I'm hoping to be getting a Swift frame soon and I'll be building it up with suspension at the front so what forks are people using – or more to the point, what travel? I'd be getting an XL which has a fairly long head tube (140mm) so I suspect that anything over 100mm might make it very high at the front.

This was me borrowing an XL Swift and it felt about right position-wise with the rigid fork, flat bar and stem with low rise so I'm thinking that even with a 100mm fork I might be having to run negative rise on the stem – it'll practically be a road bike 🙂

large size swift over here, similar riding position.

i'm thinking that a 80mm fork versus a rigid steel plus a big squishy tyre isn't enough of an improvment to justify the expenditure.

I'd disagree – even 80mm travel makes a big difference over a rigid fork and fat tyre – besides, I remember the days on the Judy DH when 75mm was considered huge 😉

yeah but £400/£500 worth of difference?

I'll probably still end up doing it, just wincing at the thought!

i'll post pics if/when they arrive 😉

you;ve dumped the viper idea then?

Use the standard rigid fork and put a 2.4 on the front instead.

Well Sam made a good offer so if I can sell enough bits then it's a Singular…

Rocketdog – I downloaded a manual for your Manitous and while it's not how they're designed, I reckoned you could pretty easily modify them to run at 100mm

Kona unit frame, large with 135mm Headtube, similar to the swift XL headtube and similar head angle too)currently mated to a pair of Maz 44TST2 29ers at 120mm. Front end ok, might be a little high for some but once the fork has sagged, not a huge difference from a 470mm rigid exotics before

I run rigid on my Inbred 29er, Reba 80mm on my Rockhopper 29er and 120mm Maxle Reba on my Salsa Big Mama.

80mm feels like more than enough for most of my riding, i would run the Reba maxles at 100mm but they came at 120 and i couldn't be bothered to pay somebody to reduce them for me.

Although rigid with 2.55" low PSI tyres is fine for most riding (esp. uphill and flat) you still feel it a lot on some of the downs and the 80mm makes a big difference imho.

It's just difficult to find cheap 29er forks (like Tora, Recon equivalents) so you have to start looking at £300+ unless you get lucky on the classifieds/ebay. I do regret selling my Tora 29ers for £110 to a chap off here now – they could go on the On One but i didn't own it at the time i sold them.

Got my forks in the states and shipped over and despite the fact my folks are there at the moment and could bring me back a set, my chappy over there could not source me any Reba SL's (i wanted basic ones) saying that it seems the supply is dry until the 2011 models start to come through.

I've often thought that 80mm with the added 'roll-over' potential of the 29er wheel probably makes it as 'capable' as a 100mm forked 26er.

Heaven knows how much more 'capable' my 26er SS is running an 80mm fork over rigid …

For cheapness check out the new manitou drakes.

http://www.hotlines-uk.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=44490

think they have the same internals as the minutes, just heavier

slight tangent i spose but why is my swift so much easier to trackstand than my previous little bikes? tyres are a similar width, as are the bars… weird

I rum the 80mm minutes on mine nice fork a bit of a faff to set up but now riding very nice
Fork geometry blessed by Sam,
also don't get too hung up on how much travel you think you need compared to 26" you will get away with less

just fitted these 2010 suntour 100mm to a karate monkey, alloy stantions,steerer and 15mm through axle and there ace…and only £189 from chain reaction cycles…

Are they really heavy? How well put together do they seem? Review?

clubber – I ran my XL swift with 100mm Manitous up front and i really liked the riding position. I'm 6'5" and was using a 70mm Thomson stem with 35mm of spacers under it.

I asked at my lbs about changing the travel on minutes and was told that its not possible, CRC have some for £360 due in early July 😉

Good choice on the Swift btw, look forward to seeing the pics 😛

Well you can always reduce the travel of air forks by extending the top out bumper but it can require some messing about with negative springs but I've done it a few times with various forks

Ok they might have meant that it wasn't cost effective to do it then. I don't touch fork internals myself 😕

I like the look of those Suntours – surprised that i've not seen anybody on here mention them before?

At that price i'd certainly give them a punt but only 15mm bolt thru available. I have a halo freedom 29er wheel knocking around as a spare but it's either QR or 20mm and it doesn't look like they do a 15mm adaptor kit. Bugger. 🙁

Typical, he first cheapo 29er fork that comes along to try and it's a bloody 15mm one. Seems strange that is the only offering they do.

Nice to see clubber avoiding a 100 post thread by starting another one about another frame! 😀

Mr Tall, if your freedom wheel has the spin doctor hub then you can get these bad boys :
http://www.ukbikestore.co.uk/product/205/huhasda5/halo-spin-doctor-15mm-axle-hub-adapter.html
Use them on a pair of Marzocchi 44tst 29er forks, just the job for 15mm forks ! 🙄

does it sa "epicod" on those suntours? sounds fishy

Using 29er Reba Race 100mm dual air forks on my XL Swift. With about 20mm of spacers and some mid rise bars. Currently running with gears and it climbs steep hills in granny ring without the front lifting. The original rigid forks with a 2.35 tyre up front worked well enough most of the time. But it could get a bit 'exciting' on the fast, rough downhills in the summer. Now the limit is the fact that it is a hardtail……… still a great frame though……

Cheers Bunners,

I saw those on CRC but thought they seemed to be XTR specific so didn't think they'd fit. If they will i may well buy a set of the forks and give them a go on my SS. I guess for a tenner it's worth getting them to try.

I know these are 1.8 tyres, but bargain!

Bonty tubeless ready

Those are silly cheap – shame they're not Mud Xs.

At the moment, I'm a bit stuck – had agreed a sale of a load of bits but not the buyer's gone quiet so I don't know if he's actually going to buy them and therefore whether I'll actually have the cash for the Swift…

Suntour forks – hard to get over the name (more the reputation of quality or lack thereof rather than the name itself actually) but they do look tempting…

Suntour forks – hard to get over the name (more the reputation of quality or lack thereof rather than the name itself actually) but they do look tempting…

Shaggy was testing some Suntour forks last year (I don't know what model but they were cheap) and he seemed quite taken by them.

EDIT: Now I think about it it may have even been the year before.

Yeah, I had heard that – it's just a bit like Skoda isn't it – you hear that they're good now but it's hard to get over the previous reputation.

I think that unless I find some good second hand forks then I may well go for the Suntours so we'll see…

I heard Suntour actually manufactures forks for some of the big name brands.

That's spinner isn't it – they do the cheaper RS forks AFAIK.

Could be suntour too though I guess.

" I saw those on CRC but thought they seemed to be XTR specific so didn't think they'd fit. If they will i may well buy a set of the forks and give them a go on my SS. I guess for a tenner it's worth getting them to try."

Thats what I thought so I just got a pair and they work just fine on the 44 fork and spin doc hub, no reason why they wouldnt fit on any other 15mm bolt through fork 🙄

If anyone wants to sell me their Swift rigid fork, drop me a line!

Cool. May order some adaptors later and try them before i order a fork.

There are 3 29er Suntour forks on CRC – The Raidon and 2 versions of the Epicon. They all seem like the same fork (internally) but the Raidon has a black stanchions & steel steerer and the Epicons have Gold anodized Alloy Stanchions and alloy steerer. The one above in the pic appears to be the remote version.

The only difference i can see is that one has remote lockout and one has it on top of the fork leg. Seems strange that the remote version is £10 more than the non remote? A pain as i don't want the remote to clutter up my bars. Still at £200 they are in a league of there own price wise for 29er forks.

Anybody have a view on which one is best to get (and why the raidon is more expensive than one of the Epicons despite seeming like a cheaper & heavier fork)? Has anybody found any weight figures for them yet? Did you weigh yours before fitting Coastkid? Cheers.

Oops – i meant the remote lockout is £10 cheaper. Can't find weight details anywhere but the 26" version appears to weigh aroun 4lbs which is not too bad.

Anyone know what offset the Suntours have?

these:

http://www.muddymoles.org.uk/2008/10/rst_m-29_review.html

i was looking at getting some forks for my swift. though now it seems Giant are going to release an Anthem 29er, might just put the cash towards a whole suspension bike and be done with it.

Hi i will have these for sale in 2 weeks 2010 rockshox reba sl 29er black can be 80 or 100mm steerer is around 195mm only been used around 6 times 150 miles max £300 ono posted.

Just bit the bullet and ordered some Epicons. Chap on here posted a voucher code for CRC so i only had to pay £180. 🙂

I'll let people know the weight etc after they turn up, hopfully on Monday.

Suntour used to make OEM and cheap Marzocchis. They were awful. Not to say that these ones are, though.

It's worth bearing in mind, Dylan, that the rigid fork is *very* tall on the Swift – you'll not raise the bars much (if at all) running a 80mm fork, at least. And a 100mm one with sag will probably also be at a similar height.

BTW, if you do decide to lower some manitous to 100mm, be advised that I did the same thing to a pair of Rebas (took them down to 70-odd mm). It worked fine, except that I found they then had a very rising rate, and so were prone to superfast rebound on bigger hits.. so experiment with some thicker damping oil.

They're only 1.5cm longer than standard 47cm forks though and the head tube is pretty long at 14cm…