I had a couple of rides on them now so it’s time to give some early opinion. I got the new Rockshox Sektor Air 150 to replace my 4yo Rockshox Tora Coil RL 130. I wanted a lighter, more active, tunable and better damped fork, and to dip my toe in bolt-through fork/hub.

I was aware the extra crown-axle length might make the bars high (Giant’s have tall, ring-reinforced head tubes) so have put the stem on the headset with a spacer on top. I did need some more air in the RP3 to lift the back up a bit as it initially felt as slack as a DH bike! I was worried that the BB would start to feel too high, but Giant’s have quite low BB’s anyway and this doesn’t feel much of a problem in reality. I felt the bars were a bit high on my first ride, where I deliberately chose to climb a very steep quarry access road. I then descended some very rocky trails around Cheddar but the slipperyness was stopping me really pushing the fork fast through the rocks.

Before the second ride, I lowered the air pressure to increase sag to ~25%, added one stop of compression and a few stops of rebound damping. I took it to the Quantocks for a thrash and have to say I was impressed. The fork feels as active as my Fox air fork on my HT. I don’t sense any initial seal sticktion and my hands feel cushioned from small bumps compared with the Tora I took off. The rebound control at the bottom increases damping in nice increments and the compression control at the top also increases in nice increments. This is better than my Fox where it does very little until the last stop, when it becomes too damped, and TORA where the rebound damping is only just enough on the maximum setting. The 20mm maxle lite is a doddle to use and feels very safe compared with a QR.

The forks feel light on the bike, giving it new zing after the heft of the Tora. They also feel pretty damn direct when steering and I had no problems hammering soft corners in the rooty, mulchy combes – the combination of suspension and directness making steering grip really reliable (I’m sure the high roller tyre helps too). But I need to corner on a fast rocky trail to really push the fork. May have to ride at a trail centre when I’m on holiday in a couple of weeks.

I think slightly less sag (higher spring-rate) and travel would be better because it’s almost too active when pedalling. So I plan to fit some of the travel reducing spacers that came with it at some point, to knock it back to 140 or even 130mm. Then put some more air in. The fork came with a nice shock pump.

While I’m at it, I should mention that I bought some new wheels to go with the fork – also all white. The XC switch hub wheels from Superstar. They seem solidly built. Time will tell if they are the bargain they appear to be.

Are you still rating the fork?

Had two more rides on it: NantYArian and ClimachX, and it seems very nice 🙂 Haven’t dropped the travel – may not bother as am getting used to it.

WHat’s it like interms of stiffness?

How does it compare to the Pike?

Good review. STW needs more of these rider submitted reviews…

Out of interest, why run them with a high spring rate? Conventional wisdom is for a softer spring and slower compression damping?

I run my forks somewhere arround 33% sag, then bump up the compression damping untill I’m not using all the travel.

Good review. STW needs more of these rider submitted reviews…

Agree!

Well I have not had a Pike, I’m only comparing with QR forks.

The last part of the ClimachX had some fast, rockier sections which I did three times and they seem to work very nice, able to keep up with the Maestro back-end, no tracking problems that I noticed. Being 600g lighter at the front is good, but otherwise I’m not really noticing them at all. I think that’s a good thing.

Out of interest, why run them with a high spring rate? Conventional wisdom is for a softer spring and slower compression damping?

I run my forks somewhere arround 33% sag, then bump up the compression damping untill I’m not using all the travel.

Yes, it’s a good point. I’ve not had this level of tune-ability before. My previous forks have run at around 20% in the “attack” position, so that’s been my target. But softer springrate and a little bit of compression damping seems logical.

I think slightly less sag (higher spring-rate) and travel would be better because it’s almost too active when pedalling.

How do you pedal? To be so active whilst pedalling with 25% sag seems a bit odd; I tend to have my forks at 25-30% sag and don’t get too much movement, though they tend to track the ground very well. I couple this with 30-40% sag at the rear (depending on the bike) and this seems to match very well. Of course all of this is relative to the particular bike design etc. Have you played with the compression damping to try and calm it down a bit?

Could be too little rebound, compress then Boing! fork pops back up, depends what he means by too active.

Any idea what air Sektors actually weigh?
I’m thinking of replacing the 409 coil Pikes on my Prophet.
I weighed them the other day, they’re 2550g (5.6lbs) 😯

Have you played with the compression damping to try and calm it down a bit?

Well, the TranceX encourages sit-down spinning as the back-end barely moves. But have noticed the fork suspension moving with the pedal strokes. Increasing compression does combat this well, but beyond two steps and could feel the ground through the bars when going downhill. I’ve got one stop ATM and it seems a reasonable compromise.

It’s not rebound issue, I’m sure.

~1.8kg (for the air)

Ahhh,I run my compression stiff enough that it only gives up enough travel when I need it to. I’ve tried running them soft but the bike doesnt feel ballanced, got someoen else (faster than me) to set them up how they would have them and they were much stiffer in compression and marginaly more spring rate. But the bike is much more stable, comes out of big rock gardens as fast and composed as it went in where beofre it would eat up all its travel and bottm out over the last few rocks.

I’m using 150mm RC2 Z1’s which weigh a ton! No idea if its more than your 2550g pikes though. They look significantly bulier though.

I’m running a 150mm coil U-Turn Sektor on the front of a Blue Pig. Before that it had a coil Pike. It feels good to me, but I’m a hugely average, rider, so I wouldn’t set too much store by that 😐

Increasing compression does combat this well, but beyond two steps and could feel the ground through the bars when going downhill.

They may be the wrong forks if you’;re looking for a magic carpet ride. However, If that’s the case, I’m fairly certain that increasing the spring rate will exagerate the effect, and as Simon says, it could well be the rebound needs a little tweak. It may seem counter-intuitive, but slightly slowing the rebound also affects its behaviour on compression, but overdoing it can make the fork pack down a bit.

I’ve now sold my Rockshox, though a set of boxxers are on the way. My current forks are fox float R and RL’s and I find that on the R, the rebound damping also seems to slow the compression, and gives a very good compromise. In fact, its on an Orange Crush, and I actually run 40% sag on this; its only ever over-active when I’m up out the saddle big ringing or honking a climb, and my technique has gone crap. Sat down spinning I don’t feel anything through the bars, though its not divey either when riding twisty single track.

‘m running a 150mm coil U-Turn Sektor on the front of a Blue Pig

I’ll be getting some air sektors for my blue pig 🙂

How does it feel with 150’s?

They may be the wrong forks if you’;re looking for a magic carpet ride

As currently set up, they feel magic to me! As active and smooth as my Fox on the other bike. I haven’t bottomed them out yet. I only managed to bottom out my 130mm coil Toras once: landing from a drop on-the-nose.

All this very much depends on how fast/smooth you ride I reckon. I’m not that quick! 🙂

How does it feel with 150’s?

Feels good, it might have climbed very marginally better with the slight extra weight and 10mm-ish lower front end from the Pike, but they seem to suit the frame really well – awesome over the rocky stuff on Cut Gate the other day. I think they’re a bargain at the price.

buzz-lightyear – Member
…I haven’t bottomed them out yet …

then let some air out!

you paid for all that travel, you might aswell use it.