Hi
Was hoping for a little help, I am looking to finally finish the build of my cotic soul ready for summer and wanted some advice on fork choice
I am pretty set on a set of travel adjust forks (i want the ability to run 140mm of travel on steep decent but running 110/120mm for single track or less steep descent)

I really like the new fox talas for the fact that i could set it for 20mm travel adjust instead of 30mm using spacers (ideally i’d like to run 140 – 120mm travel) other than that though the usual downside of fox forks comes in to consideration

I have also looked at X-fusion velvet RL2 DLA and Slant RL2 DLA. I think that if i am reading X fusions website correctly the slants can be internally reduced to 140 – 110mm travel and the velvets will come in 140 – 110mm as stock. I like the X-fusion for the fact that they can be adjusted to 650b if needed in the future (lets not open that can of worms now though). If I had the option i would prefer the slants over velvets as they are that much stiffer without much of a weight penalty but can someone just confirm that slants can be stepped down with the ladder and pin system like the non travel adjust version.

I also noticed that Merlin are selling two versions of both slants and velvets, one listed as 2013 the other without a year, what has been changed? i can’t find any info on new models since last year?

I have also had a look at marzocchi 44 micro switch TA, they are the correct length but i can’t find many rider reviews, they are also quite a bit more than a set of the x-fusions.

Lastly i have considered getting a set of dual position rockshox pikes and having the ASA machined down to 140mm max travel, i would like to know if this is possible? (i guess LoCo is the person to speak to) these would probably be closer to the fox in terms of pricing.

So i guess what i want is real wold reviews on any of the above, specifically the travel adjust systems for each brand?
Any thoughts on which are better (considering the huge variation in prices)?
and advice on the x fusions on merlins website?

Thank you
Josh

The really important question for you is, is it a properly travel adjustable fork, ie, does it work as well when it’s short as when it’s long. Some of these adjustable forks have a shorter mode but the function’s pretty impaired when it’s short- it’s basically a climbing mode but you wouldn’t want to ride normally on it. I put TALAS in that category, maybe the latest ones are better but old ones were pretty ropey imo.

But I can’t actually answer your uestion I’m afraid, no experience of those forks. I ran mine with a u-turn Revelation and it couldn’t have suited it better.

I have dual position rockshock Sektors on my BFe 120/150 and they work very well and I’m happy given the relatively budget price. I have Talas on another bike and I find them a pita as the adjustment is too fiddly, I prefer the simple max/min switch.

If I could afford them, I’d have U-Turn revelations as well.

Thank you for the advice so far
Anyone else got any opinions?

I built a new Soul last May. I started with xfusion velvet 120’s and they developed a creak, so warrantied and sold. Replaced with solo air Reba’s also 120mm. Much better performance than the xfusions in every way, except price.

I’ve got the new 2014 Talas going from 150 to 120 travel. Certainly wouldn’t have had the earlier version because it was, as has been said here, just a climbing mode but when they say the Talas has been re invented they do mean it. The fork functions just as well in the shorter mode, I often forget to bring it it back up and now find I only tend to bring the travel back up for big rocky descents.

That’s really helpful
Does anyone know how the fox CDT is in the 2014 models?
Are any of the other forks useable in their lowered mode like the new talas?

I’ve got 2012 140-110 terralogic talas 32s on my Soul. Maybe I’m just a hack, but I can’t feel any real difference in action between 140 and 110. I run mine at 110 most of the time and they’re grand, I like them a lot, it’s definitely not just a ‘climbing mode’.