As the tile says. For the budget concious are they really viable?
read good things about the epicons with the bolt through and they look well made to.
Lots of variety in their range. The XCR is a better option than the Dart 1 or 2 but not as good as a Tora, the models lower than the XCR mostly aren't very good. The XCR performs well but is pretty sensitive to wear, you need to seriously look after them.
As Northwind says. A female friend killed hers riding in Hyde Park over some wet 3 weeks last year. Her current set, cleaned and looked after, has been faultless so far.
I have the bolt through Epicons on my 29er, and they feel very similar to the Rebas on my 26er, maybe a bit too much stiction but they are still quite new. The 15mm QR is a pain if you use a hub that doesn't have a continuous 15mm internal sleeve. Well worth the money in my opinion and totally underated.
Don't Suntour make the forks for some of the other brands?
Don't Suntour make the forks for some of the other brands?
They certainly used to make some Marzocchi forks (the lower end stuff), not sure about any others.
How do you 'look after' a pair of XCRs? Does it involve anything more than washing and spraying a bit of gt85 on the slidey bits? I've had mine for just over a year and haven't done anything else with them. They seem to be boingy enough at the moment, should I be stripping them down or something?
XCR is a better option than the Dart 1 or 2 but not as good as a Tora
I agree but I trashed a pair after 2 days XC in Austria - Upper chrome wore off and dampening was failing 🙁 Was a cheap hire bike though 🙂
If you search for Suntour on BikeRadar you will get a fair few reviews.
never put GT85 on forks
Another happy Epicon user here. Can't really fault at the price...
racing_ralph - Member
never put GT85 on forks
Out of interest why is that ?
Been using it on my All Mountains 1's for about 4 years now. No issues with seals or the stanchions......
I've got some virtually brand new 2010 Rock Shox Tora 289 U-Turn (85mm-130mm) that I'll be selling soon for a very reasonable price. Only used four times!
"How do you 'look after' a pair of XCRs? Does it involve anything more than washing and spraying a bit of gt85 on the slidey bits?"
Thoroughly bump clean after every ride- with fork oil not GT85- and then do a quick service as often as you can be bothered, it takes 10 minutes as they're so simple (2 bolts out, split fork, clean and grease). The seals are pretty poor and the internal bushings are plastic which is a terrible combination, the seals pick up dirt which sands the black ano off pretty much instantly- but don't worry, it's just there for looks as far as I can tell- but then shortly after the bushings will wear and the fork will start to slop and judder. And that's not economically worth repairing really. WD40 or GT85 will probably be worse for these as it'll go straight past the seals and potentially degrease other parts- they're greased with a heavy grease inside.
So it's possible to keep them running nice and while they do, they're good but realistically it's a bit of effort. Certainly wouldn't buy a set new or used but if they come on a bike sub-£500 you get decent performance for the money. Then if they wear out you buy a cheap Tora like everyone else 😉
Thanks for the advice. It was the Epicon I was looking at.
Usage would be for Bridleways and the odd visit to trail centres for nothing more serious than "red" routes.
Epicon 29er`s here and around 1500 miles now no probs, once a year old and warranty is up will send em to TF Tuned for them to work there magic and get them more plush like Rockshoks,
i was told Suntour make Rockshok 😉
The Epicon's supposed to be really nice, never owned one so can't comment on longevity but they definately work very well from new.
Suntour don't make any Rockshox but they do make Marzocchi. Up to 2009 at least every Marzocchi came out of the Suntour factory in Taiwan apparently.