E-scooter Suspension Types

C-Type Suspension vs Fork Type Suspension

With so many scooters these days being C-Type suspension, one would think that C-Type is the superior suspension type.

But this is simply not true, C-Type Suspension actually suffers from a few issues.

The biggest issue actually stems from the overall design, because c-type suspension puts enormous pressure on the swing arm, what a lot of people may not know is that these kinds of scooters can have issues with swing arm breaking. The swing arm may not break quickly, however over time metal fatigue can set in and cause the swing arm to snap as can be seen in this video here.

This video alone is one of the main reasons Voltrium will never entertain the use of c-type of suspension scooters and as you can see it can be life-threatening if the swing arms was to break. However we will point out that this scooter was recalled over this issue.

Another issue relates to the geometry of the scooter, because of how the swing arm is setup there is limited amount of positive trail that can be achieved with the design. (If you would like to know more about trail and geometry of a scooter and why its important, you can read more here)

This Lack of “Positive Trail” is what causes speed wobbles on electric scooters. This means a lot of scooters handle like a shopping trolley at high speed. Which is why alot of scooters result to lazy engineering like steering dampeners. Not only do they look like massive turrets on the front of your scooter, but they are a Band-Aid solution to a design flaw. In fact its such a big issue that some companies now include them with the scooter as it can be almost unusable without them.

PU C-type Suspension

On some scooters we are also seeing the use of PU C-type suspension. PU simply stands for “polyurethane”, which is basically a soft plastic, and like all good plastic parts they wear out relatively quickly and need to be replaced. Due to the design of PU cartridges, they are under alot of pressure and can only really be replaced by a scooter shop with the correct tools, they are however quite compact and this tends to be the reason scooter companies use them. However for anything larger than say a small commuter scooter they shouldn’t really be used, because plastic simply isn’t a good material for high impact, high load applications.

So why is Fork Suspension better?

Fork suspension is a try and tested setup, its used on nearly every two-wheeled vehicle, like bikes, motorcycles, and even on scooters up until very recently, although some scooters like ours and others still use fork type. Fork Type suspension is stronger, easier to work on and provides better performance and geometry options than C-Type

Strength

The setup of fork type suspension makes it very strong and sturdy, (Assuming parts are made correctly), they will not suffer from metal fatigue at critical points like seen on the c type suspension. They are also more capable of taking abuse, when off-roading or moving between footpath and curbs. This is because load is shared over a wider area on two forks vs c-type suspension that comes to a point where load is exerted where the swing arm and suspension meet. You’ll never see a fork type suspension scooter crack along any of the fork parts.

Performance & Geometry

Fork type suspension has more space to work with and therefore you can design the steering system in a way that allows the scooter to have more natural positive trail, which adds weight to the steering and give its confidence when riding at high speeds. Fork type also generally comes in the form of the superior coil type suspension, which depending on the type and load rating can make a scooter much more comfortable allowing for adjustability depending on your weight and use of the scooter. On the Pro Plus and Rogue Dual Motor Max you even have the option to change the rebound damping (which is the rate at which the suspension can extend and return to its normal position)