to a lesser extent, the Lauf Grit, it’s clear the market and demand for suspension-equipped gravel bikes is growing, and fast.
The air-sprung SR Suntour GVX is based on 32mm alloy stanchions with travel adjustable to 40, 50 or 60mm.
Most forks use a combination of offset at the crown as well as the dropouts to provide the desired overall offset. The GVX goes a slightly different way, losing the offset at the dropouts and using an angled crown to provide between 47 and 45mm of offset depending on the travel of the fork.
This gives the GVX fork a linear non-offset look that goes some way to making it look more like a conventional un-sprung fork. If you squint, it could also almost pass as a mid-nineties RockShox Roubaix/Ruby.
The GVX features a crown-mounted lockout and rebound adjuster. No remote lockout will be available when the fork is available to consumers in August, but one is supposedly in development.
Given a regular lockout could, in theory, be fitted to the clamping area of a regular drop bar, the longer development time-frame could mean a funky drop bar-friendly solution is in the works. Maybe it will take a form similar to the Pro dropper lever that mounts on the hook of the bars?
The gravel suspension fork has clearances for tyres up to 45mm wide with a 700c wheel or 50mm with a 650b wheel. It's designed for flat-mount brake calipers, will work with either 12 or 15mm thru-axles, and even has mounts for mudguards in addition to the included mini fender.
Suntour quotes a weight of 1,725g for the fork, which is considerably heavier than the 1.3kg quoted for the Fox AX, but this fork is also roughly $300 cheaper at $500 (international pricing TBC).
This relatively low price point will no doubt be of most interest to the OEM market, and we wouldn’t be surprised to see this fork specced on a number of gravel bikes in 2021.
