Fork Comparison

[Squirrel Girl]

Anyone have any comments on the comparison between these two 26" forks??

Fox F80x and a Reba

The F80x seems beyond my price range for the bike I want to put it on. I want a decent fork, but it's for the travel bike I want to build, and I won't be riding it all that much, so I'm thinking something cheaper.

[jvanbrecht]

I'll sell you my SX Trail.. plenty of travel :)

[Squirrel Girl]

I'll sell you my SX Trail.. plenty of travel :)80 mm, Baby. No more. No less.

[allencb]

I know it's not on your list, but why put real money into a fork that isn't going to get used a lot?

Bikesmart.com has the 2004 Skareb for $125. I bought that fork last summer when it was $150. It's been a good one for me and you can't beat that price.

Chris

[skillet999]

I have had a F100x for 3 years on my dualie, just picked-up an F80x (used) for my SS. These forks rock. My buddy has a Reba and a Fox - he loves his Reba as well. You cannot go wrong with either choice but both (especially the Fox) are pretty pricey for a 2nd bike. Either way, you cannot go wrong with either.

[wrench177]

SG,

I can't comment on the Fox forks but they have a great reputation. I can, however, comment on the Reba's. I've been running one for a little over a year and it has been a great fork for me. Also, I ABUSE this fork. It has a LOT of miles on it, has taken everything the Shed and Gambrill can toss at it and even has a race or two under its belt. I couldn't be happier.

My 2 cents.

T

[Buddylee]

Anyone have any comments on the comparison between these two 26" forks??

Fox F80x and a Reba

The F80x seems beyond my price range for the bike I want to put it on. I want a decent fork, but it's for the travel bike I want to build, and I won't be riding it all that much, so I'm thinking something cheaper.

You can buy me a Fox100x if you want, then i can give you one of the cheaper forks i have laying around for your second bike?

Sounds like a good deal to me. ;)

[Squirrel Girl]

You guys!!!!!!

I have a really crappy Pilot 80 mm shock on my NRS. But I can say one thing for it, it takes abuse and lack of maintenance. I think once in 5 years I, for the heck of it, had the seals replaced. Unlike my super-duper expensive Talas RLC that had the seals leak in 9 mos.

Since my travel bike would, on occasion be used as a road bike, I like the fact that I can lock out the Reba. And since that's the fork all the 29ers seem to be using, and I don't hear too many (any) complaints, it sounds good.

Chris's Skareb suggestion is good, but I don't think it locks out, and it might be more trouble than it's worth for non-mechanical me who's probably gonna have the framemaker build the bike build everything but the fork, just because I can get one item cheap on line. I thought about buying all the components piecemeal, but I got other things to do with my life. I'd rather spend an extra hundred or so and have them give me a package deal. I already asked Dirt and he thought their price was reasonable.

If I weren't trying to buy some scuba tanks, a light (which are a lot more expensive than biking lights) and a sidemount harness I could just throw my disposable income about and BUY, BUY, BUY!

Of course, then I'd buy that 29" SS I want, too. :rolleyes:

Do any of you folks know any sugar daddies out there????? :D :eek:

[DaveG]

And since that's the fork all the 29ers seem to be using, and I don't hear too many (any) complaints, it sounds good.

There aren't many options for 29er forks, and the Reba is one of the cheapest, so that's why you see a ton of them on 29er bikes.

That being said I'd get a Reba over any Fox. Lighter, better feel, better seals and a lot cheaper.

Dave

[Squirrel Girl]

There aren't many options for 29er forks, and the Reba is one of the cheapest, so that's why you see a ton of them on 29er bikes.

That being said I'd get a Reba over any Fox. Lighter, better feel, better seals and a lot cheaper.

Dave
Yeah, I kinda had the impression there weren't many choices for 29ers. But still, if it were a sucky fork, you'd hear a lot of grumbling, I'd think. And now that 29ers have been popular for a few years, there's started to be enough time for some competition to spring up if they were *really* sucky.

But I'm getting a lot of good recommendations for the Reba.

My goal for the travel bike is to have a bike that when I ride it I'm happy. So that I'm not riding a trail in AZ or UT and wish I were riding a "real" bike. The bike doesn't have to be "perfect" because no such thing exists. But it has to be something that I don't wish were "real" if you see what I mean. But at this point, I've pretty much given up having it be a dual purpose bike, in terms of it being a primary at home bike. It'll be dual purpose trail/road for travel, but only for travel. And road only in the sense, if I go for work and can't get to any trails, better to have my travel bike along for an hour on the pavement before going to work than no exercise at all kinda riding.

[eloach]

I have a Reba Team (85-115 uTurn) w/ Poplock on my Trance. No problems and I love the poplock.

I have a Fox Talas on the Reign, no problems there either.

The Fox F??x series has a reputation for leaky seals, but that's just the post up on assorted WWW sites and from MBA magazine. Jay at TBL mentioned it as well. Given that you don't want to deal with leaky seals and the Reba can be had cheaper (it goes on mark down, that F??x never does), I'd go with the Reba.

One other fork you might consider if you are spending that kind of money is the Marzzochi (sp?) Corsa. I am thinking of using that on my XC rig. Light, stong and smooth is the word on it (has a "lock out" mode as well). Of course, the price is up there with the Fox F??x models.

You might want to consider a rigid carbon fiber fork while your thinking about it. Very light, very fast, yet still a bit of flex. I have seen a couple that would be great if your were not doing Gambrill type stuff.

[allencb]

Chris's Skareb suggestion is good, but I don't think it locks out

Nope, no lock out.

Chris

[allencb]

You might want to consider a rigid carbon fiber fork while your thinking about it. Very light, very fast, yet still a bit of flex. I have seen a couple that would be great if your were not doing Gambrill type stuff.

Not a bad suggestion. My Skareb may very well be my last suspension fork. I'm tired of maintenance, I don't do very long rides in very rough terrain, and I don't mind riding a bit slower.

Chris

[DKEG]

That being said I'd get a Reba over any Fox. Lighter, better feel, better seals and a lot cheaper.

Dave
I agree on cheaper, seals. Lighter I will take your word on that. But the Fox has a better more plush feel then the Reba. The big difference is on smaller bumps. The Fox also feels more stable IMHO.

As for Manitou, Fox and Rock Shox are on another level right now.

[DaveG]

I agree on cheaper, seals. Lighter I will take your word on that. But the Fox has a better more plush feel then the Reba. The big difference is on smaller bumps. The Fox also feels more stable IMHO.

As for Manitou, Fox and Rock Shox are on another level right now.


My air Reba was def. smoother/plusher than my Vanilla, and my Pike is way nicer than Jason's Vanilla.


My Reba (or I should say your Reba :)) was way better than either of the Fox Vanilla's I had, and those were supposed to be uber plush.

Just sayin.

[eloach]

My Reba is not as plush as my Talas, but the Talas is a lot longer travel fork and I have it setup to be squishy so I can bash over waterbars going up hill. With the Reba I am looking for control and predictability in the 80 to 100 mm range, and it certainly provides that. I run it way, way tighter than the Talas.

I absolutely LOVE the uTurn feature. I can run 80 on the smooth and easy stuff and cut it loose to 115 when I get to a rocky or rooty steep decent. Unfortunately, I don't think they have that feature on the Reba anymore. At least I have not seen it advertised. It's held up well so far, so I am not sure why they are not still making it. With the poplock and uTurn on the same fork you get a lot of versitality.

[tuba_transport]

Anyone have any comments on the comparison between these two 26" forks??

Fox F80x and a Reba

The F80x seems beyond my price range for the bike I want to put it on. I want a decent fork, but it's for the travel bike I want to build, and I won't be riding it all that much, so I'm thinking something cheaper.

I've got an F80x on my hardtail. If I were to do it again I would have saved the money and gotten the non-X variety. While it is a great shock, it is not that $$$$$ great $$$$$, IMO. I bought mine 2 years ago or so.

[jabberwocky]

Just get the Reba, Babs. The new Rockshox stuff is great, and any difference between the Fox and Rockshox will be minimal. Put the money you saved towards upgrading something else on the bike.

Oh, and when you get the fork, remember to turn the lockout off before you go riding. ;)

[jayem]

I have been riding an 06 F80RLT. It is the best. Lockout blowoff, and all else. I preferred the RLT to the X series a lower price with virtually the same performance. I also have a Revelation 85-130 which made me become a RockShox believer again.

Both have high points and most things are similar, except price, get the Reba...

[soreback]

the shortest amount of travel on the 2007 rebas is 85, dont know about previous years...

http://www.sram.com/en/rockshox/crosscountry/reba/

80 mm, Baby. No more. No less.

[middle-ring]

Ok, please explain this one to me...why do we want less travel. For me - its about more travel. 160 mm minimum. Fly over rock gardens, scoot through creeks, lunge up hills, launch off everything - what's the problem? MORE TRAVEL !! Don't listen to your legs, listen to your butt and back and punish the legs for whining!

...just a thought...

[Squirrel Girl]

the shortest amount of travel on the 2007 rebas is 85, dont know about previous years...

http://www.sram.com/en/rockshox/crosscountry/reba/Yes, the framemaker explained that the new industry standard for forks has gone to 85 mm, but their tech representative thinks it will someday return to 80.

This particular frame is designed for an 80 mm fork. So I would not try and put a 100 mm fork on it. But for godsakes. 5 frickin millimeters??? Big whoop-d-doo. *I* will not notice a change in the geometry of the bike because of 5 lousy millimeters in the fork.

Like Jab noted. *I* am the sort of person who might accidently lock out my fork and not notice that for, uh, weeks..... :rolleyes:

Who was it, ridethewomble (or tubatransport?) who said, 'You have the world's most expensive rigid fork'. OK, well, *now* I might pay more attention after having been that stupid once before. I actually do pay attention a little more now. Nothing like experience to be my best teacher.
:rolleyes:

[drevil]

the shortest amount of travel on the 2007 rebas is 85, dont know about previous years...

http://www.sram.com/en/rockshox/crosscountry/reba/You could put in more travel reducing spacers. I did because I want minimal monkey motion.

[rnym]

Last week, I leaned my 1997ish Gary Fisher Hoo Koo e Koo in the roof rack and snapped a tip off the Rock Shox Indy XC. I've been considering replacing the fork, but I didn't realize how expensive they were. I've located a replacement set of legs for it (http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=9444), but am wondering if there are other options I should look at.

I spoke to someone that night (maybe you're reading this?) with an extra Judy, but didn't get his name.

Should I just replace the legs, or is it time to replace the fork? I haven't ridden too much, and I ride pretty casually, but it _has_ been 10 years.

Rick


I've got an F80x on my hardtail. If I were to do it again I would have saved the money and gotten the non-X variety. While it is a great shock, it is not that $$$$$ great $$$$$, IMO. I bought mine 2 years ago or so.

[mscard]

I've been riding the Fox X series forks for about 3 years now and currently have 2 (a 100X for the FS and an 80X for the hardtail). In terms of performance, I couldn't be happier. The fork tracks very well and the Terralogic just makes sense. When it's properly serviced I don't even notice it going from locked to open and vice versa. The SPV valve on the Manitou Skareb I also have does not even come close to comparing in terms of performance for XC race-style riding (I haven't raced on it, but on high speed training rides it was not as nice).

The down side is it requires more maintence than any other fork I've owned. The stock seals do leak like crazy, but if you replace them with Enduro Seals you can solve that problem (and its relatively easy to do yourself). Also after a few years the Terralogic valve will start to go soft and you'll notice the transition from on to off and vice versa much more. I'm getting ready to send my 3 year old 100X out to be serviced for this reason and it really could have used it in the middle of last year.

[philvw]

Last week, I leaned my 1997ish Gary Fisher Hoo Koo e Koo in the roof rack and snapped a tip off the Rock Shox Indy XC. Rick

If youre riding a 10 yo RS Indy, get ride of it fast! That fork wasnt much when it was new. The Judy would be a small step improvement, but is still an elastomer fork, and being old the elastomers are probably getting pretty hard and deteriorated by now. I think I have one or two in my junk pile destined for the dump soon. There are TONS of forks out there that would be a vast improvement over the Indy, I think someone mentioned on this thread a Manitou scareb, etc, etc. You can find all sorts of deals online of last years forks at fire sale prices.

[allencb]

If youre riding a 10 yo RS Indy, get ride of it fast! That fork wasnt much when it was new. The Judy would be a small step improvement, but is still an elastomer fork, and being old the elastomers are probably getting pretty hard and deteriorated by now. I think I have one or two in my junk pile destined for the dump soon. There are TONS of forks out there that would be a vast improvement over the Indy, I think someone mentioned on this thread a Manitou scareb, etc, etc. You can find all sorts of deals online of last years forks at fire sale prices.

I was the one he was talking to that night. The Judy is one of the air sprung models. I rebuilt it last summer and the elastomers are not hard. The Skareb would be a better fork for the long term, but the Judy has at least another season or two left in it.

Chris

[mscard]

The SPV valve on the Manitou Skareb I also have does not even come close to comparing in terms of performance for XC race-style riding (I haven't raced on it, but on high speed training rides it was not as nice).

A slight edit after tinkering with the settings on my Skareb this weekend. If I crank up the air pressure in the SPV valve pretty high it comes close to the Terralogic valve. The SPV valve bobs out of the saddle, but is pretty close in the saddle.

I guess the question is which to you value more - absolute rigidity until you hit a bump out of the saddle or greater adjustability.