The Alius brand seems to have been lurking around in the background of the BMX race scene for quite some time now. We’ve been exposed to it through the BSX charity event we run each year, thanks to Alius and their Australian distributor A-Team distro who have generously donated a lot of product over the past few years.

Alius is rider owned & operated – from design to sales and shipping – by AA Pro Derek Sipkoi. We asked Derek to describe Alius and this is what he said “Alius is a BMX brand set for a fair price to relate to all riders.”

Long story short A-Team lined up some 20″ forks with 20mm drop outs for review. I thought you guys would be getting a little sick of hearing me describe the product and break it down. I paired the fork up with a front wheel that I have that’s got a Profile 20mm hub and Alienation Stay Strong/Skylark rim and asked Speedline/Supercross team Vet Pro Glenn Main to check them out for me.

This is what Glenn had to say:

“I have never run 20mm forks before, but I do run cromo Supercross SLT forks at present. I was planing on putting some 20mm forks on a new bike I will be building soon. So when bmxultra.com asked if I would like to do a review on the Alius 20mm cromo forks, I thought let’s give them a try. Oh but I need a front wheel? All good they hooked me up with one off their fleet of test bikes.

When I was handed the forks, the first thing I noticed was the Alius logo in the bottom of the fork leg and thought that looks pretty cool. After getting home and pulling the front end off my bike the assembly began. One thing I did notice was the lock cap for the steer tube was threaded in two parts and I thought why? Then looked in the steer tube and saw that there was no lock nut inside and the wall of the steer tube was threaded.

The forks felt lighter than my old forks so would they feel as strong? After riding with these forks for a couple of weeks. I haven’t noticed any big difference in how the bike feels or handles. Except on the gate the front end seems a little bit stiffer. The major thing I like about 20mm forks, is when I remove the front wheel to fit the bike in my car, there is no worries about putting the front wheel in straight.”

Features

• Laser cut 20mm dropouts.
• Tapered fork legs with butted lower tubing.
• Alius signature “A” logo laser etched into bottom of fork tube
• CNC steerer tube with a built in headset race.
• Built in threaded starnut & screw in top cap.
• Available in black, or white powder coat finish. 3/8″ dropout model available in Chrome finish.
• 29 ounces/910 grams
• 180mm steerer tube length

Gallery

A key feature of the Alius forks and pretty much the whole Alius product range is the lower price tag, which will make them very popular.

Rating 19.5/20

Comments

• No matter how you look at it $120 is awesome for a set of cromo 20mm forks
• 29 ounces/910 grams is a great weight for cromo forks, especially for their price!
• 20mm is said to be stiffer, although it’s not something that we can measure it certainly feels super stiff, there’s no flex on the gate at all meaning you can focus on getting your snap on
• Only available in a matt black or white, the logo cut out at the bottom of the fork is a nice finish. If there is one thing I’d pick on it’s the welds, they aren’t bad (especially for the price), but could be cleaner.

Alius products are distributed in Australia by A-Team Distro. For more information about Alius check out www.aliusisalpha.com.

Reviewed by Shane Jenkins/Glenn Main 28 March 2014