Telescopic fork

A telescopic fork is a form of motorcycle front suspension whose use is so common that it is virtually universal. The telescopic fork uses fork tubes and sliders which contain the springs and dampers.

The main advantages of the telescopic fork are that (i) it is simple in design and relatively cheap to manufacture and assemble; (ii) it is lighter than older designs using external components and linkage systems; and (iii) it has a clean and simple appearance that bikers find attractive. Telescopic forks sometimes have gaiters to protection the fork tubes from abrasion and corrosion.

A more modern (and more expensive) version of the conventional telescopic fork is the inverted or "USD" (upside-down) fork.

BMW's patented telelever front suspension appears at first glance to be conventional telescopic fork, but the fork tubes contain neither springs nor damping. Instead, a wishbone and an inboard monoshock perform suspension duties, and the forks serve to locate the front wheel and control steering.

The first production motorcycles with hydraulically damped telescopic forks were the German BMW R12 and R17 in 1935. However, undamped telescopic forks were used on bikes made by The Scott Motorcycle Company from the beginning of production in 1908, and the Danish Nimbus used them from 1934 on.

Conventional telescopic forks invariably have a pair of fork tubes, or "stanchions", at the top, clamped to a triple tree (also called a triple clamp or a yoke), and the sliders are at the bottom, attached to the front wheel spindle. On some modern sport bikes and most off-road bikes, this system is inverted, with "sliders" (complete with the spring/damper unit) at the top, clamped to the yoke, while the stanchions are at the bottom. This is done (i) to reduce unsprung weight by having the heavier components suspended, and (ii) to improve the strength and rigidity of the assembly by having the strong large-diameter "sliders" clamped in the yokes. The inverted system is referred to as an upside-down fork, or "USD" for short. A disadvantage of this USD design is that the entire reservoir of damping oil is above the slider seal so that, if the slider seal were to leak, the oil could drain out, rendering any damping ineffective.

...
Wikipedia