Help choosing a fork

arcadian

I'm looking for a fork with a fair bit of travel to go with a new Cotic BFe I'm building up, which should be ready at the start of next month. Looking for as bargainy a fork as I can get for around a £300 budget and have it down to the following:
Revelation RLT Dual Postion Air Forks 2013 LIke these but not sure if I would use the dual position much, the bikeradar review on them was pretty scathing which puts doubt in my mind too.
Rockshox Revelation RL Forks 2013 Similar to above, but more basic? The only doubt with these is aesthetic as I'd prefer white forks.
Rock Shox Revelation RCT3 Solo Air - Tapered 2013 Bit pricier than the previous 2, but are supposed to be better/have more features? I'm not 100% sure what the difference between RL, RLT and RCT is in real terms.
2012 Fox 32 Float 140 RL Fit Forks Reviews of these seem good, although they are OEM, not sure how much that really bothers me though.

Basically any of these forks will be a good improvement over my current bike's forks (Suntour Raidon) but just want to make the right choice, or not end up with something I'm not happy with so was hoping to get first hand experience in how they are to live with, how they handle on normal trials and decent sized drops and descents, and how maintenence intensive they are. Cheers

Edit: Forgot to add, I'm open to suggestions about different forks with a similar spec that I may have missed or not thought of. Fork I'm looking for would be 15mm axle and a tapered steerer.

warpcow

I'd not buy an RS fork with RL (or a Fox for that matter) unless there was no other choice. They're not bad or anything, but that little 'T' adds a lot to the tuning possibilities. Also, do you really need DPA? It's a lot more to go wrong and adds weight.

Check the German stores like bike-discount, bike-components and actionsports if you haven't. It's not often they're much cheaper than Merlin, but they might have a bit more choice.

arcadian

Don't need the DPA at all, was looking at it as the normal RLT on the Merlin site is only in 1 1/8" steerer, whereas I'm needing a tapered one. Did wonder if it would be handy, but doubt it would be handy enough for em to bother with it.

I'll check out the sites you mention, might see somehing nifty

warpcow

You don't need a tapered steerer. There are plenty of options for adapter.

I've had various travel adjustments on a few forks and never used them more than a couple of times before the novelty wore off.

felix.london

check On-One's prices. Sometimes cheaper than Merlin for forks

arcadian

On One have the Rev RCT3 for less than crc, and only a tenner more than bike components (after shipping).
Would rather buy from a UK shop than go to a German shop for the sake of a tenner (in case there was ever a warranty in future, I imagine it might be a pain). What's on-one's customer service like? Never used them before, are they good?

coulddobetter

For 2013 rockshox appear to have gone solo air . This means you can't adjust pos and neg air pressures independently . I would say that is a backward step from 2012 . Personally would look for a 2012 rlt . My sid has fork topmount lockout and floodgate and is highly tuneable for feel .

Service wise rockshox are very straightforward . Full service kit including all o rings etc just over £30.00 , 24 mm socket 10mm deep socket , allen keys and snap ring pliers and give yourself an hour. That's for an annual full service . Simple lower leg lube 30 mins if that.

jairaj

warpcow wrote:

I'd not buy an RS fork with RL (or a Fox for that matter) unless there was no other choice. They're not bad or anything, but that little 'T' adds a lot to the tuning possibilities.

On Rockshox forks does the "T" not just mean tool less adjustable threshold for the lockout? You still have the dual flow rebound and low speed compression adjust from open to lockout. You just can't adjust the threshold with out an allen key. If you don't lock you forks out ever then there is no need to pay extra for the "T" and even if you do I can't imagine its the sort of thing you adjust often more of a set it and forget it.

jairaj

coulddobetter wrote:

For 2013 rockshox appear to have gone solo air . This means you can't adjust pos and neg air pressures independently . I would say that is a backward step from 2012 . Personally would look for a 2012 rlt . My sid has fork topmount lockout and floodgate and is highly tuneable for feel .

Yep agree with you, that's why I'm holding on to my 2010 Revs and paid over the odds to get them fixed rather than get new forks. But its very very hard to find the dual air forks on sale now. Second hand is the best bet.

rockmonkeysc

Dual air is nice when it works.
I had dual air Pikes and now dual air Rebas. Both have had issues with internal air leaks and need regular air spring services.
Solo air is more reliable.

arcadian

Thanks for all the advice guys Definitely off the idea of the dual position air fork now. Leaning towards the Revelation RCT3 just now, just got a jammy tax rebate so might as well put it to good use!

Just to see though, are there any other forks that might be worth considering for the same price? Are marzocchi or magura ones any good, or as good as they're meant to be?

supersonic

The Manitou minute series is excellent.

ej2320

Some of high end X Fusion forks are supposed to be good

arcadian

Because I was being a muppet, when I looked at on-one's site yesterday, I looked at the dual position air revelation rct3 rather than the solo air rct3 (which I want). The one I want is £50 cheaper than the dpa version, so cheaper than bike-components by a good 40 quid too! Glad I spotted it, pretty certain I'll go with that.

With solo air verses dual air, will the lack of extra air pressure adjustability really bother me? I've never had a particularly adjustable fork in the past, so the solo air will still be a massive step up in fork quality for me.

benpinnick

You wont notice the lack of dual air, it was always a bit of a feature wanting a problem. Most people just wasted enormous amounts of time trying to get it balanced rather than tuning.

lawman

arcadian wrote:

Because I was being a muppet, when I looked at on-one's site yesterday, I looked at the dual position air revelation rct3 rather than the solo air rct3 (which I want). The one I want is £50 cheaper than the dpa version, so cheaper than bike-components by a good 40 quid too! Glad I spotted it, pretty certain I'll go with that.

With solo air verses dual air, will the lack of extra air pressure adjustability really bother me? I've never had a particularly adjustable fork in the past, so the solo air will still be a massive step up in fork quality for me.

Tbh I never got on with the dual air system, I can see why it's beneficial but as Rockmonkey said it can be less reliable and it can be a real pain to setup to your liking, a simple solo air spring is dead easy to setup and IMO doesn't affect performance at all.

Personally though, I'd have gone with the Fox 32's from Merlin, the FIT damper is excellent and so far my Fox's have proved more reliable than any rockshox fork I've owned. Really cannot fault them or the service from Mojo the distributor, top notch service all round

felix.london

2nd season nearly coming to an end of hammering my dual air Reba's up and down alps and they are still spot on. Will give them a service before next season but so far no issues at all. Would get dual airs again if I had the choice

rockmonkeysc

They are ok for a while but once they have leaked once they are never as good again.
The positive air leaks in to the chamber between the + & - and sucks the fork down. Sometimes it blows all the seals out as well.

jairaj

arcadian wrote:

With solo air verses dual air, will the lack of extra air pressure adjustability really bother me? I've never had a particularly adjustable fork in the past, so the solo air will still be a massive step up in fork quality for me.

Solo air is fine, most people used to just put same pressure in +ve and -ve chamber any ways. I understand why Rockshox went to the solo air because it made it very easy for people to just set a pressure and ride. There used to a few threads a few years ago people not understanding what to do with the two chambers. I just wish they would have a dual air option too for people like me who really got on well with the system.

felix.london

RockmonkeySC wrote:

They are ok for a while but once they have leaked once they are never as good again.
The positive air leaks in to the chamber between the + & - and sucks the fork down. Sometimes it blows all the seals out as well.

Ha! Well if/when that happens it'll be fork upgrade time and transfer it all over to one of those steel Slacklines that Lawman's got!