Hi,
New guy here. I am trying to get back into riding my bike and it is in a pretty sorry state of affairs. It is a 2002 Marin Palisades trail which was used for all year round comuting and pretty much neglected. I have got the drivetrain working and replaced the BB and everything is now fine apart from the forks.
They are (and always have been) too soft for my likings, and always live on the hardest setting. I was just wondering if anyone knew whether A, they are worth sorting out as the seals on the top look shot and B, where I would get the service parts.
Any help appreciated, feel free to tell me my bike is a heap, you won't be the first.
even a £100 modern fork is probably better than what you have now and it'll cost you a lot to get the Manitous sorted out, assuming it's possible.
I'd set a budget and either keep an eye on the classifieds or go and look at CRC, Merlin or on-one to see what's available.
Just what I expected.....
Now I have to decide on something decent to transfer to the next bike or something cheap to keep me going.
I've never bought forks before, I assume all I need to consider is steerer tube diameter and travel. Is there anything else?
those manitous aren't worth sorting; stick a wanted on the classifieds and hopefully you'll snag a set of rebas or similar.
axle to crown is probably more important than actual travel on an 'older' frame like yours.
Some 100mm forks have the same a-c as an 80mm or even a 120mm from another brand.
steerer size and brake compatability is important too. If you run disks a 'new' fork is likely to have a post mount disk mount (although the manitou's might to as they pioneered it) rather than an IS mount. You woudl need an adapter to run IS disk on PM fork but they are available (think on-one doing them for about £3 in their sale).
or do you need v brake mounts - probably a more limited choice of lower end forks for that.
Now I have to decide on something decent to transfer to the next bike or something cheap to keep me going.
spotted that after I posted.
I'd get something cheap if you're thinking of changing frame in future. Chances are if you upgrade you'll get something with a bit more 'modern' geometry, and that may mean needing a longer fork.
don't jeapardise your future frame choice by buying an expensive fork that suits your current bike.
Dave
They weren't good in 2002 when the bin was an excellent solution to all tuning requirements. Pretty sue things haven't changed!
Thanks,
I'll have a shop about. V Brakes at the front at the moment but a disk hub (when I bought the bike I seem to remember it was £150 to upgrade to a front disk....).
I might see if I can just cope with soft sticky forks until I can justify buying a new bike, which is a whole other dilemma.
Thanks again.
Mark
They weren't good in 2002 when the bin was an excellent solution to all tuning requirements. Pretty sue things haven't changed!
When I bought the bike I didn't know if I just hated suspension or if it was the forks on this one. I had a rigid clockwork which was stolen and bought this in a rush as it was in my size. Won't make that mistake again.