Thinking of upgrading forks, need advice

james_uk

Ok this may seem a bit soon as i haven't actually got my bike yet, i have just bought a new Giant Revel 1 LTD 2012, this is all my budget could stretch to for a bike.

I am still not 100% sure if i will be upgrading my forks, but i would like to know where i stand with them if i ever wanted to.

The main reason for asking is, even though the new bike i have bought i'snt to bad, my other bike was a gt avalanche 1 with rockshox forks, this bike was recently stolen from me.

I'm not a really serious biker as such, i don't do much what you would class as rough biking, although it's nice to have decent suspension i guess, but i may not even need to upgrade i guess?

Anyway, the bike i am getting comes with SR Suntour XCM V3 100mm, lock out forks, what i need to know is, for just casual biking, will i notice such a big difference in the 2 forks mentioned?

If so, i may consider one day upgrading, so what i also need to know is, when it comes to upgrading forks, will there only be certain types i can use, and if so how do i know which ones?
Also, where my new bike will have 100mm forks, would any upgrade have to also be 100mm, or can i get 120mm etc?

Is there any particular type anyone would recommend and at what price would i be looking at for a decent upgrade. But also not braking the bank (as i don't need top of the range, just more decent than maybe the ones i will have), i classed the ones on my gt avalanche as good ones, but i have no idea how much they would set me back.

I have read so much about suntour ones being that bad, but i may get my new bike and come to the conclusion that for me, they will be fine, i would appreciate any advice on the above though.

Thanks

James

Anonymous

I have SR suntour XCR V3 100mm lock out forks on mine and honestly I don't do anything super rough but they handle fine I guess they can hack forest trails small jumps and lumps and bumps general kind of abuse you get racing around a forest and around park trials.

I think suntour get a bad reputation because there bottom of class and constantly get compared to fox floats and rockshox reba's and stuff but for general mucking around there fine jus don't do any downhill or anything bigger then a 4ft drop and youll be fine I think. I haven't killed myself yet. :P

Anonymous

I think from what I can find on the internet my XCR forks maybe slightly better then XCM that might jus be forum rubbish. im sure you'll be fine.

The Rookie

XCR usually has a damper the Forks on the Reign don't which makes a huge difference!

The pecking order is XCT-XCM-XCR.

The RS on the Avalanche 1.0 is commonly a Tora, not great but decent damper, RS Darts are pants and almost identical to the XC range.

Anonymous

The Beginner wrote:

XCR usually has a damper the Forks on the Reign don't which makes a huge difference!

The pecking order is XCT-XCM-XCR.

The RS on the Avalanche 1.0 is commonly a Tora, not great but decent damper, RS Darts are pants and almost identical to the XC range.

I should probably upgrade my forks sometime also and fix my wheels and sort out my seat post.

cooldad

Going back to your initial post, it wasn't - if you look in the sticky at the top of buying advice you'll find some decent bikes with damped forks in budget.
I would cancel the sale and buy sensibly. Pointless to buy a new bike and immeditaely look at spending a fat chunk upgrading when you could have got a better one anyway.