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I'm tempted to try some bigger coil forks on my Orange Patriot but i'm not wanting to break the bank. Has anyone any experience (good or bad) with the 318's (looking 2nd hand)? Are there any alternatives available 2nd hand which I should look at?
I have had some for over a year now. Have given me precisely 0 problems. They are smooth, controlled, stiff and I reckon they give you about 90% of the performance of a posher fork (comparing to Lyriks and my Fox 36's) for a fraction of the price...
The damping system is pretty basic but works well enough, rebound has a nice wide range of adjustment and the compression adjust is useful (2-3 clicks for normal riding, 0 if you want them silly plush but divetastic). can occasionally suffer from a bit of a spike on really big fast hits but I believe there are mods you can do if this really bothers you - never bothered me, happened a couple of times that I can remember when being a bit over-ambitious with the speed 🙂
downsides? they weigh a bit, but you get over that pretty quick when you remember how little they cost 😉
unexpected upsides? if you scratch the upper sliders on a domain it's pretty easy to polish out since they are steel.
Personally I would recommend them if you're on a budget, and they're probably a safer bet than a SH pair of potentially shafted 36's.
Matt
As above - fine as long as you're not taking them to the Alps or planning to use them on particularly long downhill tracks
great forks, go for it!