any fork suggestions

[RBBMWM3]

This is my first post in this forum. I would like to thank you for any advise you could give me!! I own a 2000' or so (to be honest, I really don't know what year I bought it, all I know is I bought it brand new and I think I have had it for 5-6 years or so. It is yellow and silver and white if that will help) GT Avalanche that still has the original Rox Shox Judy front shock on it. ( all right, go ahead and drill me now) hahhah. Anyway, I want to upgrade to a new shock. I see so many types and models, I have no idea what to get??? First, my budget is 200$-300$. I don't mind maybe getting a year or two model old if new or used, just if I am upgrading to a better shock. I ride in the Midwest, allot of single track and log jumping. I'm 230lbs, 6'-0". I ride about 2-3 times a week. 5-15 miles at a time. Any suggestions??? Don't I also need a special tool to remove and install the new fork? I'm not really biased to any brand... Thank you for any info!!!! R.B.

[CRAIG2]

The Judy XC was a solid fork, albeit, somewhat heavy. I still have one in my closet. I don't have any recommendations per say, but whatever you decide upon, be sure that the amount of travel is consistent with what you have now. Otherwise, handling will be affected. For a cross country frame, I would recommend something with 80mm of travel, and certainly no more than 100mm. Best of luck! You might want to check out JensonUSA.com (sp?) for options - they offer competitive pricing, and sometimes have some stellar closeout deals. I've heard good things about the Rock Shox Tora, and I've personally had good experience with the Marzocchi products.

Craig

[Brizn]

This is my first post in this forum.... Thank you for any info!!!! R.B.Welcome to the board!! Hm,..in that price range, maybe look at Marzocchi 'MX Comp' series....or a Manitou Minute:1 (or maybe the Minute:2 which is fancier, if you can get a good price). And Rock Shox is making much better stuff now than they were 5 or 6 yrs ago.

Click the following link to check out a fork that I'm selling: in your range and would suit your weight perfectly...

http://www.more-mtb.org/forum/showthread.php?t=4774&highlight=fork+sale

[Natureboi]

I'm sorry that no one has mentioned the Rock Shox Recon Solo Air. 32mm stanchions. light. 100mm of travel. Compression and rebound damping. Lockout.

Even Push cycles says they can't really refine these shocks much, but they are going to try (as well as the Boxxers, Rebas, Pikes and Revelations).

Chain reaction shas em new for 301 for the standard, and 317 for the one with a Poploc/Lockout remote control.

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=8696

i used to ride marzocchi, and loved them, but after seeing the guts inside these new Era of Rock Shox Forks, i would never ride anything else at this moment. I don't even think the Fox forks can come close to the quality and level of crafsmanship in these forks. Not to mention Rock Shox has a two year warranty and excellent customer service group.

Read up on the New Lyric and Totem Pole too. SIck is All i Can saY!!

[redneckp3ngu1n]

The Marzo mx, and the Rockshox tora both seem to be great choices for what you want. I think brizn is selling a nice mx for around 200 bucks.

:edit: I didnt see that the recon is in your range check that out before the tora.

[saxman]

I'm not laughing. I still have a stock Manitou Spyder on my '98 Pulse Comp. Nothing like a good old elastomer and coil spring shock :rollseyes:

I picked up a used Manitou Skareb for my '05 Trek Fuel that I think is the best darn fork I've ever ridden. They come in both 80mm and 100mm travel. It's light and plush. I ended up spending right in your price range.

PS -- Thanks Lee! The Skareb (together with upgrading the wheels and tires) turned my Fuel 70 from a good bike to a great bike.

[Natureboi]

I'm not laughing. I still have a stock Manitou Spyder on my '98 Pulse Comp. Nothing like a good old elastomer and coil spring shock :rollseyes:

I picked up a used Manitou Skareb for my '05 Trek Fuel that I think is the best darn fork I've ever ridden. They come in both 80mm and 100mm travel. It's light and plush. I ended up spending right in your price range.

PS -- Thanks Lee! The Skareb (together with upgrading the wheels and tires) turned my Fuel 70 from a good bike to a great bike.

Sorry i would never recommend a manitou fork for any reason.

they don't last more then one to two years
they require constant work and overhauling.
All the innards have plastic parts in all the wrong places that wear out.
Even their downhill forks are of very low quality.
The only reason you see pros riding on them is because they have brand new spares in their team truck.

A fork that shows sign of wear after less then one month of use is not a fork worth investing any money into. Ever notice the bikes in performance with manitous on them. notice how all the black inner stanchions look worn down and used and there is tons of grease showing on them. The wear is only from test rides. The grease is from the seals. If the seals can't hold the grease in how do you expect them to keep the dirt out? how can you expect them to last longer then a year if they wear out on the showroom floor?

Sorry manitou forks get an "F" in my book.

[Buddylee]

I'm not laughing. I still have a stock Manitou Spyder on my '98 Pulse Comp. Nothing like a good old elastomer and coil spring shock :rollseyes:

I picked up a used Manitou Skareb for my '05 Trek Fuel that I think is the best darn fork I've ever ridden. They come in both 80mm and 100mm travel. It's light and plush. I ended up spending right in your price range.

PS -- Thanks Lee! The Skareb (together with upgrading the wheels and tires) turned my Fuel 70 from a good bike to a great bike.

Awesome! I'm glad you are enjoying the Skareb!

[BikerMiker]

I think that the current 'rad' fork of the day is the rock shox stuff. After years of swearing by Manitou (mid 1990s) then getting turned on to Marzocchi, then Fox, I'm now a Rock Shox guy. I think they are making some amazing product from the $1000 totem forks all the way down. All forks have lockout and almost all seem to have compression or rebound adjustments on them. I've been running a revelation 426 this season and I think it's great.

Manitou has been a little iffy for the past 4 years or so. Not sure what is holding them back (besides the actual product). I'm hoping that they can get away from the platform stuff as it just isn't working well for them.

Punga has gone through three factory rebuilds (maybe four?) and just finally blew that sucker up last week for the last time. He's going rock shox...

I hope this helps. Rock Shox is now owned by SRAM (the NEW big 'S') and they are WONDERFUL about taking care of product and the people who ride on it.

mike

[Buddylee]

Sorry i would never recommend a manitou fork for any reason.

they don't last more then one to two years
they require constant work and overhauling.
All the innards have plastic parts in all the wrong places that wear out.
Even their downhill forks are of very low quality.
The only reason you see pros riding on them is because they have brand new spares in their team truck.

A fork that shows sign of wear after less then one month of use is not a fork worth investing any money into. Ever notice the bikes in performance with manitous on them. notice how all the black inner stanchions look worn down and used and there is tons of grease showing on them. The wear is only from test rides. The grease is from the seals. If the seals can't hold the grease in how do you expect them to keep the dirt out? how can you expect them to last longer then a year if they wear out on the showroom floor?

Sorry manitou forks get an "F" in my book.

wow, I never have had one issue with any Manitou shock not lasting or needing a lot of work. The Skareb performed flawlessly for a full season for me. I never had to do anything but keep it clean, as you should any shock. The only reason I changed is because I prefered the stiffness of the Fox over the Skareb.

[JustinMD]

anyone have an opinion on/ever used a Rock Shox Tora 318 solo air fork?

[macdaid]

Re N-Boi's rant on Manitous;

I'm using the cheapo Axel Comp. I'm no expert mind u, but it's worked great on the 2 bikes I've used it on.

Other's I've used are the really crappy Suntour AR that was stock on my 1st noob-mtb, '02 Giant Rincon, and the RockShock Judy C, which was pretty good too, but pretty old when I got it...

I'll likely upgrade from the axel comp when I start to build up my next bike...

I'd be curious to hear suggestions for a logical next step up from the 'comp.
(190lb, XC rider)

[redneckp3ngu1n]

Sorry i would never recommend a manitou fork for any reason.

they don't last more then one to two years
Not true. I have met a few people using shermans from several years ago and they dont have any problems with them. Manitous are good strong forks. They do have some bad models but what brand doesnt (besides avalanch)
they require constant work and overhauling.
Only the forks that go to racers need to be overhauled alot. That is because they have seals and other mods that will allow the fork to be more plush but also wear out faster and allow more grime to get to the oil. Their forks that are sold in stores are reliable and i have only needed to whipe the stanctions on my sherman down every now and again to keep it running smoothly. I will need to get it overhauled in the next summer though
All the innards have plastic parts in all the wrong places that wear out.
Not all but yes i agee that there are parts that shouldnt be plastic generally you shouldnt have a problem but there are more problems than if they where metal.
Even their downhill forks are of very low quality.
Yea dorados are terrible. They feel great, are light, plush and track well. They definatly suck. The travises arent much better. The intrinsic damping is only cutting edge and it is very stiff. Oh yea and its got a TI spring, thoes suck. :rolleyes:
The only reason you see pros riding on them is because they have brand new spares in their team truck.

Yea same with the marzo teams rockshox teams and fox teams.

[punga]

I think that the current 'rad' fork of the day is the rock shox stuff. After years of swearing by Manitou (mid 1990s) then getting turned on to Marzocchi, then Fox, I'm now a Rock Shox guy. I think they are making some amazing product from the $1000 totem forks all the way down. All forks have lockout and almost all seem to have compression or rebound adjustments on them. I've been running a revelation 426 this season and I think it's great.

Manitou has been a little iffy for the past 4 years or so. Not sure what is holding them back (besides the actual product). I'm hoping that they can get away from the platform stuff as it just isn't working well for them.

Punga has gone through three factory rebuilds (maybe four?) and just finally blew that sucker up last week for the last time. He's going rock shox...

I hope this helps. Rock Shox is now owned by SRAM (the NEW big 'S') and they are WONDERFUL about taking care of product and the people who ride on it.

mike
My Revelation is mounted and waiting for me at the shop. I'll have report when I get back from WV this weekend. I still went with the Rock Shock even the Manitou sent back an 06 Minute 3 instead of the Minute 2 I had. It's a less expensive fork than the Minute, but I took it anyway because I didn't want to deal with sending it back and forth to Mantiou.

I just don't have any confidence in them any more.

punga!

[Natureboi]

I work in a shop, have been for over sixteen years. been overhauling forks since the inception of the quad 10 and mag 20. Also was a suspension specialist tech for a pro team. I've probably been working on suspension forks longer then most of you have been riding.

and all the forks that come in to the shop more then not, for service because of problems, not routine maintenance, are 90% manitou.

"Only the forks that go to racers need to be overhauled alot. That is because they have seals and other mods that will allow the fork to be more plush but also wear out faster and allow more grime to get to the oil. Their forks that are sold in stores are reliable and i have only needed to whipe the stanctions on my sherman down every now and again to keep it running smoothly. I will need to get it overhauled in the next summer though"

i have a reality check for you.
there are no special seals or trick mods on pro circuit forks. the pros don't get special treatment on what you may think they do. You can change oil heights and viscosities, & re-stack the damper washers for valving. The only advantage the pros have over a store bought fork is that they have an actual tech with all the r&d and suspension knowledge of the manufacturer working on their forks. If they're lucky they get to ride the next model years stuff half way through the season for testing.

When i was on the circuit i saw no reason to overhaul a fork after every race if it was functioning properly. most of the forks never needed more then the routine maintenance on the routine shcedule for extreme use. the only forks that required service were the downhillers and dual slalom racers who caseda jump of crashed out.

[Brizn]

..and all the forks that come in to the shop more then not, for service because of problems, not routine maintenance, are 90% manitou.So what's your take on this Nb? Is it design? Craftsmanship?

[punga]

My Rock Shox Revalation 426 (pop-lock version) worked pretty nicely this weekend in the limited ride time I had on it. The Revalation is RS's All-Mountain/whatever fork with 130mm of travel and standard quick release, the key difference between it and the Pike, both having 32mm stantions. It's hung on an 05 S-works Stumpjumper 120, beefed up with bash guard, 7" rotor up front with Avid Juicy 7s and beefy 2.35 tires front and back (F: Weirwolf/ R: Maxxis Minnion DH-R)

WV got a lot more rain than expected and I only got about 10 miles on the fork. My thoughts so far:

- Be sure to read the instructions when setting it up. Even if you don't end up following their pressure recommendations, it's good to know what each does and how each affects the ride and each other. The fork has a lot of different settings: positive and negative air to control spring firmness and small bump compliance; rebound that actually has a noticable affect; and Motion Control with Floodgate control which means it basically has a lock out (via the handle bar lever) and an adjustable threshold of when that lock out is blown off. Take the time to read the manual :rolleyes:

- I set mine up on the plush side of what the recommended for the negative air and right around the recommended for positive air. I started out with a fairly fast rebound, later on the trail, I dialed it slower because it was popo sticking on me. The shop is ordering the pop-lock lever for me (couldn't find it), so I didn't have a chance to test that or the Motion Control stuff. I'll post up later when I get that set up.

- Both rides I did were on very wet and rocky trails, the second one being more technically challenging with wet roots and more rocks. I'm pretty happy with the initial set up, I could feel it soaking up a lot more than my old Minute 2. Didn't get a chance to test out very many big hits but a few 1-2' drops didn't seem to faze it. Feels laterally stiff, although not much increase over the Minute, but a huge difference over the loaner SID Race I had for the previous week, HA! :p

- It makes that cool swoosh sound you hear from Fox forks when it's rebounding. I know that sounds stupid, but it really feels like a quality fork. No cutting corners that I can see externally, metal everywhere and the dial for the rebound, while having no clicks, feels firm. The rebound dial on my Minute always felt kinda rubbery when making adjustments and those adjustments never seemed to amount to much. Not so with the Revalation, you will feel a very big difference between the rabbit and the turtle. Small changes in the dial translate directly to the handlebar when you compress it, no confusion there. Same goes with the negative air pressure, small changes went a long way. Also: I weighed my old Minute 2 and the Revalation at the shop, cut down the Minute weighed just under 3.5 (the shop scale isn't very acurate, but that jives with the stated weight according to Manitou). The Rev weighed just a tick over 3.5, uncut. It's a wash as far as weight is concerned if you're into that kind of thing.

As you can see, I'm pretty happy with fork and don't regret switching from the Manitou. I'll post up more after I get a few rides at the Shed and Gambrill in and get the pop-lock installed.

punga!

[Brizn]

I agree with Pungas reviews on all counts. I recently picked up a set of 06 Reba Races and have fallen in love. They're identical to the Revelations outside of travel (115 vs. 130mm). They're stiff laterally and very, very smooth and plush with absolutely no noticable stiction. They rock on all Frederick's mountain trails.

The degree of adjustability was a little overwhelming at first, but after 6 or 7 rides, I got 'em dialed to perfection. I rode mine for a few wks without the Poploc, too. This gave me some time with pos/neg psi and rebound adjustments...I think I'm at 160pos/170neg-- with neg a little higher than pos, there's a little more action in the fork. Anyway, when I slapped the Poploc on i was in heaven. IMO, it's so much better than the ETA system with Marzocchi. The Poploc 'locks' out compression of the fork, whereas the ETA 'locks' out rebound AFTER the fork is compressed, dropping the front end/steepening the head tube angle....which always felt kinda funny, though it was good for climbing posture. The RS 'lockout' is so much better for out of the saddle stuff. I also have bar mounted compression adjust which adjusts how far back the lock returns. IE, you can run 'em half locked out, giving you a real' solid platform for places like Schaeffer.

What's best is that I got these forks for $200 from Muddy Branch Performance!!!!! Brand new, uncut, never installed. They were 'discounted' bc they didn't have the original box/manual and were missing the Poploc (which i ordered for $43). and of course the RS shock pump came with it. I love these forks.

EDIT: Oh, and I love the ''pfffft'' rebound, too!

[saxman]

...I'm using the cheapo Axel Comp. I'm no expert mind u, but it's worked great on the 2 bikes I've used it on...

I'll likely upgrade from the axel comp when I start to build up my next bike...

I'd be curious to hear suggestions for a logical next step up from the 'comp.
(190lb, XC rider)

I had the Axel Comp on my Trek Fuel 70 before I put the Skareb on. If you like the Axel Comp, you'll love the Skareb.

I can't speak for NB's experience on Manitou's, but I've had good luck with them. Maybe it's because I'm a lighter rider (a few pounds under 150 right now, but I was around 130 - 135 for a long time), I ride fairly light terrain (no harder than Schaeffer) most of the time and I tend to ride light, period (no hucking). My original Manitou Spyder is eight years old and it still works fine. The elastomer/coil spring may be archaic compared to modern forks, but it still does a reasonably good job.

[Natureboi]

So what's your take on this Nb? Is it design? Craftsmanship?

Most of the issues facing Manitou is their design and tolerance characteristics. The bushings are lighter in tolerance the Fox "X" series forks and have issues with very heavy use. Even light riders hve brought in the Skarebs with all the contrls for warranty issues. MOst of the times its related to the seals and o rings that manitou uses. Especially when your dampener quits. Compression dampeners just failing without any part out of place are issues we see all the time on the Blacks and other similar forks. Their air preload system has issues with binding the full stroke of the compression dampers.

If manitou would go back tot he engineering table and set the tolerances better and get rid of the stiction issues then they would be good forks. Their jumper series are dueable esque and have gotten better but simply put, if you ride a Manitou and think they rock then you don't Ride.

I live in colorado. I go through gear like a kid at a candy store. At least a set of tires a month, a few chains, rings and cassettes in the summer, and until recently a fork every 6 months. The local terainand terrain i prefer is rockier then hell and technical like Gambrill, the SHed and E Furnace. I lived in Nova for over 22 years and know the rides out there well. A year and a half ago I had a marzocchi xfly 100, At first i liked it and it reminded me of my old Z2 Bam(most durabel fork ever!!) and then after i started raging around on it at fruita crested butte Durango you name it colorado, i found it not to my liking ( no negative air spring = tons of top out noise) when it needed new seals i overhauled it and sold it on ebay.

I bought a 2005 Doppio Marathon SL after that and within three rides at Steamboat, the fork lost its negative air chamber seal and it felt like the nastiest air fork on the market. It was warrantied, but at the cost of me not snagging a late fall Epic ride on the Mtn View Trail and others, as i had to turn around halfway up Mt. werner. I raced on it for four out of my six summer races at the 2006 Winter Park series, but it never felt like it did out of the box. I was constantly changing the oil, rebuilding the Doppio, bleeding the TST damper. It was easy to do, but too time consuming and bummed me out every time i had to operate. I lost faith in MArzocchi because of this fork.

The Marathon even needed new bushings in less then four months of use, so i overhauled it completely once more and sold it. I bought a rockshox Revelation. I had never ridden a Reba, Pike, or Recon or Revelation. Like i've said i have been working on forks forever. i bought the fork on what i had seen just on the lowliest of maintenaces for the fork.

Its' guts

I love my revelation and look forward to riding my mangers bike when he gets his Lyric. Motion control is amazing so the newer dampers should be even tighter!

I found that when setting up my Revelation that it was best set at the minimum for both air chambers at my weight range. after that it was a matter of fine tuning the gate on my normal rockier then hell training course. Less gate = softer initial stroke, more gate = rougher ride.

Gate also controls the feel of the fork under lockout. The beauty of motion control is it will read forces from above and lockout the movement, but at the same time allow for travel at the preset gate limit for forces from below. The adjustable compression Poplock makes it even better for racing. Also you can change the travel by - A - adding more negative air - or - B - pulling the fork apart and adding a spacer to reduce it to 115mm.

A trick for those that have the Motion Control Dual Air forks: you can take the preset spacers at 15mm and cut them to any desired height and stack most of these forks as low as 30mm lower then their overall travel(call Rockshoc and talk to them for max and min numbers per fork). Custom heights in between will work just fine. This helps to tune the fork for lighter riders or smaller frames.

By a New RockshoxWith Gate like Punga, take the time to trail tune it, and all you'll have to do is check the air pressure and change your oil.

out

[soreback]

i have a 2003 Manitou Black Elite 80/100 that the lockout just stopped working (and i never even use the lockout while riding, i just test it while cleaning up afterwards)

[redneckp3ngu1n]

i have a reality check for you.
there are no special seals or trick mods on pro circuit forks. the pros don't get special treatment on what you may think they do. You can change oil heights and viscosities, & re-stack the damper washers for valving. The only advantage the pros have over a store bought fork is that they have an actual tech with all the r&d and suspension knowledge of the manufacturer working on their forks. If they're lucky they get to ride the next model years stuff half way through the season for testing.


Not true. A while ago in MBA there was an article on a manitou dorado mod that is usually only given to pros but you could buy the supplies for and diy. It was a selection of different seals and oil for a manitou dorado that would have to be overhauled every 7-10 hours of riding. Most people dont have these but alot of the pros did because it increased sensitivity and they have pro mechs there to do all the extra work.

[Natureboi]

Not true. A while ago in MBA there was an article on a manitou dorado mod that is usually only given to pros but you could buy the supplies for and diy. It was a selection of different seals and oil for a manitou dorado that would have to be overhauled every 7-10 hours of riding. Most people dont have these but alot of the pros did because it increased sensitivity and they have pro mechs there to do all the extra work.

you mean Mountain Bike Fiction? I wouldn't believe everything u read in that magazine

once again, even if they did come out w/these pro mods (which i highly doubt because i've ordered rebuild parts and kits for the dorrado at the shop and was never told about any other parts then the standard issue ones to fix the stiction issues racers and pros and customers complained about when bringing in their forks), manitou used lower tolerance seals and bushings that made the fork require even more work, stupid.

They should have corrected the stiction problem, instead of coming up with half ass solutions.

Besides this guy is interested in 300 $, forks not dual crown downhill forks. your comparing apples to oranges.

[redneckp3ngu1n]

you mean Mountain Bike Fiction? I wouldn't believe everything u read in that magazine
It was an article on how to turn your stock fork into a mrd x-works fork. A for only given to pro racers.

Besides this guy is interested in 300 $, forks not dual crown downhill forks. your comparing apples to oranges.
Yea i know but i dont want him to get some unfair bias against a company that he has never used. Manitou makes good forks and he should definatly consider them. Dont rule out a product just because of what someone sais.

[Natureboi]

Dont rule out a product just because of what someone sais.

sorry its not heresay from me but actual fact.

Do You work on bikes every day?
Have You worked on forks since they were introduced into moutnain biking?
Do You have any hard facts besides magazine articles?

Sorry i have:

1- Experience
2- Knowledge
3- Techical knowledge a lot of you are not privy too
4- Expertise in the mtn biking suspension field
5- Was a pro mechanic for a pro team, with downhillers , xc racers and dual slalom guys.

[david]

Search google for "manitou minute". It retails for $600, I picked one up at half price because it was orange. It is simple to adjust. It has no pogo stick action. It is light. It really takes small and large hits smoothly. It is a cross country shock. I am happy happy happy happy hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh ..y after 3 years.
Dave P

[redneckp3ngu1n]

Search google for "manitou minute". It retails for $600, I picked one up at half price because it was orange. It is simple to adjust. It has no pogo stick action. It is light. It really takes small and large hits smoothly. It is a cross country shock. I am happy happy happy happy hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh ..y after 3 years.
Dave P

You can get older models from 05 starting at 250 if you shop around. I have heard they are amazing forks though.

[saxman]

I was riding with a buddy of mine today. He just put a Manitou Axel on his '99 or '00 GF Hoo Koo E Koo. It stopped working today, and it's been on the bike for maybe a month. We couldn't figure the problem. Everything looked intact (no blown seals), but he was essentially riding a rigid-fork bike for the latter part of the ride. As soon as it stopped working, I thought about this thread. I've had good luck with Manitou forks, but I either appear to be in the minority, extremely lucky, or both.

[punga]

I was riding with a buddy of mine today. He just put a Manitou Axel on his '99 or '00 GF Hoo Koo E Koo. It stopped working today, and it's been on the bike for maybe a month. We couldn't figure the problem. Everything looked intact (no blown seals), but he was essentially riding a rigid-fork bike for the latter part of the ride. As soon as it stopped working, I thought about this thread. I've had good luck with Manitou forks, but I either appear to be in the minority, extremely lucky, or both.

Probably too much oil in the fork. Have him take it to a shop, shouldn't be too hard to resolve.

punga!

[Natureboi]

i've been emailed about issues with maitou elite 80/100 convertible forks.

Specifically the lockout not working.

90% of the time if the lockout damper is not working then you have a leak in the lower leg seal.

the other 10% of the time you need a new compression damper unit. You know the part. Its the compression damper top cap that screws off with the part that says "if this fork is not filled properly catastrophic failure will happen"

If the lower leg seal is leaking then the oil can not be chambered and lockout will cease to exsist. one problem though, while the lower leg seals are still available (they are the same as the Blacks), the compression damper unit is no longer available. Perhaps i should say that any 2005 or lower year fork that has issues, will be unfixable after next year. Manitou has stopped making parts to cover the older forks and is only currently looking at producing parts in the coming years to reapair their new forks.

regardless take your fork into a shop if the lockout or any other part does not work properly. playing doctor on a new fork or one you have no idea about, is a bad idea without the schematics, overhaul instructions and torque specs.

I can overhaul forks for you, but you'll have to consider down time as i live in colorado.

lates

[punga]

Got the pop-lock with compression dial installed this week and did 2 rides: Fountainhead on Saturday and the Shed on Sunday.

- First, this fork continues to impress me, especially today up at the Shed. Just point and shoot this fork, it tracks well. Decending through rock gardens that lead into switchbacks or sharp turns is never easy, but I could trust that when I turned the handlebars, the bike was going to follow. The front wheel didn't bounce around, it just went where I pointed.

- I took some time to learn about how the floodgate settings affected the lock out blow off. You can set up the lock out to be pretty stiff or to act more like a stable platform, responding to impacts but not pedaling induced bob. I followed the manual which recommended 2 turns from the stiffest setting. My plan was ride with it locked unless I wanted to go plush for a rocky decent.

- Saturday at Fountainhead, I realized the floodgate was too harsh. I was expecting it to soak up more. Rather than mess with it while leading the ride, I just unlocked it and rode plush all day. All was well for the rest of the ride. There are a couple of 2+ foot drops (if you look for them) that I took and felt nothin' but buttery smooth goodness. :D

- Sunday at the Shed, I had backed off the floodgate another rotation and left the fork locked for a majority of the day, unlocking for only the nastiest stuff. I think I've found my the sweet spot! For anyone who's ridden Salamander away from the stone house toward the overlook, you know that's a nasty rock garden right as you leave the house followed by a rocky decent with switchbacks thrown in for good measure. I did the first half with the lock engaged and had to look back for BikerMiker ;) Unlocked it for the rest of that section and waited even longer for Mike at the bottom :p (I should point that Mike was often found waiting for me at the top the climbs, but I digress). It seems like with these settings, I'll be riding with the pop lock engaged most of the time. The the easy blow off means that the fork will resist my sloppy pedaling but will still eat up most hits. Rock Shox is on to something here.

- Since I'll be riding with lock engaged, I set up the compression dial at it's plushest setting. That dial only affects the compression dampening (another way to resist bob and packing the fork) when it's unlocked. Since I'll only be unlocking for really big or nasty stuff, I want it to be nice and plush. So basically I have 2 forks: a stable platform for 90% of the time and a much plusher setting when I need it.

Any complaints? Only that I need to play round with the positioning of the lever to more ergonomic location (the shop mounted on top of the bar). Otherwise, I stand by my first review. This is a great value for a good fork (I just saw it listed for $410 online, minus the pop lock). If you're looking for a beefy, lightweight fork, look no further. If this fork holds up mechanically, compared to the Manitou, you'll see me on the trail with a big smile.:D

punga!

[BikerMiker]

Silly punga...

Manitou forks have been in a bad way for a few years now. If you have a 'good one' out of the bunch, you are the exception not the rule, kids. Minutes are blowing left, right and center. Don't do it to yourself. Now is the time of the Rock Shox. Best product, best customer (and dealer) service and best working.

I'll have to admit that Shawn did have to wait at the bottom of one descent for me. It was my birthday present to him... The rest of the time, he was giving presents...

Rematch? Hells yes. It's fun to ride with someone you've known for 20 years... Did I just say that?

Plus, we have pretty damn similar bikes. We'll see how it goes at the SM100 next year, right big daddy?!

mike

[soreback]

ok, the synopsis of this thread is most responders feel manitou = bad, and the same responders feel rockshox = good. ok, but most of the forks (non-manitou) that everyone is mentioning are the higer end ones (ie more expensive). what are some of the brand and models (100MM travel for CC) that are the best bang for the buck (ie less expensive?? - im talking like around $250) non-manitou forks, that still have v-brake bosses? so what recommnedations can be made for last year, or previous years closeouts as well.

[BikerMiker]

Less expensive RockShox all have the same features (lockouts, good adjustments) but are just heavier. Check it out. Tora from RockShox.

mike