Air or coil

gregwari · February 2015

Heading out to Morzine again this summer and I fancy putting a bigger fork up front. Currently running a 150mm Fox 32, I'd like to change up to a 160mm (max my bike will take) fork with bigger stantions and a 20mm axle for the trip. 3 options I've seen are Fox 36, Xfusion Vengeance or Rockshox Lyrik.

In all cases there seems to be a choice of air spring or coil. I'm only familiar with air sprung forks - any views on whether to go coil or air for a weeks lift assisted Alps riding?? Also, any views on the 3 forks mentioned above??

rockmonkeysc · February 2015

Coil works better in most cases. Having had my old Lyric converted from air to coil it made a good difference to the sensitivity and control. With a modern Fox 36 they are air only and very good.
Personally I would go for a Marzocchi 55 rc3 ti 2012 or later if buying used. They are a little heavy but the best fork I have ever ridden.

gregwari · February 2015

Thanks for the advice, I'll have a look.

sofaboy73 · February 2015

on good quality forks the gap between air & coil is pretty thin these days in terms of sensitivity, reliability and efficacy.

personally i prefer air for the weight saving and the tuneability for different terrain / riding. i also wouldn't necessarily buy new forks based on the needs one week of riding out of 52.

rockmonkeys right, the fox 36's are very good. noticeably better than ones a couple of years older and they were pretty damn good

Thewaylander · February 2015

I wouldn't say there isn't much difference between air and coil though, for forks I've tried coil is still awesome

poah · February 2015

I would go with a pike even though its air and "only" 15mm axle.

rockmonkeysc · February 2015

There is a definate difference in performance between air and coil. Most Rockshox sponsored DH racers are using coil Boxxers with Boxxer WC stickers.
The older 36's werent particularly good unless they were the very high end models but even then I prefer the Lyrik and Marzocchi 55.

eric_draven · February 2015

had some 08' 55's tst2 ata,were fantastic forks when they worked,but after the forth time of me sending them back i demanded my money back,i replaced them with lyrik coils which were a mint folk,if i was in the market for something like this now,it would be a pair of later 55 rc3 or another pair of Lyrik coils

rockmonkeysc · February 2015

The 08 tst Marzocchi's were horribly unreliable. A mate had a set, he could have 150mm travel at the top of the hill and by the time he got to the bottom they would be down to 50mm when unloaded.

Stevo_666 · March 2015

For uplift fun I would go coil. Smoother and makes the riding easier in my experience.

Air or coil

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