So where does the money go in expensive forks?

Murphybarnes

Just a quick noob question regarding forks. I have very little experience, in fact, if it's not Suntour Raidon X1, I don't know shoot, and even then. Not so much WHAT I would be getting, but how would an expensive fork, relatively, FEEL. What could I expect? I hear the word plush a lot. Is it the difference between Nissan Micra and Bentley Continental or is it marketing speak. .........by expensive I mean like Rock Shox Reba etc............they do seem to get mentioned a lot.

supersonic

First thing is that the Reba is some 600g lighter (comparing to the steel stanchioned X1) - yet still manages to be stiffer in steering terms. The Raidon flutters quite a lot under braking and on sharp hits which is felt as a vibration.

Also even the most basic Reba has better damping ie more control in the way the fork behaves, and very adjustable at that. Add to that great reliability and good back of parts, long life seals and bushings, and it all adds up.

The Raidon is a decent fork. The Reba is a great fork.

rockmonkeysc

High end forks are overpriced though. I have got a Rockshox Boxxer R2C2 which is £1099 rrp and I don't know how Rockshox can justify that price for what is a relatively simple piece of engineering made from relatively cheap materials and it's a design which hasn't changed for a few years. There must be huge mark ups on them for shops because you can usually find them reduced to £600ish somewhere if you shop around.

The Rookie

The trouble is that the further you go up the foodchain of forks, the less are made, the development and tooling costs stay the same so inevitable the price to recover that is a far bigger factor than on something like say a Recon, but the same applies to just about every component on a bike! Retail markup on an item like forks will be circa 33%, that of course has to cover all their costs as well as some profit (typical retail being circa 6%).

Whilst it's not strictly legal, importers/manufacturers will lean on outlets not to sell too far below the RRP or threaten them with the loss of supply, my local shop is cheaper in store on some items (where they can offer a good deal without advertising it) than they are online where the price they are offering it at is very public!

swod1

I thought it all goes on getting back some r&d costs back and supplier profits but the materials will cost to make them ?

I see some forks that are silver stanchions and others with gold coloured anodizing does that add to the cost and aluminum steer-er tubes etc ?

But also the fancy features like lockout threshold and blow off valves, poploc remotes will put the price up ?

rockmonkeysc

There are a lot of shared parts between models. My Boxxers and Lyriks share a lot of internal parts and I'm pretty sure they share lowers as well. Even the dampers are basically the same between the two.

supersonic

But the springs, crowns and upper tubes are different. They probably sell 100 Rebas for every Boxxer, and this mass manufacturing brings the price down, especially when they hit the shops.

The Rookie

swod1 wrote:

I see some forks that are silver stanchions and others with gold coloured anodizing does that add to the cost and aluminum steer-er tubes etc ?

Silver stanchions are chromed steel, gold anodised are by definition aluminium alloy, which is dearer (raw material and processing), likewise replacing a steel steerer with alloy increases the cost, Magnesium lowers (lighter) are dearer to make than aluminium alloys as well.....

Then you have dampers, seals, springs, dual air, adjustment and even quality of knob (cheap bikes plastic, dearer alloy) etc etc

rockmonkeysc

supersonic wrote:

They probably sell 100 Rebas for every Boxxer,

Really? I see a lot more Boxxers than Reba's. The Boxxer probably has less competition, 888's for some reason don't have as good a reputation (even though they are better) and 40's are over priced and a bit rubbish so most downhill bikes have Boxxers. Reba's seem to be less popular than Fox 32's and Recons.

cooldad

Yeah, but there are a 100 non DH riders for every DH rider.

DunbarKev

I have to hold my hands up and say I just bought a Fox 34 Talas 160mm - 120mm tapered fork from a US seller and I could not tell you what it offers me beyond any decent £350 RockShox fork. I got drawn in to the trap that if it costs a lot it must be good. I guess I am fairly typical in this market given the annual release of new components & frames targeted at us all.

supersonic

RockmonkeySC wrote:

supersonic wrote:

They probably sell 100 Rebas for every Boxxer,

Really? I see a lot more Boxxers than Reba's. The Boxxer probably has less competition, 888's for some reason don't have as good a reputation (even though they are better) and 40's are over priced and a bit rubbish so most downhill bikes have Boxxers. Reba's seem to be less popular than Fox 32's and Recons.

Actually I think I'm wrong. More like 500.

rockmonkeysc

Clearly we ride in different areas. There are a lot less lycra wearing xc racers down here in Somerset and a lot more DH riders.
Could also be because I split my riding time 50/50 between downhill & xc.

97th choice

It's hardly a shock that when you go to downhill run there are lots of downhill riders and bikes. At the same time you'll never anything with a boxxer on it at kirroughtree.

supersonic

RockmonkeySC wrote:

Clearly we ride in different areas. There are a lot less lycra wearing xc racers down here in Somerset and a lot more DH riders.
Could also be because I split my riding time 50/50 between downhill & xc.

I ride around wharncliffe lol, can't remember the last time I saw a Boxxer! the Reba is hardly an XC race fork either.

The Rookie

Reba is what most people would call a trail fork.....

How do you find a hill in Somerset worthy of the name?

rockmonkeysc

The Beginner wrote:

Reba is what most people would call a trail fork.....

How do you find a hill in Somerset worthy of the name?

We do have the Mendips, Quantocks and Exmoor in Somerset, all have excellent DH and XC riding. There are only two BDS rounds in England and one of those is on Exmoor, at Coombe Sydenham.

We also have the best cider in the world 8)