I sold my full suss mtb last week and plan to get a ht soonish. I was looking at c2w options and, whilst they seem to have higher list price than elsewhere, it attractive for the obvious reasons. I’m skint generally so budget is a major factor. I like the look of the charge/genesis core bikes but am open to options.

Thing is, I’m finding few that don’t have a suntour fork. What’s the opinion on these? I always thought they were vastly inferior to the rock shox/fox options. Or, am I just being a brand snob?

Ideas very much welcome!

I bought a cannondale bote 3 a few weeks ago with suntour raidons on it. I instantly removed and replaced with Kashima Fox’s. Before the last ride I swapped back and was very surprised how good they were around Woburn. They are staying on now.

Not used them but from memory of reviews they were deemed to be good forks. For what that’s worth.

yes, there is a price point ‘issue’ where they are more often seen on lower priced bikes, but at the same time if they weren’t reliable and VFM i think it’s unlikely that the bike manufacturers would be risking their model years on them.

I also seem to recall somewhere (and I may have imagined) that Suntour were making kit for others to rebrand, in the same way as there are only actually 3 bike frame manufacturers (exaggeration but you know). But I can’t find any evidence in a quick search so may have made that up?

The days of them being proper gash seem to be behind us, they get goid reviews now. The other brands have shot up in price too so Suntour seem like a reasonable option these days! 🙂

Had Raidons on the Voodoo Bizango I had, and they were surprisingly good. But right now I’m having a similar experience with my Commencal Meta V4, which has X-Fusion Sweep 160mm forks and an X-Fusion shock….and blimey, they’re excellent!

Conversely, I’ve had bad experiences over the last 2 or 3 years with Fox 34s. Right now even with the Factory variant, which I have on my Yeti. Harsh when I hit big things hard.

And Rockshox, who have generally been consistently good, do have an issue with Pikes, lovely though they are when they work well. I’ve known 3 or 4 sets of Pike forks which develop a bit of play as they get used. You can feel it on the front wheel when you pick a bike up. But Yaris seem pretty bombproof.

Ok thanks. I won’t dismiss them out of hand then. If the bike is right I’ll try to get over my prejudice!

Depends on the model. The Raidon are pretty decent out the box, but mine fairly quickly deteriorated and needed a service after little more than 150 miles of riding.

Lots of those Vertrider guys, who always seem to ride Litevilles, (so they obviously have good taste) also seem to use Suntour forks, so they must have something to recommend them.
I’m a fork snob too but they have to be Marzocchis.

My wife’s Whyte has an Aion fork and its really good, it surprised me how well it copes and how easy it is to service.

I used to have a Saracen with RST’s

A few years ago I bought a cheap suntour durolux on the bike to work scheme, £300 new i think. It was a cracking fork, really good. The only thing I struggled with was local spares. I could buy stuff from Germany no bother, but no bike shops seemed to stock spares.

The spares were actually very cheap, so shouldn’t complain really. £50 for the full damper etc.

I’m a fork snob too but they have to be Marzocchis.

Wasn’t Suntour making Marz forks after they closed the Italian factory?

I thought suntour were involved in Marz fallow years (around 2009) when they had all sorts of failures and quality/tolerance issues – SR were subcontracting?

Suntour make a range of posh forks now don’t they?

I heard on a podcast that Suntour are the biggest fork manufacturer in the world. They made marzocchi in the past and also produce DVO forks. If I remember correctly, one of the top Marzocchi dudes went out by him self to set up DVO and the Suntour factory put up the cash to get him started and do all the production

Never ridden any myself but if budget was an issue I wouldn’t be put off by it. If they turn out to be guff, I’d look to replace with second hand forks that are easy to self service.

The top end are pretty nice. The midrange- XCR etc- are carefully positioned at the “least good fork you’d ever want on an actual mountain bike” market- mine actually performed alright but needed constant servicing to keep them working. I’d happily have an epicon or raidon tbh though backup isn’t as good as rockshox and fox.

My Whyte came with the SR Suntour Raidon. I couldn’t stand it. It was really heavy, yet flexi and difficult to dial in. Sold for a set of Pikes which is night and day, but huge price difference.

If we take like for like, I tried some RS XC32 (similar price point) and they were even worse than the Raidon. I had no confidence in the fork and the flex was horrible when trying to take a decisive line.

So, I’d go for the best fork I could afford, but failing that I’d go for a Suntour over a RS if they are both at the same price point.

As above, the cheaper xct, XCM, etc are cheaper for a reason, the higher end ones are good.

Swapped my XCM for an epixon and the difference was huge.

I was looking at a rockshox tk and the cheaper reba, but the epixon looked better for the same money, my Lbs who fitted them agreed the epixon was better too so that was that.

I thought suntour were involved in Marz fallow years (around 2009) when they had all sorts of failures and quality/tolerance issues – SR were subcontracting?

I thought the Suntour subcontraction was after that as a means of improving quality?

As above DVO are made by Suntour

Depends on the model. The Raidon are pretty decent out the box, but mine fairly quickly deteriorated and needed a service after little more than 150 miles of riding.

This was my exact experience of a Raidon I had.

Apparently it can be solved by switching to an oil bath/foam ring lube which is quite straightforward, but I just sold them on for the same I’d paid after giving them their second lowers service in 6 months.

Same experience with the Raidons.
I’ve just done a lowers service after they refused to rebound from a very slow compression.
Changed the grease to oil and stuck a soaked RS foam ring in the top (there is a recess in the fork, but no ring). Now they work a treat again.

Raidons on my bizango were awesome. Sold them for some rebas. Can’t really tell the difference to be fair.