Got a medium frame with rock shox tora 302 forks on it. Had them for years, never serviced, no leaks, always been reliable. Bought my son a genesis latitude which has recon golds 120mm and they seem much lighter and more responsive. Are they a good buy for my ss or should I be looking at 130 or 140mm because of the slack head angle?
Thanks.

SS is designed to have a slack head angle with shorter travel forks IIRC. Something between 100-120 is ideal unless you really want mega slack.

Thanks. Anyone had any experience with 100 or 120mm forks on a summer season?

Wont be many running them at that (all gnarr 140mm+ types)! I have a 456 with a -1deg slackset so only 1deg off the SS, running it at 120mm and find it great.

Cheers. My forks are u turns so I’m going to experiment first with the travel and see how I go.

I had pike u turns on mine and found them best around 100-120mm. They were kind of fun going down hill at 140mm as long as you were pointing down something quite steep, otherwise they felt a bit daft.

I’ve an old set of 110-150mm 36 talas on mine. They spend most of their time at 110 which is spot on for xc and jumping about. Because they’re so chunky they work well at this height for that there gnarr stuff too. They came off my old minidh bike so i know they can take a beating, and the option to wind them out a bit when it’s really rough and steep makes them the perfect fork for my 456SS.

So am I better off sticking with what ive got? They are adjustable from 85 to 135mm, or is it worth going for say 120mm recon golds? Will I notice a big difference in weight and handling?

Don’t know that weight will make that much difference but isn’t the Tora a pretty basic fork. I’d get second hand 36 Talas or Lyrik U Turns personally. It’s never going to be a light bike so might as well build it for great performance.

Recon Gold solo air, I had one on a Summer Season (no longer have the bike) and they worked well and suited the frame. They were bought as 100’s but removal of the inner spacer (easy job) took them out to 120. Personally I wouldn’t have wanted the Summer Season any slacker than that and feel the idea of really long travel forks on a hardtail is a bit ridiculous. The Summer Season is just a slacker 456 and takes the same range of forks. The Recon Gold is a darned good performer considering it cost me £170 new and I still have it on another hardtail.

As mentioned, the Summer Season shouldn’t run long forks otherwise it’ll be choppered-out. Some Rebas would surely be a good thing.

If i hadn’t of had the talas i’d of went for an old u-turn pike or rev. Both more than up for a bit of vigorous riding with better feel than the tora. Must say i find it reassuring when i look down and see big **** off stanchions staring back.

Totems? 😀

I had the 1st generation summer season, like said above, designed for short travel forks 100m-120mm, but giving a slack head angle. I had 125ml talas forks which were ok, bit of hefty clog iron frame tho, never got on with it. Now got a 456 carbon with slack headset, same geo I think, but much lighter bike.

I’ve got Lyrik u-turns on mine, 130mm is the sweet spot for me.

MATT BURLING- Have you still got your Rickman BMX to sell?

I would like it if you have
many thanks

I run 120mm rebas and it feels great

I had 100-120-140 TALAS on mine. Was probably best at 120. Although I never got on with it really. Dead and lifeless. Put those forks on a Blue Pig, totally different animal.

Apparently Brant has said the 456 SS was designed for 100mm forks. If so, why isn’t it called a 4 SS?????

I ran mine with a z150 in france

Rode ace.

Came back to uk and it was useless.

Swapped z150s to mx comps and it came back to life and is still unreal on the downs 🙂