The front fork is a "Spinner 300". I have tried researching this fork (still trying). The manufacture website does not detail much on the makeup of the shock. I have emailed them asking questions, but still have not received any response.
I took a poke around the web for the name and model, and what I see in images there look (externally) in general just like the cheaper RST and Suntour forks (they're probably made the same way in the same place, wherever that is), and those are made more or less as essentially "pogo sticks" with little or no damping, usually just springs in each leg with (usually) elastomer blocks at the bottoms for "stops", and have plastic bushings between the lowers and tubes to slide on in just one place (where the lowers tube expands a bit at the top, just below the brake arch)--that's why they "rock" back and forth during hubmotor operation and can bind and not operate as suspension very well under motor torque. But some of the links go to air-suspension forks, and those can be pretty decent if designed right.
While I've never seen a fork for a wheel as small as those on these trikes that isn't of the pogostick design, it's not impossible that these are better than that. (I would hope so for the price) Does the manual for the trike itself cover suspension adjustments? (if it's not adjustable suspension, it is likely of the pogo stick variety, the adjustable ones are often air or air/oil or all oil).
My first suspension fork ever was a very cheap RST something that came on a cheap commuter bicycle a couple of decades ago, and at the time I thought it was far better than not having one, but have since found other ways that work out better. I used a Suntour SR low-end fork on CrazyBike2 (LWB semirecumbent cargo bike) for a while, and it was better than not having a suspension, but not by much. I used a slightly better Suntour XCV with more travel on it after that, and then later on SB Cruiser, until the crown sheared thru in a very very low speed impact (walking speed).
I also had a Manitou Skareb air/oil fork on a regular FS bike (diamondback?), and it was pretty good even with heavy cargo on the front basket / rack that even though it was so well-used when I got it that it had to be aired up every ride...but the dropouts were fragile, and couldn't take the torque of a hubmotor even just sitting upside down slightly engaging the motor, no load. (no torque arms or anything else, so not unexpected, but undesirable). If I were to use it again I'd just remove the dropouts entirely and make a steel tube with thick clamping dropouts built in, and clamp/glue that tube over the fork lowers on each side.
These days on SB Cruiser I am running with zero suspension other than the air in the tires, using a doublecrown fork built from some regular fork clamp crowns and steerer, and a couple of sizes of tubing cut from good cromoly bicycle frames overlapped and clamped into those, with the lowers off some crappy fork slipped over those and tack-welded in place with shims to keep it from moving around. Has worked for a few years now, and I don't really miss the XCV fork suspension, on the ~11-foot-long SB Cruiser heavy-cargo trike. Could still use rear suspension though, for me and the cargo.


Last edited: