[Closed] Which fork? Pike 454/Fox Talas 32/Pike 426/Other?

I dont think you would have any problems with any of the forks listed, but my money would be on set of Revelations.

Cool, why would you go for the Revelations? Dual air shock over the coil shocks that i've listed above?
My thinking was a coil would take the hard hits better as it is a coil so it just compresses where as air when compressed increases pressure so hard hits would blow seals?

I am not atall experienced in forks or exactly how they work and this is just my understanding of what could be the case?

Much lighter, same internals as pikes, perhaps cheaper (I have the dual air versions and they were £300, you can get the QR Dual air for £230 not sure about the U-turn) very simple insides that can be services at home with almost no skill and just a couple of tools, ajustable so you can set higher or lower pressure for different applications and such like....

I personaly have never blown seals off a fork, the preasure is inside a chamber in the forks, rather than just inside the legs pushing on the seals

Buy 2 forks, a coil based one for dirt jumping and a light weight air 'adjustable' for XC and events?

Have you considered [url= http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/fs-08-pike-454-air-u-turn-maxle-price-reduced ]THESE?[/url]

Coil Van 32's or Pikes (if you want travel adjust) would be a good start. I'd would also suggest buying forks suitable for the majority of your riding rather than trying to compromise things for the odd event.

Email me for Fox prices, supplied a few guys on here 🙂

You can get some Revelations 110 - 140mm with Maxle Lite for much cheapness. We have tons.

I would go with the Pikes, have owned 09 Dual Air revs, Van 32s and now on second set of Pikes, all good forks but 426 Pikes seem to be fit and forget.

I run my Stiffee with 150mm Fox 36's and a 50mm stem and it climbs fine. The Pikes are a really good fork and I've used both coil and air ones on the Stiffee and they're very good.

Rev's would certainly be a lighter option for the XC racing but the Stiffee is never going to be a light weight.

As suggested above it sounds like you need two sets of forks. A 100mm air race fork (Rebas in 100mm are worth a look) and a 140/150mm coil fork for the Jump / FR stuff.

I suggested 2 forks as that's what I have; a 120mm Reba maxle and a 150mm 36 talas.

The Fox's just look like a pissy QR axleed fork, not what I would be using out of the the 3 for freeride and dirt jump type stuff.

Obvious choice is the pike 454, as you say it has you turn so more adjustable than the fox, probably more reliable/less strip down and oil times. It is also air so you set it how you want for XC stuff then pump it up and drop the travel for the dirt jumps.

The 426 has the steel steerer which is a bit stronger and what i would trust for dirt jumps, but its coil so you'll need two springs, a hard for dirt jumps and then whatever you'd normally use for xc.

No contest, 454 easy

For what its worth, the 32s would probably be ok for jumps if your smooth but I wouldnt want to be casing anything too hard, the last few sets of dirt jump forks Ive used have all weighed in at 5.5lbs+

The Revelations are weaker than Pikes, it just doesn't seem to make any difference.

Pikes. I've two pairs, one coil 409 (as 426 except for internal floodgate) and one Air 454.

They're reliable, stiff and easy to look after.

Job done.

I don't jump but I've had Talas 32's, Air 454's & coil 454's. The Talas are by far the easiest to adjust the travel. The coil 454's were by far the better fork but also the heaviest.

Yeh the talas are easiest/less time consuming to change travel, but Id imagine with the varied riding your doing, youd set the travel on the forks before the ride anyway.

Its not like your gonna be halfway through a set of jumps and wishing you could change the travel

The talas is only best if you want to drop the front end quickly for a hill climb.

As others have said, for me I would look at how easy you want travel adjust. If setting up then forget for the ride maybe the Pike. If constant tweaking during the ride TALAS with QR15 perhaps? As Si mentioned above, drop him a mail - that may give some more food for thought.

Thanks for the replies.
Going for 2 sets of forks would be the best thing to do but I really dont wanting to be swapping over forks before I go out a ride so a set that can do it all is what i'm wanting
I'm not overly bothered if the forks that can do it all are heavier, I'm not that serious about XC, I just enjoy taking part in the events and I still want to be able to go out and climb hills so being able to adjust the forks before I go out riding is a must.

The Pike Air 454 U-turns sound like the best option and i'm going to start hunting for where I can get them the cheapest.
I've sent you an e-mail Si and one to flyingfox aswell.

Cheers

Cant find that many companies selling them?

http://www.thebicycledoctor.net/rockshox-pike-454-air-u-turn-110-1140mm-black-disc-mc--ext-floodgate-adj-2531-p.asp

£499 ^^

Slight threadjack, the 2010 Revelations get very good reviews but a lot of people seem to rate the Pikes ahead of them, why is this??

I cant find the Pike Air U-turns because they have been discontinued and the revelation airs have the same internals etc so there was no need for them to do a Pike air this year - supposedly 🙂

what steerer length do you need?

Not sure yet, i'll get the headset pressed in and measure it up. Howcome, what you got?

Didn't think a lot of my Talas 32's, a pain to adjust the travel and were pretty much condemned (£237 bill) when I sent them for their first service, a little late at 18 months obviously! 😳

Now replaced with Pike 454's and really happy with them, of course if they were a bit lighter ...... !!

Since I cant get Pike Air U-turns and I cant find any decent revelations air u-turns with a 20mm axle - I'm now thinking about going for Fox Talas 36's:
http://www.winstanleysbikes.co.uk/product/16879/Fox_36_Talas_RC2_15_Steerer_Forks_2009

ignore the fact that the above set are 1.5 steerer.
I'll be getting 1.125" 🙂

Hi got [url= http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/fs-08-pike-454-air-u-turn-maxle-price-reduced ]THESE[/url]

36 Talas very excessive for that bike. Mate got a Pronghorn 150 with Fox 32 Talas. Rockshox can take more stick from my experience and have greater longevity.

Hi, thanks for the reply. In what ways is it excessive?

The only Air shock with u-turn that rockshox are doing now is the Revelation and it works out at the same money with less features, less adjustablity (no compression adjustment & less height adjustment) and it is designed for XC.
I wanted to get a set of Pike 454 Air U-turns but I couldnt find any new 09's for sale. I phoned around a lot of places aswell as searching online and everywhere is sold out. They all told me the same thing: there is a revelation air with u-turn so they are not doing a pike air u-turn this year which is a shame.

The 36 TALAS is designed for DH/FR/AM, so SHOULD be harder and be able to take more of a beating so I'd hope it is able to take more of a beating than the XC designed Revelations.
However the Revelations supposedly use the same internals as the Pike so they should be pretty hardcore.

I already have a set of Fox Floats on my Specialised Enduro and they are amazing forks. The TALAS should be just as good, if not better than them and i'm really looking forward to trying them out.
I have ordered them already so i'll let you know how I get on with them. Would be nice to know what you mean by excessive? 160mm is excessive yes but the Stiffee can handle it so hopefully its all good!

Cheers
Andrew

Andrew, they will be just fine on the stiffee 🙂

160mm will surely be too much on that frame? Its got a slack head angle and high BB as it is.

130mm will be sweet though and dropping them to 100mm for jumps is nice. Doubt they'll feel quite as good as your floats but there still decent forks