When you think about buying a new fork there are usually only 4 brands you consider, Marzocchi, Rockshox, Fox and Manitou (there are others Pace, Rond etc), but now there’s another name to add to your list of possible fork candidates, Kowa.
Kowa are a Japanese suspension company based in Osaka. Their products have been mostly triple crown downhill forks, but with the decreasing popularity of DH in Japan, Kowa have decided to enter the long travel single crown arena,
The 160ss comes in two forms, a coil version with travel fixed at 160mm and an air version, which as well as being lighter also offers a cool adjustable travel feature. The adjustable travel is operated in a way similar to Marzocchi’s ETA lockout, i.e you turn a lever push the forks down to your desired height/stroke length and then twist the lever again to hold them at the position you choose. The process is said to be very simple and quick to perform with less fiddling around compared to a U turn type solution.
Other feature are adjustable rebound, cast magnesium lowers, hard anodized stanchions and a surprisingly low weight of only 2.3kg (5 pounds) thats about half a pound lighter than a Marzocchi 66, which is what most riders will compare them to.
Overall they look like a very competative alternative to the norm and something which will make you and your bike stand out from the crowd.
Keep posted for more Kowa news and a future review.
You can visit the Kowa website by clicking the link in the sidebar.
