Hi everyone

I have a broken pair of 2008 Rockshox Toras. Is it a better idea to pay say £80 and have them fixed, or buy a new pair of £100 forks?

Are new £100 forks going to be better than 9 year old Rockshox Toras??

I haven’t been following the suspension fork marked for a while.

I wouldn’t bother throwing any money at a pair of Toras, I sold a set a few years ago in perfect working order for £30 and thought I was asking too much at the time!

You could pick up a pair of decent 2nd had Rebas for about £100 (or less if you’re lucky), or Recon (golds) for £50ish which is where my money would be going if on a limited budget.

What’s actually broken with the Toras though?

I don’t actually know, I only know the symptoms.

It leaks, and they stay locked out. May as well be rigid haha

What are the cheap suntours like compared to the toras? Like the XCRs for example?

The cheapie Suntours I’ve had a go on haven’t been great. Wife has some on the GT she has and they too out horribly when you lift the front wheel off the ground.

I think I’d be looking second hand as mentioned above. Not sure how much travel you need – but maybe something like a sector could be reasonable second hand. I’m guessing you have a straight steerer hough which will limit your choice of fork.

A mate got a new Rockshox fork for £150 recently – I can’t remember if a Reba or a recon but for what it cost he likes it. Had limited choice as he needed a straight steerer / less than 120mm travel and a 9mm quick release axle.

It leaks, and they stay locked out. May as well be rigid haha

Same symptoms as my 2 and half year old 120mm Reba’s. Not sure on the technical details on why they behave that way, or what causes them to get into that state ?
(Possibly doing a big DH with the forks accidentally locked out on more than one occasion perhaps caused it ???)

Despite feeling “locked out” most of the time, if they take any big hits they bottom out.

At least the suspension at the rear is working well so not quite as bad as riding rigid.

I used to have a Voodoo Hoodoo Hard Tail with a 120mm Suntour Radeon and that ended up the same way quite quickly. Replaced it with a cheap £70 fork then the bike got nicked 6 months later along with a brand new Spec Camber Evo that hadn’t even been ridden yet. Then 3 months later had a Whyte 529 nicked that I bought 2nd hand for £500 and only had it for 3 months.

I have a similar situation where I might need to replace a 2010 Reba race but my budget only stretches to a Recon. I’m wondering if suspension technology has progressed enough in the last 7 years to make those 2 forks comparable?

At least the suspension at the rear is working well so not quite as bad as riding rigid.

Rigid is bad?? Now they tell me……..

They probably just need some new o-rings inside the air or oil chambers.

Quite an easy fork to work on and lots youtube guides.

A kit like this probably has all the bits in
https://www.athleteshop.co.uk/rockshox-fork-part-servicekit-tora-o-ringen

+1 for some secondhand Rebas instead.

Lighter, work better and you’ll enjoy riding more.

I think the suntour raidons are awesome. Had some on my bizango before upgrading. They certainly performed better in my eyes than the Fox 32 I had on my full sus.

+1 for the raidons. But no upgrade here, still using them

I’d go for the second hand option myself

My mate picked up some Suntour for his 1 1/8th Inbred recently, think he paid about £150 new.

Decent enough, probably on a par with my old 2014 Sektors.

Thanks for all the advice, I think I’ll have a look at that service kit and some videos, If its only £12 I’ll try and fix them. If not I’ll have a look at second hand. Cheers everyone!