Hi,

First post here but I posted this BR a little while back, just wondered what people’s view were on here.

Probably going to order a small Soul next week and build it up slowly as funds allow. I’m not sure what forks to go for. Cotic recommended 120mm max but I’m not sure if I should go for something adjustable like 90-130mm ? or just stick with a fixed 120mm. I want white one’s, not fussed on if there RS or Fox although I do prefer RS a bit, remote lock out might be a bonus too. What do you recommend for the Soul for general xc/trail bit of everything riding. Don’t care if there 2009,10 models if there what I’m looking for and a bargin I’ll take them.

But I keep looking at the BFe because of the price. Talk me out of it please it will be way over the top for what/where I ride Surrey/Hants. I liked to build a longer full susser up later on.

How does this look for a build, (Soul)

Cotic Soul frame (orange)
Rock Shox Reba RL 120mm (white)
Hope hubs (black) XC717 rims (black) with black spokes or XM719’s ?
Avid Elixir 185/160mm
Race Face Ride stem,bars,post
Race Face Sniper lock on grips (white)

Thanks.

Sounds spot on to me. I only find I use the 140mm on mine on really rocky steep stuff.

If you can I would go for a Reba team 20mm fork, the damping is spot on.

and I would also go for the XM719’s as well.

this was mine with Rebas

IMGP1128 by eastham_david, on Flickr

and my new one with Rev teams

P1000834 by eastham_david, on Flickr

120mm forks idea for a Soul. Longer and the front wanders a bit I think.

Just to add fuel to the fire, i’m selling my older style, full 853 tubed BFe at the moment. It’s a small, in grey with orange decals. Geometry is the same as a Soul as you probably know, just the frame is about 3/4lb heavier. I only want 200 quid for the frame though, so you could put the money you save towards some top notch forks! 😉

I ran 120mm reba team maxles and they were great, would recommend them highly. the new sid 120 look interesting. if you live somewhere rocky and steepish revs with u turn would be my choice.

White forks on orange souls 😀

Ran reba U-turn at 115mm on mine until the DT swiss XMM 120 turned up. Cant fault the reba and if hadnt had the money for XMM would have fitted them instead.

120mm forks idea for a Soul. Longer and the front wanders a bit I think.

+1. Good fun with 140 but front needs effort to keep down on the steeper climbs. 120mm is the best compromise. My Soul currently has coil Pikes on but I usually just leave them set at 120mm.

Thanks all.

@mboy tempted but to be honest BFe is over the top for what I will need.

I can get Reba 120mm with standard q/r from Merlin cheap but is it worth the extra money to go 20mm maxle ?

719’s it is and SLX chainset be ok ?

It looks good with 140mm though 8)

36’s spaced to 130mm travel looks great rides beautifully. Perfect round swinley and fun ragging it at Woburn

Yes definitely go for 20mm maxle Rebas, got them on mine and they’re superb, your front wheel is deflected less from obstacles and it makes you feel you can go faster over rougher stuff.

If you go 20mm maxle then I’d also look at oversize bars/stem to really complement it.

And to just throw my 2 pence worth on wheels I’d look at Pro 2 on Flow rims, they’re a good bit wider than a 719, weigh only a smidgeon more and cos of their width tyres aren’t piched so much so appear wider and have more contact with the ground, are less likely to roll on the rim on tight cornering and you can get away with running a narrower tyre than on “standard” rims, I went from 2.3s to 2.1s

And while you’re doing that why not go tubeless?
Better start saving now!
All IMHO of course.

I have just finished building a small orange Soul (before Christmas). Has 120mm Rebas and Hope Pro2s with Stans Flows running tubeless. I just run a 1X10 on this bike having been 1X9 on my other xc bike for ages. Weighs about 25lbs and feels great. Really worried at the time that I should have adjustable forks but didn’t bother and now riding it the forks are a non issue. Doesn’t wander and body position is fine, don’t feel like I am falling off the back at all when climbing. Very happy with it for what I wanted. Seems so simple but able I can’t understand why everyone hasn’t got one!

another Soul appreciation thread?
is this a Soul fanboy site now? what happened to On-One, Dialled Bikes and Ragley?
.
mine is below, with 140mm dual air Revelations. I could drop them to 125mm, but I’ve not found the need to, I run them with quite a bit of sag.

@edoverheels Is that with a 20mm Maxle or standard q/r ?

I was set on an orange but liking the black now 😕

Standard q/r and feel fine. It is not a downhill bike but a light flicky xc bike. If you want to smash rocks take a different bike!

Vortexracing, what you runing up front gears wise ? I’ve always run tripple rings but now thinking over running less. My build is going to just be for xc/trail riding around Surrey/Hants so no mountains or huge rocks 😆

22 Shimano & a 34 Midleburn with a Race Face Bash

revelation with a u-turn and a 20mm maxle (if compatible). simples

Running mine with 140mm Revs UTurn. Dial down for climbs and for anything except the steepest stuff, tend to run c 120mm, but nice to have 140 for when it gets gnarly.
Old frames only take 130 forks max, new ones are ok for140mm
Lovely bike. Reputation deserved IMO

Another set of 140mm Rev U-Turns here – perfect match for the frame. I run them short to keep the handling sweet for local woodsy riding and climbs, then they come into their own when munching rocks on the downs. I’d definitely go for a Maxle given the choice though.

P1000156_Cropped by markxknowles, on Flickr

I reckon the Soul really suits an adjustable fork, you can play to the frame’s different characters that way. 110-140mm Revelation uturn would be absolutely perfect (I ran mine with a 100-130mm).

If you’re stuck with just one length then 120mm is about right.

Anyone know where I can get some white Rev’s, Maxle & U-turn ? or some white Reba’s 120mm with Maxle ? or even some white Fox 120’s

chain reaction had some white revs with maxle and u-turn, they are race so no blackbox. mine should be finished for this weekend. and i can’t wait…

Mine is one of the older ones (130mm max travel) and I’ve a set of air U-turn Revs on it. Spend most of the time at about 110, winding them out to 130 for the more interesting descents. Absolutley love it like this.

Just about to hit the button on some 100mm SIDs, but going to build it up more lightweight racing than gnarly trail. Anyone running 100mm forks on a Soul ?

Anyone running 100mm forks on a Soul

Yep, running a set of maxel’d Rebas at 100mm on my Soul. Love it, although should mention we don’t have much in the way of steep and rocky in my usual riding spots.

dan

Cheers dude. I’ll be a wheels on the ground bike. I’ll keep the FS for Lakes riding duties.

Anyone running 100mm forks on a Soul ?

Yep. Old Zocchi MX Pro (which is all I could afford when I built it 7 years ago).

No (decent) pics of it. Back when I was buying it, black or orange were the frame choices. I wanted orange. Mrs North’s proviso for me building the bike was no orange..!

i used to have zocchi mx comp’s on mine, 105mm, was great to ride, but just felt so much more alive on 120+
did change the forks to 120mm when servicing them but the small white plastic clip on the top of the fork leg broke and thus ended up with an amazingly fast rebound rate!! topping out all over the place!!!! lesson learnt, haha!
mines on manitou minute ultimate IT’s, 140mm but set to 130 as frames an older one, but is So much fun to ride! bit odd though if you set them down to 80mm after some 130mm hooning!!

i used to have zocchi mx comp’s on mine, 105mm

Same here – the first forks I had on mine were 105mm MX Comps. I’ve also run 100mm Floats on it for a while. Worked well like that, but IMHO better with 120mm.

I also ran mine with a 22/32/bash for a while but have reverted back to a triple and prefer it that way (my BFe has a double and bash though).

ive got mine with 22/36, works great for me as hardly Ever used big ring at all, did put a 26t oin for a while as the 22 looked Soo tiny! but then found out How much it hurt lol!

My Small Soul’s got Fox F120s and Stan’s Crest Wheels, SRAM X9 gears and a Pure i7 seatpost on it, which I love. Definitely worth getting XM719 wheels or Crests/Flows as the larger carcass tyres will sit better on these rims than the XC717s (which I now use to put road tyres on), and the Crests I’ve gone tubeless with, with Nobby Nics, and they work really well together.

The F120s seem the perfect travel. I prefer the feel of the Fox Forks, although I’d like to try out bolt-thru to see if there are any stiffness benefits. The best deals online are definitely with Merlin on the Rockshox forks though. I’d suggest either Revelations or SIDs depending on your persuasion. 🙂

These are what I was going to use http://www.merlincycles.co.uk/Bike+Shop/Frame++Forks/Forks++Shocks/Rockshox+Suspension+Forks/Rock+Shox+Reba+RL+120mm+-+2011_RS-REBA-RL.htm but there only standard q/r

I wouldn’t obsess overly about maxles/15mms. Some forks really benefit from it, like Fox 32s, new Revelations etc, but others show less benefits.

Reba QR is still a respectably stiff fork, as was the old Revelation- I replaced my old 130mm QR Rev with the 09-model maxle Rev, it was marginally stiffer but not enough to justify the weight difference and price difference so I went back to the QRs and sold the maxle ones. It’s going in a Soul after all, a fairly flexible frame, and quite likely you’ll be attaching it to a fairly lightweight wheel too.

OTOH I wouldn’t have the new 150mm Revs in QR, they’re built lighter than the old ones and they’re longer.

If you’ve got suitable wheels and it’s not limiting your choice or adding a packet to the price it’s worth going bolt-through for sure but it’s not a must-have, IMO.

I have 120mm Reba SL with Maxle on my Whyte 19 – they are a great fork until you start pushing them hard and then the damping loses it. Go for the BlackBox damping if your going to be working the fork hard.

I demo’d a Soda which had QR Fox F120 forks (with a big DT QR)… and to be honest they felt as stiff as the Reba’s, and they certainly felt like a better fork… I wouldn’t worry about the QR/15/20 thing and if money is tight get the better performing fork rather than the one with ego boosting look how rad I am axle.

Ok thanks all, can anyone point me in the direction of some good 120mm white forks ?

Can’t decide on what forks 😡 , would like white but now thinking black. I was set on an orange soul but do like the black 😆 and 120mm seems to be the recommended travel. 😕

Dont be such a **** gimp

I think what David is trying to say is that orange and black doesn’t look bad either…

😆 ok definatley an orange soul, but what forks

for me it would be a black frame with 120mm white maxxle rebas

ok definatley an orange soul, but what forks

The best 120mm travel forks you can afford.

Dont worry about the colour, it doesnt aid performance.