Tested

CANE CREEK HELM COIL FORK

£899

SPECIFICATION Weight: 2,400g (29in x 160mm) • Wheel size: 27.5 and 29in • Axle: 15mm x 110mm Boost • Offset: 44mm • Travel: 130-160mm (fixed and internally adjustable) • Contact: extrauk.co.uk

Cane Creek’s air-sprung Helm has been around for a couple of seasons and with this new (heavier) coil version, the US brand is one of the few now offering a coil-sprung fork.

If you’re curious why adding extra weight to a well-honed damper and chassis design is a good idea, the major benefit is best summed up in one word: grip. Pure, stuck-to-the-floor, cornering-speed-boosting grip.

Another bonus is that coil springs reduce moving parts and internal seals, so tend to be simpler and more reliable than air forks. They also do away with mechanical manipulations needed to overcome breakaway friction in sealed air springs, which in turn amplifies off-the-top traction and sensitivity to rarefied levels that air forks struggle to reach.

On the trail, this should allow the Helm to trace every tiny ripple and bump and keep the front tyre stable and glued down, and, sure enough, over everything from wet rocks to small root webs to slippery mud, it delivers supreme grip and comfort.

Linear coil springs also alter a fork’s spring curve, which can be both an advantage and a drawback. Typically, there’s a more supportive mid-stroke, but then less ramp-up deeper in the stroke, and there’s also less ability to tune progression by balancing volume spacers and air pressure. Coils also obviously require swapping metal springs to achieve your correct spring rate, and lack the exact precision and ease of a one-size-fits-all shock pump adjustment. This remains the main reason why they aren’t standard on many complete bikes.

Cane Creek’s Helm chassis (like the air fork) uses 35mm stanchions and