Fork hierarchy

larkim

I'm lost without someone writing me a list, and every fork seems to have limitless amounts of sub-categories, so I'm getting confused!

Following advice on here that says that the fork is the single most important differentiator between two otherwise similar bikes, would I being really stupid to ask if anyone has crafted a list which basically takes the forks from, say, RS, Fox and Suntour and puts them in some sort of objective "order". I'm not concerned about the really low end coil stuff, but anything above that?

I presume some of my confusion arises from the fact that even if a bike specifies it has "Recon Gold" forks, there are a myriad of options even within that range.

And of course, how much better one fork is than another is a completely different story.

rockmonkeysc

There are too many to list. Also not all forks can be directly compared due to different uses and amounts of travel. You couldn't say that a BoXXer WC is better or worse than a SID WC just because they are so different.
If your looking at Rockshox the R model has rebound damping only,
RL has rebound and lockout,
RLC has rebound, lockout and compression adjustment.
WC means world cup, the top spec.
Silver means steel stanchions, Gold means aluminium stanchions.
Basically the minimum you want is a hydraulic rebound damper, if it's adjustable for rebound then it has one.
After that an adjustable compression damper will prevent the fork diving uncontrollably. Aluminium stanchions are lighter than steel. Coil springs are heavier and lack the adjustment of an are spring but are more sensitive.

The Rookie

Fox, RS, Suntour, Manitou, X-Fusion, Marzzochi, that's just the manufacturers......

Better off asking for advise relating to the type of fork you want and budget.

cooldad

The Rookie wrote:

RS, .........................................................., Fox, that's just the manufacturers......

Better off asking for advise relating to the type of fork you want and budget.

Fixed your opinion for you.

The Rookie

Oh dear, such a blinkered approach......the others all make perfectly good forks, although the Suntour's are limited to the budget end of the market.

rockmonkeysc

Marzocchi definitely make the best fork I have ridden. The 380 RC3 ti evo is just brilliant, much better than my Boxxers.

supersonic

The market changes so quickly, with range/model overlap too. And the names are confusing.

Recon Gold has 3 current models - R (rebound adjustable, but no compression damping), TK (rebound adjust, a lockout - but this is on or off, the compression damping is minimal) and RL (motion control damping - adjustable low speed damping all the way to a full lock).

Low speed damping (as in the speed the fork shafts move) move is a good thing, It lets you have some control on how the fork moves when pedaling, braking and weighting the front end it turns. It can help the fork stop diving.

cooldad

The Rookie wrote:

Oh dear, such a blinkered approach......the others all make perfectly good forks, although the Suntour's are limited to the budget end of the market.

I was not disregarding the rest, just moving Fox down to the end - the others can be in any random order depending on the model, make is secondary.

It was a rather feeble attempt at humour.

Rather like your mind.

rockmonkeysc

Fox just had a bad couple years. Their new forks are good. Massively overpriced but good.

The Rookie

cooldad wrote:

The Rookie wrote:

Oh dear, such a blinkered approach......the others all make perfectly good forks, although the Suntour's are limited to the budget end of the market.

I was not disregarding the rest, just moving Fox down to the end - the others can be in any random order depending on the model, make is secondary.

It was a rather feeble attempt at humour.

Rather like your mind.

Natch, your humour is far more feeble than my mind......

larkim

Cheers guys, I sort of knew that would be the answer - though there are interesting little snippets in there which are very helpful.

ilovedirt

The Rookie wrote:

Oh dear, such a blinkered approach......the others all make perfectly good forks, although the Suntour's are limited to the budget end of the market.

Even suntour have some high end offerings now, and by all accounts, they're pretty decent.

rockmonkeysc

These are supposed to be very good
http://www.srsuntour-cycling.com/bike/f ... -4561.html
Not quite as good as a Boxxer Team, Fox 40 RC or Marzocchi 380 CR but it's a lot cheaper than any of them.

cycleclinic

You need to know the riding you are doing. If is XC on dirt do you really need suspension at all? there is no pecking order of forks. They all do the job but a little differently. I have found when I had front suspension that Marzocchi forks are reliable. In any fork the more control you have over the damping the better, but good forks cost money.