So peeps, I reckon this year might be the one where I finally update the forks on my Soul. It's one of the old geometry frames, so can take up to a max of 130mm travel.
I haven't had new forks since fitting Marz MX Pros when I built the bike back in 2004. They're reliable, but more flexible than a gogo dancer.
My knowledge of suitable forks these days is limited. I'm after:
- Bolt thru
- 130mm max travel
- Sensible weight - I'm wheels on the ground XC in the Peaks and the like.
- Some sort of lockout/lockdown for climbing
- No higely pricey new (or s/h)
Rockshox Revs Uturn maxle (110 - 150mm adjustable)
Rockshox Reba RLT ti 120mm maxle
Not ridden either so can't offer an opinion. They fit your criteria so could be considered.
Second hand Pike 454 air uturn?
secondhand Reba with maxle, team model if you can afford it for the superior damping
edit to say reba is something silly like 3.5lbs, and 120mm fixed travel probably perfect for yr soul - was for my old hj
PAce RC40 would do everythign but bolt-through.
newer DT swiss woudl cover all your requirements bar price?
Magura Menja, not bolt through, but 2 braces so obscenely stiff for a QR fork and no need for a new wheel. Might be open to selling mine as they're overkill for riding round here.
got a manitou minute 120mm TPC through axle with post mount and 190mm steerer going spare, used to run it on my cotic soul, perfect ride height for it
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Interesting mainly Rockshox recs and no Marz, Manitou or Fox. Any reason?
EDIT: chunkypaul - how much?
Marzocchi changed its bushes from conical to parallel a few years back. This led (at least for a while) to some QC problems. May be fixed now - I don't know. The last pair of new forks I bought was in 2007.
However, RockShox currently sells reliable, cheap forks that are better per £ than the competition.
What about some Rock Shox Sektor RL solo air forks, these can be shimmed internally down to 130, they are available in 15 and 20mm bolt through, reasonable weight and good price.
say £200 including postagehow much?
chunkypaul - will have a think
rustymac - easily done? I have to admit, while I consider myself safe with a spanner in my hand, I've never done any fork fettling before.
peterpody has done guides for servicing rock shox forks on here and a number of people have followed them sucessfull in servicing their forks. I can't speak from experiance as i am yet to service my forks but i will be looking to do it myself this spring. Your other option would be buy them from somewhere like Loco or TF Tuned and they should be able to set them at your prefered travel level.
I've had similar thoughts, and it would seem the options are mainly:
Manitou Minutes, 130mm. Not maxle, but 20mm; sounds like you need to pick a good one though?
Revs: 140mm Maxle version, with spaces to reduce it to 130mm? Or as someone mentioned, the 110-150 version.
Rebas at 120mm Maxle?
I think I'm going to stick with 9mm bolt through for now on my Soda.
rustymac - I'll do some digging on here/approach Mr Poddy.
nicko74 - yep, they seem like the options. I guess I need to do my research to see what the price/specs are for the budget I set. Or I could go for chunkypaul's Minutes...