New bike - with suspension and disks! ....

Steve Kish

... nothing special, unless you're an ol' tester, dabbling in MTB and have never had one with suspension or disks before:-



Any opinions? I know it's kinda entry level but if it's absolute junk, please let me down easily!! :roll: Now fitted with SPuDs and Panaracer Cinders.

nicklouse

Steve nothing wrong with it, but just dont expect much from the fork.

Steve Kish

Thanks, Niclouse. I know that the Zokky MZ Comp is about £20 on eBay but as a first from rigid forks, I may upgrade if I'm flush.

I don't do jumps on it - too heavy at 15 stone! :oops:

Torres

Fire mountains are perfectly fine bikes, used to have one. Fork would be first upgrade....if you have them planned.
But just have fun on it first!

llamafarmer

Looks perfectly decent to me mate!

I do hate bar-ends though!

Steve Kish

Cheers folks. Glad it's not a duffo!
Thought I had a bargain at £250, which included one of these:-

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Light-Motion-Solo ... 18Q2el1247

... and one of these:-

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Smart-Superflash- ... dZViewItem

:P

supersonic

Fork is pretty bad. Actually that is a compliment, it is feckinh atrocious. Tops out, over sprung for most, no damping. Junk that and you'll have a good bike.

Steve Kish

Actually that is a compliment, it is feckinh atrocious

Well, so much for the subtle approach!

OK, let's move it along - what would you all recommend as an upgrade? Something that would work well but not make it look like a 'nice forks - shame about the bike' situation. Used item would be fine.

I'm 15 stone, 6ft and don't do downhill or jumps.

TIA

CFS

As an upgrade RS Tora. I got one for my Trek 4300, on offer, for about £90 new from Chain Reaction, the lbs fitted it for £15 which I thought was a bargain.

However, your current fork may be OK for your riding for the moment. I replaced an RST Gila which is generally thought of as crap, however it was not as bad as people say. The worst thing was the diving under braking, it was certainly better than a Dart 2. It did reach its limits on the last descent at Cwm Crn though!

supersonic

Tora would be a great replacement if you plan to take it over rougher ground. The MZ can be a real handful.

Steve Kish

Yeah, just riding for fun. Will be mostly cross country across a few logs, bumps, holes etc. with some small non-jump drop-offs.

I'll keep my eyes open for some Toras and ask your opinion on other stuff that I may find.

Cheers again.

nicklouse

the only down side to the Tora is the weight.

Recons with the optional alloy steerer nice.

Steve Kish

Expert helpers, how would this be in comparison to Toras?

http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtop ... t=12609899

joshtp

i'v recently upgraded to a mz supercomp 08 120mm. i'v been Realy impessed! great action, smooth well controled, and easy to set up for your weight. Its a bit heavy, but otherwise, defo recomend. Alos you can get them preety cheap, mine was only £95
The pro's should be awsome! go for them!

Steve Kish

Just bought these; hope they're better than my MZ Comp ones:-

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... :IT&ih=011

Assurances of a 'good buy, for a suspension virgin such as I would be welcomed.
Gets a good write-up and 4.71 / 5.00 on MTBR. One bloke says it takes 6ft drops, so 6 inch drops with my 15 stone should be OK ....?

http://www.mtbr.com/cat/older-categorie ... 39crx.aspx

nicklouse

the are not any better they are the same as your MZ but older. (OK they are a bit better as they have damping but it does depend on what year).

Now if you had got MX,s they would have been OK.

Steve Kish

Bit disappointed that you said that, TBH. I did compare these with my MZ Comp before bidding against this MTBR review at 2.9 / 5.00:-

http://www.mtbr.com/cat/older-categorie ... 39crx.aspx

MX Comp comes over at 4.59 against the EXR at 4.71 - am I placing too much emphasis on MTBR reviews. :?:

FWIW, I won't be doing any jumps on these - ever! Just need a reliable and reasonably good fork for hardtail fun with some mates.

nicklouse

yep you trusted the revies just a tad too much.

the MZ which you have is the most basic. the EXR is from years before and was at the same level but was a bit better. the MX is a very good fork for its time and set the benchmark (with the MXC) that RS have now achieved X years later.

Yes the EXR will be better but ...... I would not have bothered.

Steve Kish

So, should I sell the EXR on and look for an MX or (in theory, of course) will it be OK for non-jump off-road stuff? I'd probably be happy with just being able to ride it to whatever level it performs as long as it didn't fall apart. :oops:

Specialized27

Hi All,
Erm ..... As an upgrade I recomend a good set of deraillers, my current ones are terrible and the chain can come of in steep hill climbs when i change gear when they come under stress. Alternitevly, if the disc brakes are problematic or not very effective, for around £60 you can pick up a pair of Avid BB5's, great disc brakes.
BTW does anyone know where to pick up a cheap pair of Avid BB5's, either 08 or 09, no preference. Looking for a cheap new pair.

Thanks

Steve Kish

... still trying to figure out how this fits in with this thread about front suspension .... :? :?:

Kiblams

Specialized27 wrote:

BTW does anyone know where to pick up a cheap pair of Avid BB5's, either 08 or 09, no preference. Looking for a cheap new pair.

Got mine for £41 for the front brake from my local bike shop, CRC has them up for £43. Might be worth a trip to your LBS