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After a little advice to help my son out please. A good few people on here helped me out a couple of years ago in building him up his first real mtb. I got an old ragley mmbop xs and a load of second hand bits on here (donated and purchased) and its been great for him. Now he has saved up his money and bought a pump track/dirt jump frame (Canyon Stitched 360). We need to get it built up but wanted some advice on forks. I know next to nothing about dirt jump kit, but it seems 100mm travel is all that is needed, but the forks seem expensive (like a Manitou circus) to not do too much. He is only 12, not jumping big yet & doesn't weigh much. Will he be ok if I get a standard mtb front sus fork with 80-100mm travel & tune to suit a dirt jump setup? (ie. High pressure, high compression damping, slow rebound). Or should we be spending the extra to get a specific dirt jump fork now? I'd definitely rather not, but don't want him too have a decent frame and the wrong forks.
Also, if anyone had any advice on a fork model I may be able to get second hand and setup to do what he wants, would be much appreciated.
Cheers.
Yes, any fork will do. The problem will be finding one with the right spec combo .
100mm travel, tapered head tube, bolt through axle? Hard to find outside of actual DJ forks.
I'd buy this...
https://www.pinkbike.com/buysell/4211967/
X-fusion forks with reduced travel (mine had the movable roll-pin) for my 12yo. he's hitting double black stuff on them, it's only really there as insurance if he's riding right. That's a 27.5 fork with 26 wheel which isn't perfect but works fine. should be good deals on 27.5 forks about too. no need for a specific DJ fork IMHO, he rides on a DH team and few of them have 'proper' DJ forks on their DJ bikes, but seem to do just fine
The fox fork above looks pretty sweet though!
My 13 year old has just bought one of those Stitched 360s.
We used a set of 27.5 2016ish Rockshox Sektor Golds. They use spacers on the air shaft to reduce travel, so I found some in the spares box and we took it down to 100mm. Works perfectly
I've also previously had a set of slightly older Reba dual airs that you can do the same with
My DJ runs a 27.5 X Fusion Sweep Roughcut, which work visa a similar arrangement. 3d printed a clip on spacer to reduce to 100mm. Again, feels great.
The RS forks should be doable for easily under £100, and the Sweeps weren't much more. You don't need to spend more. Just don't get anything too spindly. (Avoid QR imho)
Hope your son enjoys the bike, mine loves his, it's an absolute riot. We've had some brilliant sessions over the last few weeks and the way it's improved his riding is really noticeable.
Thanks very much for the replies. Glad to hear I can get away with something not DJ specific. However that Fox fork on Pinkbike does look great, its a bit outside his/our planned budget. I think the rockshox route with reduced travel will be what we go for. If anyone has something that may be suitable they want to sell I'd be interested.
