Colin Furze's Magnet-Only Bike Suspension Works on Small Bumps, Fails on Big Ones

British inventor Colin Furze built a bicycle suspension system using opposing neodymium magnets — each rated at 500 kg — to replace traditional springs and dampers entirely. The repelling magnetic fields absorb small bumps smoothly, returning energy much like a conventional coil spring would. However, without a hydraulic damper to dissipate energy as heat, any significant bump causes uncontrolled, repeated bouncing, effectively turning the bike into a pogo stick. This happens because magnetic fields cannot bleed off kinetic energy through friction or fluid resistance the way a damper does. Engineers have noted that adding a separate damping mechanism alongside the magnets could make such a system viable, as rare-earth magnet springs are already used in industrial vibration isolation when paired with dampers.