——————————————————–short version——————————————————–
Looking for a stiff, yet light and reasonably priced suspension fork that lends itself to be run stiffly sprung: 100mm travel, around £250, sub 3.5lbs, stiff, low maintenance

——————————————————–long version——————————————————–
Currently run the Soul with 440mm rigid forks. Love the agile, nimble, nippy handling with direct steering and positive turn-in. Full flic-flac-a-bility through S-bends if this makes sense. In any case perfect for the tight, twisty, flat singletracks I ride.

Now looking for suspension forks to make the bike more weekend trip versatile but don’t want to ruin the handling. Tried 120mm forks before, didn’t like them for what and how I ride.

Parameters so far:
– 100mm travel (being closest to 440mm rigid geometry)
– around £250 (more if there’s a good reason, 2nd hand an option)
– sub 3.5lbs/1,600grms, less very welcome!
– Stiff even with 9mm QR (got to check if I can thru axle convert my DT hubs)
– Low maintenance and high reliability important
– Lockout on fork crown would be nice to have
– variable travel around the 100mm mark only interesting if it doesn’t compromise weight, stiffness etc.

I suppose I wouldn’t need the most sophisticated, adjustable, low stiction forks as I intend to run the forks fairly stiff anyway as I expect to get a more positive platform to work from, with less blow through and weight transfer, thus less likelihood of tuck in on corners from a stiff spring set-up. Providing the positivity and consistency that I want from the front end, while still leaving suspension for more hilly/rocky weekend trips.

So which forks would you recommend for my case?

If Rebas tick all the boxes great! SIDs and Fox seem to be a little too sophisticated and expensive for my case, don’t they?! X-Fusion Velvets are meant to be light, stiff and cheap-ish. What about Manitou, Marzocchi, DT, Magura? Anything in their line-up that you’ve had experience with and might fit the bill? Anything I forgot? Leftys? AMP doesn’t do forks anymore, do they? 😉

Many thanks!

hock

I think the dt swiss xrm could be ideal. Very, very light and has a service interval of 200 hours (fox says 15!). While theyre are about £450 new you could probably get a 2nd hand one £250

Reba’s all the way at your price point.

If you can find something for the budget, an adjustable travel fork works *very* well on a Soul and can let you get away with much silliness if you so desire. I have a 110-140mm Revelation on mine, which might be a bit longer than you’re after, but U-turn Rebas are similarly good. Mine are Maxle so can’t comment on whether U-turn affects the stiffness, but the weight penalty isn’t that significant on a trail bike.

Of all the forks I’ve had on a 100-140mm capable steel HT the one that I’d go back to most happily is the Reba with a bolted axle. It’s not the absolute best performer but it’s good enough, the Black Box / RLTi version is really good, at least equal to all but a top-$ Fox, it’s reliable and very stiff too. In my mind it’s the current equivalant of the old 110mm Z1 BAM, high praise.

I don’t mind servicing stuff but unless you demand the small performance increase from a more needy fork, I’d go for a Reba every time. No adjustable this or remote that, just 100 or 120mm of sorted reliability. I don’t like gambling £ on getting a good fork out of a mixed batch. I’ve never had a ride spoiled by Rebas, or rigid forks )

My orange p7 is about to donate its organs for the new build cotic soul that should arive friday. I have dt xmc 130, so my new frame will be wearing these. they can be locked down in racy mode or ridden long and plush and theyre not to heavy. the gentleman at cotic who I emailed said they should suit well.

Which version of Soul? I’m guessing it’s the more recent, ‘best at 120mm’ version, but the reason I ask is that I find 100-130mm Revs to be the best fork for me. I run them at 130mm most of the time, but have the option to wind them in if necessary.

But yes, for what you’re saying, Rebas would be the first place to look. Maguras have a reputation for being stiff, but that also applies to the bounce, it seems(?)

ive got a set of magura durin sl100mm .ace forks with buttery smooth action and stiff as anything out there.1400grms so really light.no adjustment apart from air pressure.ive pumped them up abit cause i like a solid feel as well.swapped them for pikes for the adjustment but may keep the maguras for future swappage.reasonable money now as well secondhand.

Dual Air Reba 100mm would be my choice. They’re pretty stiff for a 9mm fork, and you can set both the positive and negative pressures high so they sag down to ~440mm (33mm sag) but are pretty firm at that ride height. They’ve got a lockout on the top. And they’re cheap!

Many thanks so far!
– checked upon the DT Swiss – really good, light, stiff, low maintenance, but tricky to get hold of
– similar if not as bad to get hold of for the Maguras – anymore experience with them around here?

do like both, will keep eyes open, scarcity makes me wonder how easy it is to get them serviced etc.

——————————————————————–//————————————————————————–

Which puts the Rebas on top of the list for the moment. I still get confused though with the variants on offer and Rock Shox’s own homepage is not helpful either (2 versions only? lack of detailed info).

Q: where can I get the best overview on the Reba versions and technologies available? I would love to understand the benefits of Black Box, RL vs. RLT(i) etc.

For my price point these Reba RL Dual Air from On-One seem to be spot on. Is this the version I want? Are these the most basic ones? OEM?

Other fork suggestions still very welcome!

Cheers!

(getting excited about new forks being on the horizon :D)

I originally ran my Soul with 100mm Reba forks and a 100mm stem.

Excellent fun.

The Reba fork is brilliant in its most basic guise. Its better with the Black Box Team damping but I couldn’t say by much.

Those On One forks would be fine.

Maybe consider a SID?

Reba still on top of the list, but these 2 offers make my ‘light weight want’ itch:
MY12 Durins at Merlin for GBP399
MY11 Durins at Magura for GBP350

– are the Maguras worth GBP100 to 150 extra? (quite like the 200-300grms weight advantage)
– what about Magura maintenance? reliability? any experience here?
– what’s the difference between MY11 and MY12?

I keep researching meanwhile…

Currently running my Soda with 100mm SIDs, 100mm stem and narrow 580mm flat bars. Light and fabulous fun. SIDs are flexy, but this doesn’t bother me in the slightest.

Maguras are brilliant. I have Durins on one bike and Thors on another 2 including a Soul. I bought the Soul with a Durin for on it second hand and swapped it for the Thor and have recently sold it for £200 – it was immaculate!

Really nice forks, very smooth, very stiff and very reliable IME. Long service intervals as well.

I’ve got 120mm Reba RLTs with a 15mm bolt through on mine and they’re ace.

Link

More than £250 but try and find a 2nd hand pair?

OK, so I’ve not got loads of other forks to judge them against but they do me just fine (run a 90mm stem and 700mm bars if that makes any difference).

I ran 100mm Magura Menjas on my Soul and they were/are a great fork for a fairly light xc type build. I found them a bit stiffer than Rebas and have had no issues with them as I had them serviced regular. Hope this helps.

Two of my friends and my LBS have seconded the positive votes for Maguras (stiff, light, good performance, reliable, lowish maintenance).

So despite the fact that Rebas seem to be such an obvious choice I will try to get hold of a Magura Durin. For the sake of the weight advantage mainly, but also because of the high praise from engineering-type friends and maybe a little bit for being different. 😉

I can always be sensible and go back to the good old Reba when it all goes a little bouncy.

In any case thanks for the feedback here and I let you know how I get on.

Cheers!

my soul frame came yesterday, built it up last night,put the xmc130 forks on it. had a potter on it today, rides superb , weighs in at 24lb 4oz , so not to heavy.

Got new Magura Durin SLs MY 2011 for a good price. 🙂

Fix compression damping with optimum, self adjusting race setup.
-> the ‘self’ in adjusting sounds a little scary and let’s hope their optimum is my optimum
No lockout, no remote to save weight.
-> ‘low feature excuse’ a little flimsy but does work for me
Only rebound and air pressure preload to adjust.
-> more would probably overwhelm me anyway
“The SL is the ideal fork for those who are fed up by the “war of the buttons”, our word!”
-> wasn’t aware of a war but do like simplicity
Double Arch Design (see above) for torsional stiffness and steering precision, drop outs with perfect hub engagement,
-> sells it to me and sealed the deal in combination with the
1,370grms weight (will weigh before fitting)

Marketing text reads promising so far, will let you know how they work!

My Rev’s are dead stiff with maxle. You can dial them down to 110mm, and still have longer travel when you want it (140mm)
If height is vital you could take some stems spacers out (if you have them) or flatter bars

Hi brooess,

thanks for your reply but don’t quite get it:
– weight is important for me
– I’m a CC type rider
– I didn’t like 120mm travel (or more) on my bike (geometry, riding position)
– I believe after some testing and research that 100mm must be the perfect travel for my bike and riding
– I just bought a new fork based on this

I will try my new fork now and hope to ride happily ever after.
If the forks turn out to be crap it’s got to be 100mm Rebas. Or back to rigids.

Or do you suggest we swap forks? 😉

By the way: no stem spacers under stem here

Looking for a stiff, yet light and reasonably priced suspension fork that lends itself to be run stiffly sprung: 100mm travel, around £250, sub 3.5lbs, stiff, low maintenance

First of all THANK YOU for giving feedback in this thread and especially to those who suggested to consider Magura’s Durin! After extracting your input I thought I’d give you quick feedback on the result and what a RESULT it is.

First ride with my MY11 Durin SL yesterday:
– stiff ——————————– yep! subjectively not less than my rigid carbons 🙂
– light/sub 3.5lbs —————- 3.04lbs/1380grms! 😛
– around £250 ——————- incl. shipping 8)
– 100mm travel —————— absolutely 😉
– can be run stiffly sprung —- perfect with 20% sag 😈

I’m not saying that this is the best fork or anything because I do not have much comparison (and it might still wee oil on my feet next week or fall apart next month) BUT for me and as far as I know after my first loop through my local woods it is just great! does everything I want it to, love the looks, easy set-up (only rebound and spring load 😳 ) -> very happy customer!

And it makes me love my Soul even more. Which is interesting because I was quite apprehensive if 100mm suspension would ruin the ride again (didn’t like 120mm for my riding, got on well with 440mm rigids). But it doesn’t! The Soul is now as good as everybody is always saying! It gained some elasticity when thrown into bends, springs out of them, is even more confidence inspiring. It feels like you can sling it into anything and the give from the forks combined with the flex from the frame will sort you out, provides more grip and some more leeway. It’s a truly great ride! All I hoped for!

The bike will eventually get the gears from my old bike and be my do-all-go-anywhere bike!
THANKS again for your input! Happy hock here! 😀

P.S.: Breaking news (for those who – like me – lived in a cave last 5 MTB years 😉 ) – short stem myths verified! -> running 70mm, thought higher fork would make me want longer stem, but works fine, still feel enough over the front to get positive turn-in and traction. 🙂

P.P.S.: If you tell me the easiest and quickest way to upload pictures (somewhere save, without sacrifying more privacy than necessary, i.e. making it easy to separate the family, lawn etc. pics from the bike pics so that you don’t comment on my whole life) I might even share one of the current build. 😉
Googling “My Soul picture page” …

Just in case anybody cares for 1st-hand “longterm” experience with Magura Durin SLs:
– still very happy after 8 months
– moved back to South Germany: fork (and bike) proove to be very capable
– went for a 4 day trip to the alps: fork (and bike) coped well
– never serviced
– never adjusted set-up

2.4 Ardents must be the upper limit for clearance though and them rubbing on the bridge in more hefty “turning-and-compressing”-situations shows they are stiff but not über-stiff.

You’ll fit in with the Germans well, just make sure you ascend and descend on fireroads 🙂

I’ve run a pair of Thor’s for 3 years now, only suggestion is that you have them serviced yearly to keep in the warrenty. And if you come back to the UK I can recommend the Magura service man, Mike Jenner:

+44 7773 453681
http://www.racemechanic.co.uk
http://www.maguraspares.com

Thanks, b r ! I do actually consider coming back. 🙂

Regarding the fireroads: I know exactly what you mean! And I am German.
I can only assume that they think of fireroads as being the more efficient and practical way to ride your bike… 🙄 😉

+1 I’ve had a soul and I’d go 120mm rather than 100

Ran QR Reba’s last year on my Soul – £250 from On One. Very nice and plush, but took out the spacer to run them at 120 (125mm to be exact).

However, overall prefer my stiffer second hand 20mm maxle Revs, currently spaced down at 130mm, although wondering if they can be spaced down further. Also if you include the maxle and QR skewer in the weights, they are only about 90g heavier than the Reba which are 1618g without the QR.

Slight thread hijack, but fairly ‘on topic’. Just picked up a pre-CEN Soul frame; can I run 140mm Fox Talas forks in it, or will I die? I have a pair of 2011 SID RLT’s (120mm) that I could run, if the longer fork’s going to tear the frame up? But it would be good to be able to tune down to 100mm for the twisty bits..

Any thoughts? I’m only asking as the frame’s as light as a fairies fart! 😀

Regarding the fireroads: I know exactly what you mean! And I am German.
I can only assume that they think of fireroads as being the more efficient and practical way to ride your bike…

Sorry, didn’t realise.

I had a German chap working for me a few years ago, and we took him to Afan with a borrowed HT (V-brakes and all). he ran up most of the climbs and then looked amazed when it was said we’d be going down on singletrack. Enjoyed it though, and came out a few more times after that. I get the odd post from him now he’s back in Bravaria, riding up/down fireroads 🙂

This is what Im using for cross. Not sure if I have enough mud clearance though, as its always an issue.

@b r:

All good!

As I said: I know exactly what you mean! German bikers tend to be either pure “CrossCountry-low and log stretched out”-racy types or hardcore downhillers. Less of the “fun-trail-long-travel hardtail”-variety.

So I am on a mission here! 🙂