Cheap forks,why bother?

The Spiderman

I`ve been looking at the cheap elastomer/coilspring forks fitted to my kids bikes and am more often seeing forks that aren`t much better on some bikes costing up to 800 or so.

Why is it so hard to make forks that work well on a budget?

Wouldn`t it be cheaper in economies of scale if the likes of Rockshox simplified their line ups and offered fewer forks but at better prices?

If manufacturers can`t make cheap forks work properly why bother? Is it so hard to make something with controlled damping?

Are people really so shallow that they think cheap suspension on bikes make bikes better?

Wouldn`t entry level bikes that had forsaken suspension forks for a better drivetrain and rigid forks be better?

Why do decent forks have to cost cost 200-300 or more these days?

Discuss?

NatoED

I remember when Marzocchi Z5 cost £90 and Z4 flylight were £140 . I miss those days and Judy Race were £200 . My 2002 Z1 wedge cost me £220 now i'd be looking at £400 at least for the same sort of fork

cooldad

On One are selling Recon Silver coils for about £120 and Gold air for less than £200. Good forks, what's your problem?

chedabob

The Spiderman wrote:

Are people really so shallow that they think cheap suspension on bikes make bikes better?

Yes.

If you think something like a Suntour XCR or Epicon is comparable to the forks you get on £100 Asda BSO, you're delusional.

Anonymous

Still find Suntour makes me think of a cheap tacky Costa del Sol holiday.

cooldad

As a cheap and tacky person I take exception to that.

The Northern Monkey

I was very impressed with the Suntour Epicon RLD on my bro's Carrera Fury.

If i'm honest, it was hard to tell the difference between it and the Reba RL on my Boardman.
The only thing the Reba did better was the small bump response as the 1st bit of the travel was plusher.

Problem with suntour is servicing/spares. mainly as i've never tried or looked though lol.

Anonymous

Nothing wrong with cheap and tacky though... as long as there's plenty of beer involved.

supersonic

Are people really so shallow that they think cheap suspension on bikes make bikes better?

Another yes from me. As people used to think more gears did, then disc brakes, and now back to more gears again. A sus fork is taken for granted nowadays, so on entry level bikes (and beyond!) they stick all sorts of crap on the front.

Rockshox have introduced more budgt forks this year, but bizarrely a 30mm stanchioned unit which can only add cost. Suntour rule the roost on this sector, but at least their XCM and XCR are getting better.

We need more entry level bikes with rigid forks, V brakes, and quality light components. But don't sell. The public want cheap sus, cheap discs, lots of gears and don'tknow anything about weight.

felix.london

The public want it or the manufactures want us to want it?

I think the manufacturers could sell bikes like that (cheap, light, good quality, rigid fork, v-brake) if they marketed them properly.

In fact you're probably right - I guess people expect a mountain bike to have front suspension these days even if it is crap

Most of them (the big boys anyway) sell entry level bikes with v-brakes though don't they? but looks like they're going the way of the dodo too

bails87

A new-to-cycling friend wrote:

I needed to get the Apollo with suspension rather than the [rigid] Carrera Subway because the roads are a bit bumpy

:roll:

Friends don't let friends do Apollo!

junglist_matty

SR Suntour XCR's are fine for what you pay for them... A tad on the heavy side, but they do work... Just have to keep them clean and spend a bit more effort on the maintenance

welshkev

got RS silver tks on my hardtail, got them for £111, not amazing, but i've ridden cwmcarn on them no probs

butcher of bakersfield

felix.london wrote:

The public want it or the manufactures want us to want it?

The trouble is, the public do want it. I'm sure the manufacturers could make more of an effort, but for the budgets we're talking about, advertising is what they see in Halfords. These people don't trail through endless ads in mags...

So they look at the specs, as they would if they were to buy a new PC, or a car, or an MP3 player...

Suspension is more 'comfortable'. Discs will stop you better. More gears will make it easier going up those hills. The £5 set of lights included will mean people will see you better.

Sadly, that's the way the vast majority see it, and what prevents us from getting some really good budget bikes.

jayson

I had a set of suntour something or other on a carrera i had and they were the worst forks ive ever used.

They were coil sprung and so invariably the spring was too soft but i couldnt find a replacement stiffer spring anywhere, then there was the weight of the things. I never realised just how heavy they were until i took them off to replace with a set of RS Toras which themselves are not the lightest forks out there being coil sprung and all but even they were over a pound or so lighter than the suntours.

The worst part about them though was that after just one winter the seals had completely gone and the forks were seized completely solid, the only thing i could do was spray some WD40 directly into the tops of the legs to unstick them temporarily but they soon stopped moving again.

The only plus side was that they were fairly stiff, given they were prob made from scaffolding pipes thats not really surprising i spose.

That was my only experience with suntour forks and its pretty much killed off suntour for me now, i would always pay that little bit more for one of the established brands myself.

How the mighty fall, once they made top end components easily matching shimano for quality and now they're only known for their god awfull cheap forks, very sad really

freeagent

got Rockshox Silver TK coilers on my boardman hardtail, not an amazing fork by any means but perfectly acceptable for most of what I do, and a BIG step-up from my old Dart 3's...

SUPERSUTT

theres one thing were all forgetting aswell tapperd steering tubes and tapperd heads whats going to happern in say 5 or 6 years time when most bikes have tapperd head tubes are the big fork companies going to stop making forks with straight steerer,s and people with straight head tubes going to have to change to new frames just so they can upgrade to better forks

kinmofo

junglist_matty wrote:

SR Suntour XCR's are fine for what you pay for them... A tad on the heavy side, but they do work... Just have to keep them clean and spend a bit more effort on the maintenance

i have sr suntour duro tripple clamps on front of mine, no prob really. either im a bit fat or springs are a bit soft, i can bottom them out just by putting my full weight on the front but as for riding they're fine. £50 second hand. bargain i think for what they are

Anonymous

NatoED wrote:

I remember when Marzocchi Z5 cost £90 and Z4 flylight were £140 . I miss those days and Judy Race were £200 . My 2002 Z1 wedge cost me £220 now i'd be looking at £400 at least for the same sort of fork

I bought some Junior T's over a decade ago, for roughly the same price that a Fox36 Float RC2 cost me 2 years ago.
I've also bought a Manitou X-vert E well over a decade ago, for the same price that a Marzocchi 55 cost me 3 years ago.

Prices really haven't got worse.

njee20

I'll agree with that. A 1999 SID SL was £600, a 2006 SID WC with carbon CSU was £500, I got a 2010 SID Team from Merlin last year for £320. It's only recently the prices have gone up.

supersonic

I bought that £200 Judy Race. A 4lb, 100mm coil fork with no compression damping, 28mm alu stanchions. Compared to todays Recon, which can be got for less, it was crap!

woodytitan

I'm considering changing my RST coils off my Cannondale, Do you think I would notice a significant improvement if say I threw on some RS Recon Silver Coils???

supersonic

In a word, no. That rst is a good fork.

woodytitan

supersonic wrote:

In a word, no. That rst is a good fork.

That's good to hear, not had too many issues with it seems to be dialled in to my riding style now after a few tweaks. You don't hear much of RST's it's all RS&Fox etc so wasn't sure of their quality.

estampida

society forks are very good (built by rst),

air spring, 36mm alu stanch's, stiif and strong

parts from rst, and can service and repair in the house,

how much is a fork service if it goes wrong?

cooldad

Depends what goes wrong.

MountainMonster

And who is the one who caused it to go wrong. I would much rather have my forks serviced by a professional, just in case I did something wrong in the process and broke something expensive. At least if the shop does something wrong, their liable to get it fixed and paid for. If I do it, it's on me.

S-M

supersonic wrote:

Are people really so shallow that they think cheap suspension on bikes make bikes better?

Rockshox have introduced more budgt forks this year, but bizarrely a 30mm stanchioned unit which can only add cost.

I bet they are just reusing the old 30mm Psylo stuff, if so it would not cost them much at all, would be interesting to see one stripped down to take some measurements.

supersonic

It's the tooling and casting of parts that will cost. They may have seals and bushings left, but even those are different in modern RS forks, as well as the damper designs (do not use open bath any more).

Just makes no sense to me to add another budget fork in between the Dart and the very basic Tora. (or XC32)

Razor1548

Edited:

Post rubbish like this again, and you will be banned.

unixnerd

SR Suntour XCR's are fine for what you pay for them... A tad on the heavy side, but they do work... Just have to keep them clean and spend a bit more effort on the maintenance

I have a set and for 40 quid new they're fine. Seals could be better, I have to service them a few times over the winter but it's dead easy.