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Suspension Forks


Tom Booth

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I'm building abit of a singletrack/XC/do it all bike at the minute, in the guise of an on one 456. I have 90% of the parts sorted/on order the main part I'm lagging is a good set of forks to suit.

Preferably around the 140-160mm travel mark, Im after something that can stand upto abit of a battering on some singletrack sorta stuff, but will comfortably get me to work an back in the summer too, I've read really good things about Rockshox Pikes, but I would prefer something with QR instead of 20mm bolt up, I don't know if there is any sort of adapters to convert? The only thing that came up when I googled it is converters for wheel truing stands.

I have no idea if it makes any difference but I'm 16st. I'd like to spend around 200-300 if possible but if anybody has spotted anything in the second hand market then shout up!

Cheers..

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The 20mm-QR adaptors thing works for 20mm hubs, specific ones like the hope and atomlab ones, that turns a 20mm hub into a QR hub, so it wouldn't let you just use pikes with a QR hub.

If you've got a hope pro II hub on the front though, I think they can be equipped with the 20mm axle, so if yours is currently QR you might find you could turn it into 20mm.

Pikes are a really good choice, remote lockout compatibility is nice, but don't go jumping with it on, it'll break, like my recon one did.

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Firstly! single track as in drops berms and what not? or single track as in light cross country use? hope pro2 sounds like what you want, can convert from a 20mm to a qr quickly i beleive, we all know and love hope! im running rock shox domains £500 i bought them for £170 brand new of ebay, in the box.. these forks come up with 115mm to 160mm and with a suitable rebound (:S) this allows you to let the forks sitffen up to let ride on say country roads whenre you'll commonly come across potholes and what not..

personally i wouldnt stear away from rockshox or fox forks, top in the market.. yeah ok they have a price to follow but they are totally worth the money :)

hope this helps!

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I've got a set of Sr Suntour forks, they are 120mm travel positive and negative air chamber in the non drive leg and lock out on the driveside leg with rebound adjuster in the lower leg. I know they not Rock shox but they seem pretty good, lock out works well and the travel is adequate for singletrack.

The forks are also 15mm bolt through with a quick release on a pro2 hub.

Edited by Nick Manning
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150mm Rock Shox Sektor RL, Coil U-Turn, 110-150. Will take a lot of stick, easy to service. Either QR, 15mm or 20mm bolt through.
That, or 2nd hand Pikes.

If you want a pair of 2008 Fox Float RL forks with QR I will possibly be getting rid of mine soon and upgrading to Sektors. The Floats are awesome forks but I want a 20mm Axle to stiffen up the front of my bike...

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Lol, you know they use the same internals right?

They dont, anymore, actually. Fox's will outlast any post 08 Zocchi, trufact. but i'd buy neither personally :P Rockshox seem pretty good at the moment

oooh par'd!!

go on reviews dont just go with a name!

This is going off reviews, from my personal experience and other forums (Pinkbike, aka idiot central)

Edited by dirt jumper jake
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I've been quite impressed with my Pikes, would recommend them or buy some more. I think RS have made Revelations 150mm now so they're probably worth a look. Anything heavier than that (Domain / Totem / Lyrik) is a bit overkill on an XC bike. Depends how much you want to spend - for the money, some pre-07 Marzocchi Z1FR or similar would be awesome (£150 ish). They're simple, buttery smooth and aren't really complicated enough to break. BUT they are very heavy for an XC fork. The quality control went a bit shit for 08 but it's supposed to be a bit better these days, though the prices have gone waaaay up recently. I wouldn't discount Fox straight away - they make probably the nicest-feeling forks out there. They can be a bit high maintenance, but servicing isn't too hard by all accounts. I've seen some amazing deals recently on CRC and on-one, keep your eyes peeled. A brand new set of £600 Fox floats for £300 is likely to be better than anything you'd get from RockShox for that sort of money.

Like this: http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=49298

It's almost worth buying a 1.5 headtube frame for...

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Who cares what freeride means. I wouldn't use them on (what most people would call) a freeride bike - I.e. 7" travel park bike.

P.S. Get a proper bolt through front wheel. It really is so much better.

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CLS has it. Sektors are the new pike/revelations so they're great. U turn is awesome, coil is plush and these days not too heavy. Go for 20mm if you can because it'll be much stiffer, not a pain in the arse either because maxles are like a qr lever. I've got lyriks on my hucker which might be too much, theyre 115 to 160mm travel with a compression adjuster which almost locks out but it'll blow through. I wouldn't have remote lock out, because it sucks! Suntour forks make Marzocchi forks anyway so if you really want budget maybe suntour but they won't be very technical.

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Thanks for the advice all, the only reason I fancy sticking with the QR is because I have a Hope XC spare, just fancied putting it back to use and saving myself a few pennies.

I know they haven't been mentioned, but anybody ever used any Manitou Shermans? Theres a set for sale locally which didn't seem a bad price an reading the reviews they seem a good fork. 160mm travel but I don't think they are overly tunable.

Theres a few sets of Pikes on the bay thou, which I just keep finding myself going back to.... Tic, anymore Info on the fox forks? I'll PM you :)

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If you do get Pikes you want to be looking at the 454's which have a lighter steerer and crown, you can get them in either dual air or coil uturn (uturn is an external system to easily adjust the travel although to be honest you will probably set the travel and leave it).

A 20mm front axle will be noticeably stiffer than a QR however it is not possible to convert your Hope XC hub to 20mm so you would need to purchase a Pro2 or similar and sort out a wheel build.

Tom, I have replied to your PM :)

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Thanks for the advice all, the only reason I fancy sticking with the QR is because I have a Hope XC spare, just fancied putting it back to use and saving myself a few pennies.

I know they haven't been mentioned, but anybody ever used any Manitou Shermans? Theres a set for sale locally which didn't seem a bad price an reading the reviews they seem a good fork. 160mm travel but I don't think they are overly tunable.

Theres a few sets of Pikes on the bay thou, which I just keep finding myself going back to.... Tic, anymore Info on the fox forks? I'll PM you :)

My old shermans were great to me! Not ran a big range of sus mind you.

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Are you sure that frame will take 160mm forks? It seems like an awful lot on a hardtail...

To answer your question, a friend of mine had some Shermans. They felt OK, no major problems with them. But they are a big fork.

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