change of forks......

colin.1976

hi all,ive recently purchased a second hand 2011 gt avalanche to do the london to brighton on.The question is i am after some different forks as the dart ones are awful.just after some opinions as to whish ones to get hold of.For the short term i might swop out the lyrics off my devinci and set the travel at 130mm to see what it feels like.If its any help its a large and i am 6ft and about 15 stone.i am thinking of 120-130mm travel forks and not too worried about weight,will probably go 2nd hand and factor in rebuild cost at some point.Many thanks in advance for any thoughts/ideas.

fat_homer

I'd be looking at Recon's, Reba's or SID's, aim for which ever your budget will stretch to!

cooldad

Budget?
I would not put 130mm travel forks on.

colin.1976

the budget is approx £200-250.The reason about 130mm travel is that it seems very twitchy and nervous compared to my Hectic and im heavy and clumsy.would it be easyiest to put on my rockshox lyrics as have no plans to use that bike.

cooldad

That's because it is a short travel XC bike.

colin.1976

so is it the consensus that 120mm is the max i can use,some avalanches i have seen on this forum have approx 130mm travel.i just want a bit more travel and obviously a much much nicer fork.just thought 120-130mm forks might open up better and/ or cheaper fork options rather than very expensive short travel xc forks,which may be flexy given my luxurious weight

snoopsmydogg

cooldad wrote:

Budget?
I would not put 130mm travel forks on.

What he said ^^^

colin.1976 wrote:

so is it the consensus that 120mm is the max i can use,some avalanches i have seen on this forum have approx 130mm travel.i just want a bit more travel and obviously a much much nicer fork.just thought 120-130mm forks might open up better and/ or cheaper fork options rather than very expensive short travel xc forks,which may be flexy given my luxurious weight

I am similar build to you and put 130 forks on an avalanche frame but wouldn't do it again. A decent 100mm fork is fine.

supersonic

120mm is max for this frame of this year I believe. You can tery the 130mm lyriks, but will invalidate your warranty.

If you want a simple tough, but high performing fork that is 100-120mm, take a look at this:

http://www.rutlandcycling.com/45076/Mar ... --9QR.html

colin.1976

ok every body,many thanks for all your input and will commence the search for some new forks.those forks in that link look good.Will try and get hold of a mate tonight who has some fox forks going cheap that are normal qr and 120mm travel,will let you know how the saga pans out soon.I dont know how rock shox have the ordasity to call dart 3s "suspension"!!!!!