Rockshoc Tora 318 - two sales, two prices?

xtreem

I say go for these, not as light as the Reba or as heavy as the Tora.
And don't worry about how much they will last.
If you're not falling very often and hard then will last for ages,
and as long as they absorb the impacts as they are designed.

Rock Shox Recon 351 U-Turn Coil 2010
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Mode ... elID=40912
Out of stock curently, but they will arrive soon.
No bosses, and a handy U-turn.

Fitting fork is very easy, remove old, remove the crown race and fit on the new fork
using a hammer and a screwdriver. If you damage the crown race, don't worry it's very
cheap and you can buy it from the lbs. You're gonna need a new star nut from your lbs
too. Sorry but I haven't instaled a star nut before so I can't tell you how to do that.

MarkDon

Thanks for the advice, especially the fork fitting bit, doesnt sound as hard as i'd imagined.

The U Turn, is this to allow adjustment of travel?

The one thing i'm not looking forward to is cutting the tube, i always get worried about cutting things after i cut something too short once, i normally measure stuff 10 times before i cut these days

These ones dont mention the poploc, is it a good thing they dont have it? it seems sone people like it, while others remove it.

Thanks.

Mark.

Torres

Do you have a bike shop localy to you? Might be worth them fitting and cutting it for you. Most charge about 20 pounds to do it, but this is cheaper than buying all the tools you'd need to do it yourself

MarkDon

Yeh, theres one around the corner, i will have a walk along & see what they say later. I always feel bad buying stuff one place, then taking it somewhere else to get fitted.

captainfly

MarkDon wrote:

Yeh, theres one around the corner, i will have a walk along & see what they say later. I always feel bad buying stuff one place, then taking it somewhere else to get fitted.

Don't do any business is better than no business.

MarkDon

Is that not the same thing, but i know what you mean 8)

prowbiker

Hi,
I`ve just bought the £135 Toras from wiggle. Got them yesterday, still awaiting a star nut fitting tool from crc - £12 not bad.

They look great in white, it has 85-130 travel and the poploc handlebar thing.

Now then, heres some answers - best thing to cut your steerer tube is an adjustable pipe cutter - like plumbers use - it makes a great straight cut and is cheap. Also treat yourself to a star nut fitting tool - cheap as chips.

Compression/lockout - this fork will lock out the fork remotely via cable to handlebar system. There is no other real compression....on Toras if you need a softer/firmer set up you simply replace the spring. Mine is fitted with a medium spring ( i think ) from early tests...Springs are cheap - fitting them by your LBS may be up to £30-40... :shock:

The weight difference between air and coil on this level of forks and to a novice/intermediate is negligable - you wont really notice it.

IMO - get the £135 toras from wiggle - as long as you want white ! 8)

supersonic

Depending on year and travel, the difference in a coil 318 and air 318 can be 0.7 lbs, certainly not neglible.

Nom adjust poploc is a bugger in my eyes at it severly limits compression adjustment, though it can be remedied.

The Recon Race is not worth £275 when you can get the better Reba for the same or less. Dual air is nearly as simple.

So to sumamrise:

If not bothered about weight, and want a good value, sturdy frok then get the TORA 318 UTURN.

If want to save some weight, and a cheap air fork, then TORA 318 SOLO AIR.

If have the money, and want a light, adjustable fork but not for big jumps, then REBA SL or RACE.

MarkDon

Excellent summary, thanks very much

from those choices, i'm going for either the Reba SL ro Race, the only thing seperating them, from my unknowing eye, is the race are a bit lighter?

They both have the external lock from what i can see?

I'm building up quite a basket on crc now, might aswell add a pair of wheels to lighten it down a touch more, hows this look...

Shimano deore Hubs
Mavic XC717 disc rims 32hole
DT Swiss Competition DB 2mm-1.8mm spokes
velox cloth rim tape
DT Swiss Brass Pro-Lock Nipples

I didnt bother choosing a cassette as i have the deore one, and aslong as swapping over isnt a problem, i think this should be ok? or should i look at a different one?

Anyway, the above comes to £148 for the pair, which is pretty cool i think?

Only thing is, i wouldnt have minded a white or red rim, but they all seem to be much heavier than the 717's, so kinda defeats the object.

supersonic

Does sound like you are going for a more XC type of build, so the fork and wheels are good choices. The race and sl differences are insignificant.

The wheels are a tad overpriced though, I'd expect them to be cheaper or have XT hubs for that money.

Torres

Looks like a pretty decent wheelset really.
Depending on the rest of the kit going on the build, and your budet; it might be worth upgrading the hubs.
Nothing wrong with deore, dependable, but maybe a touch heavy (and not that bling )

supersonic

Yeah, £150 a bit much for Deore really.

MarkDon

But the £30 extra for the race should help shave a few grams off the bike, along with some light wheels, it should all help.

One thing about the Race's, it says PM Cut Steerer, all the rest are post mount (i guess thats the pm bit), is the "cut steerer" bit just the fact you need to cut it, as i thought that was standard on all forks?

The same wheel build, but with XT hubs comes to £178

supersonic

There is about 11g difference in the Reba SL and Race for 2009, and the 2010 weigh exactly the same. The only difference is that on the SL you need an allen key to adjust the lockout blow off force, no big deal.

The £30 extra is better spent in the hubs tham on the race over the SL, by a long way.

Merlin are cheaper for the wheels.

MarkDon

Yeh, i would be going for the 09 versions, seeing as they are a bit cheaper.

SL's it is.

Don't suppose you know of any sub 500g rims that come in red, or black & red?

MarkDon

1 Shimano XT Disc Hub Front M756
32h Black 6-Bolt
2 Mavic XC717 Disc Rim
32h Black 26inch
3 Velox Rim Tape Cloth
17mm
4 Mavic XC717 Disc Rim
32h Black 26inch
5 DT Swiss Spokes Competition Stainless DB
Black 2mm-1.8mm
6 DT Swiss Nipple Upgrade Brass Pro-lock
Black Set Pair of Wheels(DH/FR/XC)
7 SRAM PG980 Cassette 9sp
11-32
8 DT Swiss Spokes Competition Stainless DB
Black 2mm-1.8mm
9 Shimano XT Disc Hub Rear M756
32h Black 6-Bolt
10 Velox Rim Tape Cloth
17mm

£228 - overpriced? they work out pretty darn light, i added the SRAM PG980 because its only 275g, over the 358g of the deore.

Front hub is 243 over the old 245
Rear Hub is 430 over the old 448
rims are 395 each over the old 467 each
spokes are 190g over the old 448 (per wheel, i think? seems alot, but spec says 14g x 32)

So thats 164g lost, before the spokes are added, as i'm still not sure that's right? 14g per spoke vs 5.9g per spoke, thats 516g lost for the 64 spokes?

Which would be a saving of 680g, then the extra 83 from the cassette, total 763g, thats a cost of 30p per gram to loose.

Also, if i stick with my diet, and i get down from 13.5st to my aim which is 12st, thats even more weight saving

Couple the above with the lighter forks, seatpost, seat clamp, bars, stem, seat, it should be quite a saving.

The only problem now is, i've got a basket thats worth more than the original bike, which is pretty bad.

Hmm.

supersonic

Very overpriced - use the now 2 generation old XT hubs, which weigh a ton. Saying that, the new ones are Centrelock (disc fitting) only.

The 14g spokes are GAUGE, not weight lol. You will save about 100g in total with Comp spokes over 14g plain guage spokes.

MarkDon

Ahhh, i thought something wasnt right!

So the newer xt hubs are even lighter than 243g?

Prefer to get the best i can afford now, rather than getting a slight upgrade, then another again down the line.

So with the correct weight for the spokes, thats a saving of 247g, so thats nearly 93p per gram! Ouch!

Northwind

That'd be about £185 from Merlin using the same parts other than the hubs, which would be newer and lighterr. Plus £34 for the cassette, which I assume you included in the other price, so cheaper and better. (you could spend the saving on upgrading to an XT cassette if you like, £40, 256g and very good)

I've got a very similiar wheelset btw, though I went with Merlin's ACI db spokes, which saves £8 an end... On SS's recommendation, though I think Nicklouse would recommend the DTs. It's nice, not massively light really but light enough and tough enough.

Northwind

But, before you do all that... Weigh your inner tubes! I saved something like 250 grams by replacing 2 cheap tubes with 2 Schwalbe XXlight tubes... £12, that cost. They're not quite as tough as standard tubes so not for the downhillers but gave me no issues while I used them.

I always reckon, if you're serious about losing weight, weigh every single part first- you can find randomly huge weight savings sometimes. I get the feeling you're charging into this a bit, it'd be worth just taking a step back I think and mulling over the wheels a bit more. Exactly how much do the current ones weigh?

supersonic

Yeah, the newer hubs are lighter and better sealed - the latest generation Xy 775 are 170g and 340g. You would need centrlock adaptors though.

Torres

Hmm...what about a pair of Mavic Crossrides?
I know you're not a fan Sonic, but plenty of people rate them (including myself.) aybe not as light as a custom built set, but they won't set you back as much.

supersonic

I don't dislike them, for the money they are pretty light, but many people change to them from perfectly good wheels. The standard blast wheels are decent.

Torres

Ah right, sorry, didn't realise these were upgrades, thought it was a custom build.

spencerhalil

I was pleased to see this post as I am asking myself all of the same questions and dont have the answers - plus a few new ones! I cant afford a new bike this year (wife got a kitchen instead) so I am looking to add a bit more travel to the front of my 2008 Gary Fisher Hoo Koo E Koo. It has quite a steep head angle and my thinking is this will slacken the head a bit and let me take a few more lumps and bumps and at the same time spice it up. I started out riding the local bridel ways and Bracknell forest but we get to Afan a lot now - tough on a 100mm hardtail. Does this sound sensible? On the question of the Tora 318 U Turn - I currently have 100mm 2008 Recon SL Coils that have had a beating - TF Tuning will service them for £79 but that makes £135 for the Tora's look a good deal - and I get that extra travel. Alternatively is their a lighter - perhaps airsprung fork out there at a similar price with 120 - 130mm travel? Any thoughts?

MarkDon

Yeh its an upgrade for my 09 Blast Deluxe, but after seeing how much its going to cost to get a considerable decrease in weight, i'm going to leave the wheelset for a bit, and work out exactly what i want & save up a bit.

Still going to get the other bits though, good base i think, will look into lightweight wheelset, chain set, shifters, brakes and so on.

Thanks for all the advice in here, excellent help