I need to buy some 150mm forks for my forthcoming Rocket build. They need to be bolt through and tapered steerer. Oh, and as light & stiff as possible!

Fox are out – I found the 2012 ones I tried a wee bit flexy for my liking, compared to the frame, and the damping on the 2013s (32 & 34 versions) appears to be crap by all accounts.

Revs. I’ve got a pair of 2009 Air U-turn Team Revs on my BFe, but never really got on with them. Not sure how much of that is the air U-turn cobblers, but there’s either no small bump sensitivity, or they’re soggy and on the bumpstops. In common with my 2009 Rebas, they also need a lot of TLC – constant air leaks between chambers/loss of travel, or into the lower leg, despite regular rebuilds/new seals. Are the 2013 fixed travel ones any better?

Magura TS8 150R. Looks good on paper, and initial web reports sound quite promising, but the only guy I know who actually has a set, isn’t totally convinced…

Bos Deville. I’d have to go down to 140mm travel to keep the same a-c dimension. No doubt superbly damped and stiff, but 400g heavier than the TS8s, which is quite a lot! Also slightly nervous about the whole warranty/service bit on Bos stuff.

I basically want a fork that works like my 170mm coil Lyrics, but in 32mm stanchion, 150mm travel format!

Thoughts…?

Cheers,

Jon

There’s very little relationship between an 09 and a ’13 Rev tbh. Not sure how well the new single air works, my dual-air Teams are good though. TBH they’re not that much like my Lyriks though! Both good forks but they go about their business quite differently, the Revs have far less tunability and the spring feels a little bit less consistent.

Hi Jon, how’s life in the Peak? Hope it’s all working out.

You’re right to be concerned with the warranty support on BOS but that said, Surf Sales are now up and running and my experience of them is that they are very keen to support Bos users in the UK.

I’ve actually got an issue with mine at the moment but its not mechanical as much as it is machining – turns out the steerer is marginally undersized. I’ve got away with it for a year but since I changed frames and so headsets it’s become a problem. BOS have so far refused to honour the warranty even though a) they acknowledge that they had a batch that all had this problem (and mine is from that batch) and b) I had no warranty support when I discovered the problem back in September (before Surf Sales were online and before the warranty ran out).

Surf have said they will at least offer me a replacement at cost to them and fit it for free, so that scores them highly in my book, But BOS’s attitude hasn’t been great so far. They may yet chance their mind.

Performance wise they are stand out good. I’m running X-Fusion on my new Nic for the time being, while we try to sort out the BOS and they are good (I have the Vengeance HLR) but you do feel the difference with the BOS damping. It’s just more effective; you can feel the Vengeance working; you can’t feel the BOS and I like that.

And, other than this known issue with the steerer, I’ve not had any other mechanical issues with them. They take a while to bed in and they also take a little fettling to set up. I think it helps to be a little in tune with both bike feel and suspension set up to really get the best from them; I know you’ll be able to do that no problem.

The Devile is not as stiff as the Vengeance but it’s a heck of a lot stiffer than a Revelation even one with a 20mm axle.

The Devile does also use the same seals as Fox though so you should always be able to get service support even if Surf’s relationship goes pear shaped like R53’s did.

I think for a Rocket, in the Peak, the bike and you deserve the Devile if you can get your head around the support issue.

Other than that, I would also highly recommend the X-Fusion line up. They are quality forks, every bit as good as the equivalent Fox (they are after all made in the same factory) but without the high maintenance issues.

There’s very little relationship between an 09 and a ’13 Rev tbh

Can you expand on that? They’re identical, structurally (09 was the first year or 150mm, bolt through, power bulge etc etc), and there’s only so many ways you can do an air spring.

how’s life in the Peak?

*Good*, thank you. Bar the shite weather! How’s your broken bits?

TBH, the biggest issue I have with the Devilles is the weight and a-c dimension. I’m really trying to avoid building another hefty winch & plummet beastie, I want something that makes me look out ever nastier, steeper climbs, and part of that is keeping weight down wherever possible. A 1lb difference in a fork is a hell of a lot!

I’ve been running 160mm Devilles since last June and i love them

Great control and damping at all times. I didn’t find the set up too bad either

I am also impressed with the low weight for a 160mm fork

In terms of reliability, they have been great until last week. I asked the LBS to strip them and clean out the gunk which i could feel was in them

They were unable to undo the bolt at the bottom, as the cartridge was spinning.

They have been sent back to Surf for warranty/service.

I’m hoping for the best and will report accordingly

Cheers

I used to have a Rev Team fork which I ran at 140mm. At first I loved it; it was so light it felt great especially on dry trails but over time I started riding it harder and found it flexed more than I was comfy with, especially when conditions get claggy. I eventualy broke the U-turn gubbins and replaced it with a Fox 36 Float spaced down to 130mm of Travel. The 36 Float is a fork that really can be hammered and ridden in a way that the Rev did not like.
Last night was my first ride back on another Rev Team having swapped the 36 back onto another bike; and once again I found the Rev wanting in the stiffness department. Considering the Rev in question is 1850g and the 36 is 1250g the weight penalty is not as much of an issue as you might think. But I’m going to stick with the rev for the moment and see if I can get used to it as I want the 36 for the other project.

I liked the Bos Deville’s I have borrowed and at 2000g they are between a Rev and 36 in weight… not as stiff as a 36 but noticably better damped and stiff than the Rev.

The only person I know who has 34’s likes them… industry review experts might not be in love with them but that does not mean they are not a good fork… taper steerer only though.

TBH, the biggest issue I have with the Devilles is the weight and a-c dimension. I’m really trying to avoid building another hefty winch & plummet beastie

I can understand that. It’s like the Rocket can have that dual personality if you want and it all comes down to what fork you put on it. The thing is, weight is only part of that equation. The Devile fork is light enough to be very distinct in terms of burliness to say the 36, Lyrik or Vengeance. It’s stiffer than the 32mm forks but not so stiff that it feels like a hooligan. But the damping is good enough to be ridden like a hooligan if you want to.

If you don’t want Fox and you don’t like the Revs and you still want 150mm travel, then you’re only other real option is a 34mm fork – either Fox or X-Fusion until RS come out with theirs or the 32mm Zoke 44RC3Ti, but they are all as heavy as the Devile so they don’t help.

The A2C of a 140mm Devil is also the same as that of a 150 Rev/Fox etc.

Then you’re other options are the X-Fusion Velvet or the Magura. I can’t comment on the Magura but it’s not where I would put my money, for no other reason that it falls into the marketing style questionnaire statement ‘it’s not a fork for me’.

Can you expand on that? They’re identical, structurally (09 was the first year or 150mm, bolt through, power bulge etc etc), and there’s only so many ways you can do an air spring.

The air spring really is quite different – the solo air model has a lot more bump compliance than the old u-turn and 2-step airs of old and the new Dual Position Air spring is supposedly almost up their with the Solo Air.

Your U-turn air is also based on a dual air system as opposed to the solo air system of the Solo Air/Dual Position Air model…..harder to set up to feel nice.

IMO the new Dual Position Air lyrik is the most coil like air fork that I’ve ever ridden.

JonEdwards – Member

Can you expand on that? They’re identical, structurally (09 was the first year or 150mm, bolt through, power bulge etc etc)

Nah, ’10 was the first year of the new chassis, ’09 was still the old 426

In that case mine are ’10s. They’re certainly the newer chassis.

2009 ones were crap IMO i had uturn 426’s with dual air….they were terrible, impossible to setup, impossible to get near enough the right travel, and everytime i switched travel on the uturn there was a big thud/clunk

i moved to fox’s then and have had them since….however ive just sold them and ive physically just had a set of 2013 rev RL solo airs put on today

very nice fork, look stiffer the chassis than my old 09 ones, nice and simple solo air and they look nice too if that counts…

im taking them out for the first time tomoz, hopefully it will restore my faith in RS as i cant afford to go back to fox now 🙁

Same issue Jon. I find Rev’s flexy and I don’t ride anywhere near as hard as you. Currently looking at x-fusion slant when freeborn finally get them. Want to keep bike to 30lbs and they just fit that envelope.

I like my XX X lock revs, thats all 🙂

If you were to get the 140mm Devilles bear in mind that they tend to be a bit more supportive in the mid-stroke so the little bit lower A2C isn’t much of an issue.

I’m a big fan of my 2012 Revelations – they just work really well. I don’t find them flexy – at least not in a meaningful way. They track really well through rough stuff – I suspect this has a lot to do with compliant damping so although in car parks they are flexier than my Pikes, on trails they’re better in every way (including being over a pound lighter IIRC). Like you, I found 32s to be very flexy. I’ve not tried other brands, but I’ve heard enough bad things about BOS to want to avoid.

TLDR: Posh Revelations for my money please.

Have just sold my Devilles 140 trc.
New bike has 2013 Revelation RCT3 15mm tapered,Solo air

Loved the Devilles,super smooth,amazing control and stiff.

New Revs seem to be more active(small bumo) and seem to stay high in the travel.Only thing they seem to lack is the stifness of the Bos.Not much in it.
I am very impressed with the Revs,a lot better than the dual airs i had a few years ago.

Thought i would miss the Deviles but seem to like the way the Revs ride.
Switching to the Mid position on the RCT3 dial makes them feel like they have the same damping as Devilles,reduces small bump but makes them ride very well in all aplications.

😀

dead dead dead impressed with my new 2013 solo air rev RL 150mms

no flex, feel stiffer than my float 32’s damping seems just as good as my FIT rl’s

and a steal too at almost half the price cheaper!

RS have defo come on along way since my 09 uturns, these feel in every way just as good as fox’s even with fancy kashima etc

they dont dive, they dont feel to soft/hard, they work through the travel better than with dual air, and they are fine over everything from big rocks, jumps, small bums etc….well done RS on finally ditching dual air, the solo air is nice and simple and just works

loving the pushloc too, combined with my reverb i never really have to move my hands again to start climbing 🙂

im well chuffed with them!

Lyriks are heavy duty all mountain forks designed for hard riding, Revs are super lightweight XC trail forks,

I had some DT Swiss EXM 150 forks. Found them very good.
I sold the fox 36 as I wanted to save a little weight. Very suprised at how stiff they were. Maybe its the crown design.
Certainly a contender for the 150mm range. Would buy again.