Fisher Superfly – alternatives?

Ok so I’ve made the mistake of falling in love with the Gary Fisher Superfly and I’m now desperately trying to convince myself not to buy it! I love the race orientation of the bike and it’s light weight and I really want one…

But it’s way too much money and only has 80mm travel forks – I know that’s less of an issue with 29ers as the wheels absorb a lot of the impact anyway, but mentally I was hoping for 100mm at least and would feel happier with that.

So, as I’m a little out of touch with the MTB scene of late, and particularly with 29ers, I’m keen to know whether there are any similarly built & spec’d 29ers available. I’d rather keep it ‘off-the-peg’ as I don’t have the time to spec up and build an MTB these days – I just want to get on it and ride.

The fork that comes of the Superfly is dead easy to convert to 100mm.

Takes about 10 mins.

On one Scandal also a good option for a race ready 29er.

Serious Stu?? That makes it more appealing again…

It’s Slim BTW 😉 8)

Slim.

You just have to drop a spacer out to bump the travel up to 100mm.

As easy as that? Nice… and where in the fork would said spacer be found?!

And (without meaning to sound rude) are you 100% on this?! Don’t wanna get it thinking I can do that, then it turn out not to be the case! 😆

It really is p1ss easy to do.

I did Amanda’s on her Paragon.

I can find you instructions or talk you through it if you want. 8)

Good man – let me decide whether or not I’m buying it and I’ll be in touch! 8)

Incidentally that also makes the Paragon a much more appealing (and much cheaper) prospect too 😀

Demo next Sunday…..15th (icluding all sizes of Superfly

Sorry for the batent plug!

P.s I ride a superfly with the forks converted to 100mm. best bike I’ve ever ridden!

Matthew

I’ve done it on my Rig, its very easy to remove the spacer and 100mm of travel is yours for the taking.

Pepper, what fork was that? I have Rebas on my Rig, can I extend the travel??

You could look at the Fisher Ferrous 29er. That looks awesome & has that lovely USA made steel frame with eccentric BB. Plus its only £1500 with a Fox fork, £1k less than the Superfly.

J

Chevin – unfortunately you’re a long way away from me, and I’m on a Sportive next Sun 🙄

The Ferrous is indeed a much better option price-wise, but the Superfly is just so damn tasty…!! 😛

Some worrying warnings on the Fox website about not extending the travel on the F29-80 forks…

JAm29er, yes I’ve got Rebas on my Rig, its a very simple job to remove the spacer put it all bak together with a little fresh oil and off you go again.

RR – Member

Some worrying warnings on the Fox website about not extending the travel on the F29-80 forks…

It’s been discussed on MTBR and seems like there was a bit of confusion when the F29 fork first come out.

It seems the only difference between the 100mm and 80mm is that the 100mm comes with the 20mm spacer in the box and the 80 comes with it in the fork.

You got a link to the warnings on the Fox site?

Here Stu: http://service.foxracingshox.com/consumers/index.htm – and go to ‘QuickTech: Forks’ then to ’32mm Fork Travel Configurations’. They mention that the damper cartridges are length-specific.

There’s also a pretty big warning about it plastered across the page here: http://www.foxracingshox.com/fox_tech_center/owners_manuals/09/Eng/2009_OM_eng.htm if you go to Forks > 32mm > F-Series > F29

😯

Consider the Kona Heihei 29er too.

RR.

That’s saying not to move the pin on the rod.

You just remove the 20mm travel limiter to get them to 100mm same as a Reba.

If you buy the 100mm fork it comes with the same spacer in the box.

Stu – it’s saying not to move the pin on the rod on Floats. It says specifically that removing spacers on the F-Series forks shouldn’t be done as the damper cartridges are travel-specific, and that doing this to the 80mm forks to make them 100mm forks will damage them.

I’d like to think it’s interpretation, but believe me I’ve read it over and over trying to deduce that because I was ready to order the Superfly!

Have we had any conclusions on this? I’m also wondering if I could change the travel on a paragon.

I bought a Rockhopper 29er which i think is an ace bike. It was a very inexpensive way to dip my toe into the 29er market at only £750 and i now don’t ride any of my other bikes which all cost a lot more. Best value 29er too as far as i’m concerned. Gary Fisher looked nice but only go up to a 21″ which wasn’t quite big enough for me, got the Spesh in a 23″. 🙂

Slim – Get the superfly, order some 100mm Manipoo Minutes which also have the 20mm maxle if you want from CRC for £300 (£280 for the non maxle ones). Try them both out and see which you prefer and sell the ones you don’t want and you should get most of your money back as long as you don’t **** them.

Ok so the Manipoos might not be as good as the fox’s but its a solution. At least that way you can make a decision on the frame etc and come out riding again 😉

Just an idea 😀

Why not ring Mojo and ask them what their opinion is. As Fox importer and service centre I’d be pretty happy that what they say would be pretty kosher. I expect first thing they will say is that any change to original spec will invalidate warranty.

Re. the Fox thing. When we checked with Mojo they said it was fine to up the travel from 80 to 100 if the fork had the spacer/travel reducer fitted. The forks that Gary Fisher fit to the 29ers are 100mm forks reduced to 80mm therefore you are OK to take the travel back to 100mm.

This was also confirmed by Trek. – The Hifi 29ers have the 100mm version as standard. This is the same fork as on the hardtail 29er but without the spacer.

Hope that helps…..

Matthew

P.S. a good 50% of our Gary Fisher 29ers have gone out over the last 12 months with the forks swapped back to 100mm (including mine)

Chevin – thanks for the clarification. My concern came from Trek as they were the ones who pointed me to the comments on the Fox site in the first place.

Not sure what to do now – was about to give up on the 29er thing and have spent the morning eyeing up the Ti Whyte 19…!!

Slim just flip a coin on it or you’ll miss the spring riding 😉

Seriously though you will always have your eye on other bikes because you just like bikes so much. Its not a critisim (sp) its just the way some people are, always thinking “is that bike any better/faster/more fun than the one i already have” some people just want to try something a bit different and sometimes it works and others it doesn’t .

Look forward to seeing what ever you decide to settle on 😀

Slim.
Amanda’s fork has been quite happily running at 100mm for close on a year now with no problems what so ever.

Check out the MTBR thread on it as loads of folks have also converted there Paragon/Superfly fork.

You’d surely be better off with 80mm on a 29er, wouldn’t you? You’d be a long way off the ground with the extra travel. There’s a reason why 29ers come with short travel…

The bike is a bit higher with 100mm, but now I have a bit more sag and a more supple feeling fork.

I sell Ti 19s as well 🙂

Cheers all, and sorry if any of my comments sounded like I was doubting anyone’s advice (particularly Stu!).

Anyway, by way of an update – have gone in a COMPLETELY different direction entirely as I was getting annoyed with myself for not making a decision on a bike and I want to get back on an MTB without too much expense…

And that’s all I’m saying for now! 🙄 😉 8)

TROLL!

There’s a reason why 29ers come with short travel…

Really?

Care to enlighten us?

*smacks forehead with the heel of his hand in an upwards motion* 😉