How do you mesaure a mountain bike fork with suspension?

Question

If i want to upgrade my fork on a mountain bike, i would have to know the measure. ometimes i hear 5", or 6", but what is that? is that the whole fork or is that just the part that comes out of the tube. Sometimes its silver metal, coil or covered with rubber with a spring look to it. I mean a fork with suspension, not like a roadbike fork, a freeride mountain bike/dirt jumper fork.

Thanks

Answer 1

5" or 6" is the travel of the fork. That means the distance that the stanchions (the silver tubes) that can move inside the lowers. The longer the travel the plusher it should be. Freeride forks usually go from 6" to 8".

Dirt jumps forks are like 4" or 5", so they're not the same.

Answer 2

It's also measured in "mm" so you will have to convert it to inches. 5 or 6 inches of travel are for Freeride or DH bikes. XC bikes go from 80mm to 130mm. For XC racing you will probably not go more than 100mm