Replacing Suntour XCM forks

grassie

Hi guys,

New to the forum so please be gentle...;)

I have a 2014 Scott Aspect 740 that I've had from new, I've upgraded loads of bits and pieces over the past couple of years but now it's time to get rid of the crappy Suntour forks that came with it.

But with what???

The XCM's have a non-tapered 1.1/8 steerer tube that is 255mm long, so I'm assuming (rightly or wrongly) that I have to replace with something with the same spec. I've been looking online but it seems that most new forks have a tapered steerer, or the steerer is not long enough, or the travel is only 100mm (I'm looking to go a bit bouncier...) or they are boost forks (no idea...)

Please help me out...

whyamihere

What's the budget? QR or through axle?

There is potentially the option of running a tapered steerer. If your headset lower bearing is an internal press-fit cup, you may be able to run a 1.5" external lower cup to fit the tapered fork in, but you would need to confirm that this is the case and that the head tube is correctly sized.

The Rookie

whyamihere wrote:

If your headset lower bearing is an internal press-fit cup, you may be able to run a 1.5" external lower cup to fit the tapered fork in,

Wrong way round, if it's external now it almost certainly can't take tapered, if its semi integrated it can swap to external which then gives room for tapered.

whyamihere

The Rookie wrote:

whyamihere wrote:

If your headset lower bearing is an internal press-fit cup, you may be able to run a 1.5" external lower cup to fit the tapered fork in,

Wrong way round, if it's external now it almost certainly can't take tapered, if its semi integrated it can swap to external which then gives room for tapered.

Read it again, that's what I said.

The Rookie

Oops, sorry.

grassie

whyamihere wrote:

What's the budget? QR or through axle?

There is potentially the option of running a tapered steerer. If your headset lower bearing is an internal press-fit cup, you may be able to run a 1.5" external lower cup to fit the tapered fork in, but you would need to confirm that this is the case and that the head tube is correctly sized.

Budget is between £250-£300. I can't justify spending more than that because of the type of riding I prefer.
QR hub.
I don't know what type the lower bearing is. I've taken a couple of photos but can't upload them here for whatever reason. Any help with that would be greatly appreciated...

JBA

You need to host the photos on line and then link them to your post on here.

whyamihere

I'd go for a Rockshox 30 Gold. It does come in a 120mm variant as well, but I could only find that with a tapered steerer and over your budget. The 30 Gold is a great fork, with innards similar to a Reba, which is a much more expensive fork. Also, even though it has 100mm of travel still, that travel will feel quite a lot different to (better than) an XCM, and will keep your bike's geometry the same.

grassie

Ok, have a look.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/169562363 ... ed-public/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/169562363 ... ed-public/

grassie

whyamihere wrote:

I'd go for a Rockshox 30 Gold. It does come in a 120mm variant as well, but I could only find that with a tapered steerer and over your budget. The 30 Gold is a great fork, with innards similar to a Reba, which is a much more expensive fork. Also, even though it has 100mm of travel still, that travel will feel quite a lot different to (better than) an XCM, and will keep your bike's geometry the same.

Cool, thank you.