Which Forks?

mr_eddy

I have just purchased a new Cube LTD Pro which is excellent. The forks are a little short on travel though for the type of riding I do (agressive cross country / singletrack).

The bike currently has 100mm Rock Shox Tora Solo Air with the PopLoc. I am after a decen 130mm + single crown fork. I have a max budget of around £300 - £350.

Consideration so far are:

Fox Vanilla 32 R - 140mm
Marzocchi ATA 2 55 2008 - 120-160mm
Rock Shox Pike 426 U turn - 140mm

They are all within budget but not sure what to go with. I need something that can handle my weight (13 stone 4 pounds - 195lbs) and can take a bit of punishment.

Any Thoughts?

Cheers

Northwind

That's a nice bike but will the frame handle the longer fork? It places more strain on the headstock...

It'll also **** with the geometry, some people will say "Don't do it" for this reason, but I've found with my Scandal that though it was designed for 100mm it rides best at 120 or so, and is still perfectly happy at 130mm- seat tube ends up a wee bit too slack but the steering's fine. But that's just one frame, there's no guarantee you'll end up with a good result at all, even assuming the frame doesn't snap in half.

In short... You have a 100mm bike. It's not as simple as just firing in long forks. it might turn out to be a gigantic waste of money to do so, and could damage your bike. It might work out OK of course but do you want to count on that?

mr_eddy

Yeah I see your point. At the moment though I am hitting the max 4" regularly with the Tora's. What do you reckon to a fork set at say 120mm or a specific 120mm fork?

I am just after a little more give only a few mm's. The next cube up shares the same frame and comes with 120mm forks.

Would you say that would be a good comprimise of frame geometry and travel?

Andy B

Hate to say it, but I think you have bought the wrong bike.

The LTD Pro is a pure XC bike, verging on a race bike, it will not like 120+mm forks & will handle like shite & possibly damage the frame, as well as voiding your warranty.

If the Tora's are air forks, add more air, if they're coil forks you need to upgrade the spring

mr_eddy

Yeah I am starting to think that. Great for light trails and truely epic speeds on the flat downhills but not quite up to the tricky stuff. I may just stick with the standard fork. I was looking at a second FS bike anyway soon.

Probably something along the lines of the Specialised Ptich Pro with 5" Pikes up front

. I can still use the Cube for XC, it is also excellent as a daily commute (considering I live in the sticks)

Probably gonna give teh fork upgrade a miss considering the possible complications.

Cheers for the advice.

Northwind

I looked up the bike last night, and if the numbers I saw quoted in the review were right it's fairly slack for a 10mm XC bike. But they didn't look very convincing tbh. If you want to stick with that bike, then a better 100mm fork might help things- I had a Tora 130mm SL on my old bike and it was great but it did blow through travel sometimes, to get it soft enough for average riding it was too soft for big hits, and vice versa. A fork with more sophisticated damping could help get the most out of the travel you have.

100mm isn't a lot by current standards but that's just because of inflation, it used to be long travel seen on dh racers I like a long fork and slack angles because I'm basically, completely incompetent but 100mm doesn't have to relegate the bike to soft XC as some would tell you these days.

blablablacksheep

maybe change the damerping or rebound ajust on it?


the fork might be a little to "open" and moving more than it should, this might cuase it to fully reach its max, maybe tighten it and then you have a "stiffer" ride?

i got a tora 302 sl coil and i finding it fine, personally on my rockhopper 08 and i recently took it down some stairs about 1 foot drops per stair and was fine:)


maybe descripe the exact terrian you on.

supersonic

Try dropping the sag by 5 percentage points.

Which solo air version is it, 318 or 302?