Pondering a fork upgrade...

[superjonnyboy]

OK so my conversion kit is inbound and I'll be fitting it to a Giant Talon 2.5 that I've had sitting practically unused since buying it new in 2010. The bike looks to be an ideal candidate, hardtail, high cross bar for frame mounted battery, hydraulic disk brakes and I've already converted it to a 1x drivetrain.

The component that I can't help thinking needs upgrading though are the forks. It has SR Suntour XCM 30mm stanchion, 100mm travel coil spring forks. They do their job in as much as reducing bump impact but they're quite rough with little (no) damping. I'm also only using about 50% of the available travel with the preload wound right off so they need a lighter spring ideally, but I feel they'd then sag too much.

Considering the bike is going to be capable of higher speeds, I'm wondering if decent forks with adjustable compression damping along with a larger front rotor would be a good idea. Currently there's a lot of dive when braking even with the little 160mm rotor.

I've upgraded 36mm forks to a 203mm disc before and felt the benefit, but they were high end forks with low speed compression adjustability which allowed for a little tuning out of the brake dive.

I'm limited in choice, mainly by the straight steerer and I'd like to keep the 9mm QR axle so I'm eyeing up Rockshox Rebas.

Has anyone else carried out such an upgrade and felt significant benefits?

 

[Backin5]

I've replaced the suntour forks that came fitted to my BH Neo Xtrem and 29er with Rockshox Rebas, for both bikes. I noticed a huge difference - front end much lighter and more control in corners.

I suppose it depends where you plan to cycle. I notice most benefit when on rough, winding tracks with loose surfaces. Grip and feel is greatly improved, and adjusting the Reba's has helped switching bikes between different rider, as I weight a few kilos more than my Mrs.

Having said that, I picked up a used set of Fox forks for a project bike based on a Cyclomatic, and they seemed nicer than the Rockshox. They weren't top end Fox, and they weren't adjustable, but they seemed to ride better than the Reba's. From memory, the Reba's were in the region of £400 new, and the Fox was about £150 second hand, although it would have been around £500 new.

 

[superjonnyboy]

Hi Backin5,

That's good to know, thanks. I suspected new forks would make a big difference.

In fairness, this is a commuter bike although the canal path does turn single track like at points and theres some very rough broken concrete stretches. There's certainly plenty of loose surface too.

I've had fox forks before and rated them well but I read that recently, fox have "lost the plot" whatever that means and that Rockshox are a better bet. Also the only fox forks I can find to suit are second hand, well used items and I'd rather have new with some warranty support.

There's the slightly cheaper option of Rockshox Gold 30mm forks which don't have low speed compression adjustment, but will undoubtedly perform better than the Suntours with non-existant damping!

 

[superjonnyboy]

Well I just popped out to the garage to fettle with the bike and think I found the reason for the lack of damping. I'd noticed the stanchions were slightly wet previously so assumed the top gland seals were weak but just found oil dripping off the bottom of the right fork. Probably got no oil left in them!

Mind is made up, time for new forks!

 

[soundwave]

on my old bike i broke my sr forks first time going up the forest of dean broke the lock out and felt like they was going to snap in half they moved that much when holding the front brake and rocking them back and forward.

my m8s have had fox forks for years now and dont even bother to service them and still going from 2013

 

[Deleted member 4366]

Rockshox Rebas or Fox Float are both good forks. You can get good used ones on Ebay for £100 to £200. They both work really well and make a massive difference from what you have.

 

[Trevormonty]

Hi Backin5,

That's good to know, thanks. I suspected new forks would make a big difference.

In fairness, this is a commuter bike although the canal path does turn single track like at points and theres some very rough broken concrete stretches. There's certainly plenty of loose surface too.

I've had fox forks before and rated them well but I read that recently, fox have "lost the plot" whatever that means and that Rockshox are a better bet. Also the only fox forks I can find to suit are second hand, well used items and I'd rather have new with some warranty support.

There's the slightly cheaper option of Rockshox Gold 30mm forks which don't have low speed compression adjustment, but will undoubtedly perform better than the Suntours with non-existant damping!

I have Rockshox XC30 silver on hardtail, good for light to moderate MTBing. Not in same league as Fox 34 on eMTB but spares are a lot cheaper. Check out service kit prices.



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