What would be a fork 'upgrade' for my GT Avalanche

bartimaeus

I've a new (from ebay - very cheap) GT Avalanche 1.0 2010 which I bought as a winter bike, and to learn to ride 'stuff'. So far I am pretty impressed but I was wondering whether I should keep an eye open for a bargain fork upgrade.

My limited experience so far suggests that the Tora 302 (100 mm) has pros: strong, stiff, simple, does the job, but cons: heavy, not great damping so a bit bouncy, not adjustable, spring possibly a bit stiff for me at 75 kg with not much bottle - though I've not tried any drops on it yet so I may be wrong there.

So I'm going to ride it for a bit to see how it goes... but also look out for a bargain fork to round off the spec.

The question is what should I be looking for?

I was thinking 120mm, air, but not 'light' at the expense of 'strong' as I'm bound to land badly much of the time. I was thinking Epicon (sonic posted a link to this at £160), but if I had the money I might be tempted to look for something as good as a Reba which you sometimes see at just over £300 (e.g. this)... though I am confused by all the different Reba options.

Suggestions welcome.

felix.london

I upgraded a 2006 Marzocchi (100mm) last year to this years Reba RL (120mm)

A really amazing improvement and not just on the bigger hits. Even the little, constant bumps from the trail are absorbed far more efficiently. The rebound adjust is great too as you can set the fork up exactly as you want it (although it took quite a few rides before I figured out the best set up)

No experience on a GT but I'm riding a 2006 Rockhopper and even though the fork cost nearly the same as the (2nd hand) bike did! - for me it was money well spent

supersonic

The 100mm Tora 302 is about the stiffest QR fork on the market - any lighter fork such as a Reba or Epicon and you will take a slight hit in the stiffness and strength terms. But you will shave that weight, and add more adjustability into the equation.

The Avalanche is happy enough with 120-130mm forks.

Reba 2012: They are a little better built than the Epicon, and the MoCo damper a liitle more composed. For 2012 they get the SID chassis, and RL loses the adjustable floodgate.

My choice however would be this:

http://www.merlincycles.co.uk/Bike+Shop ... ION-RL.htm

They can be spaced down to 120 or 130mm, and despite also bein called 'RL', they feature the new Motion Control DNA damper with dual flow rebound, and externally adjustable floodgate. The best performer at this money I reckon, and tougher than the Reba.

felix.london

hmmm, nice. Bartimaeus - do you want to buy a used 2012 Reba RL?

dp1

Sorry a bit off topic but just wondering if you are prefering the hardtail to the Anthem ?

bartimaeus

dp1 wrote:

Sorry a bit off topic but just wondering if you are prefering the hardtail to the Anthem ?

No, the Anthem is still my favourite bike - it's lighter, and more comfortable, and for long rides the position is much better.

But then I didn't get the GT to replace the Anthem. It's a winter bike to save wear an tear, but it's also a chance to try a very different type of bike, for 'mucking about' on and a bit of jumping. This is my first ever hardtail - I'm late to MTB - so this is my learn and play bike. I'm liking the short stem / wide bars combo, though I might trim the bars a little bit. I'll now look at a shorter wider cockpit for the Anthem... though less extreme!

Anyway, the GT is such a fun bike that it almost seems a shame not to stick a really decent fork on it... unfortunately as an Anthem owner I think I'm a bit spoiled hence the appeal of a Reba (or those Revs).

The Spiderman

I have a pair of RS Reba SLs that I`m about to put on the classifieds.They are 2006 but have been well maintained.
PM me if interested.

bartimaeus

Thanks for the advice... best get saving - I'm about to run out of cash getting my Anthem's linkage bearings sorted, so this upgrade may have to wait a couple of months.

In the meantime I'll head on over to the SRAM website to see what's involved in spacing the Revs... may as well use the GT as an excuse to plan some fettling.

I'll have a think about going down the second hand route - but I'm not confident I'd know enough to get the right deal.

supersonic

In a nutshell:

Let air out, undo bottom nuts, pull lowers off, catch lube oil, use circlip pliers to release air sprign, affix spacer under air seal head, put back together ;-)

About 15 mins with the right tools.

bartimaeus

supersonic wrote:

In a nutshell... about 15 mins with the right tools.

I'd best set aside a couple of hours then, including 'rework' and 'contingency'!

supersonic

Just have lots of cloths ready lol!

I'd ask Merlin if they include the spacer though.