Looking at replacement forks for my 2006 specialised enduro (150mm travel mark – 1 1/8th and 198mm steerer). Would say I ride mainly “aggressive” XC, trail centres, a little light downhill and enjoy some remote mountain tracks (days in the saddle) (located in Inverness).

Been recommend to get a set of lyric coil u-turns (115-160mm) in the past as was thinking would be good to adjust the travel to suit the riding….. but have been wondering how many people actually adjust the travel on their forks? Is it worth it? Would it be better to just for 150mm travel with a lockout for the climbs?

A mate recommended Fox Floats…another some rockshox sectors (had read some good write ups for the RS revelation team but then heard some were having problems with them?)

TBH I’m a little lost now. Recommendations and advice appreciated….

Deoends on how much you are prepared to pay. I bought myself a pair of RS revelation xx at the beggining of the summer and couldn’t be happier with them, so much nicer than my previous Fox 32 Vanillas. Was trying to get hold of a pair of RLT Ti but no where had them in stock at the same price. Had them on the bike for our trip out to Les Gets and the coped perfectly with everything I through at them, which included some black routes trying to chse the lads down on their Dh bikes. So I am very happy with them.
Fox do sell some very nice forks but I think that if you are buying them new they have priced themselves way out of the equation and the lyrics were always a little heavy for what I was looking for. I also thought about the BOS Deville but again came to the conclusion that they were too expensive.
EDIT – I have the Dual position revelations only because Merlin sent me the wrong ones, they were supposed to be £100 more, but tbh only use it on the really steep stuff, but then it does come in handy.

I like my Revelations 🙂

I’ve always preferred to just fit and forget and never thought I’d use u-turn. When I bought my Lyriks a year and a half ago I got the 170mm coil sprung version with MiCo damper – cost me an arm and a leg and had to budget for an xs spring too but they’ve been fantastic. After 8 months I swapped back to a hardtail from f/s so fitted a u-turn spring in order to reduce the travel – being a serial frame-swapper it’s one of the best purchases I’ve ever made. They’re not light but for a weighty do-it-all bike the u-turn is a godsend on the climbs and the ability to slacken it out at full-travel for the downhills is a great skill compensator/confidence booster 😛 .

+1 for the Revelations.

I have a 2011 RLT dual air, bought from Merlin earlier this year, cost £360. Travel is set at 150mm & i’m quite happy with that.

Rockshox Sectors get my vote. Got a set recently and for the money I think they’re hard to beat.

I’ve just got 2012 Rev RT’s from Merlin for £281 after using VIP and Topcashback – they’re even cheaper if you don’t need a 15mm axle

Buy some revs you wont regret it,long service interval and quite lite.I like the rough stuff and the’ve never let me down.

another vote for revelations

I used to have 36 talas forks on my 06 enduro & religiously changed the travel for climbs & descents cos I could – even though I think it pedalled better at full travel, just the front end was a little harder to control while climbing.

I now have fixed 160mm domains and don’t miss being able to change them, although I’ll admit steep or rocky climbs are a bit tough 🙂

Bomber 55 Ti’s have a good reputation.

+1 for Rev’s, great forks, light reliable and I think my riding is similar to yours. Have them on the Heckler and they were great with Switchbacks and their rocky terrain as well as all the typical UK stuff

Marzocchi 44 RC3’s in 150mm flavour, winner

Lockouts beat travel adjust IMHO, however all of my forks have both. I never use the travel adjust, I find it a faff.

Depending on your riding style, for your model year Enduro I’d go for some full monty 160mm forks. Your frame is warrantied for them and it would be a missed opportunity not to go for them. I’ve got a set of Revelation Race forks on my 2004 Enduro which is a very different beast to your bike. They’re much lighter than the Pike Airs that they replaced, but they aren’t in the same league for stiffness.

I’ve never used Lyriks, but I’ve ridden on 36 Vans in the past and came away impressed. There’s also the Magura Wotan if you can find one with a discount (they were discontinued in 2010). They’re a relatively heavy fork, but they’re pretty good especially when you consider that they aren’t difficult to disassemble and maintain yourself.

Loads of folks here rave about the new (2011 on) generation of Marzocchi 55s, but they’re getting hard to find now.

I have some dt Swiss exm150 forks and have been brilliant. Once setup I haven’t had to do much fettling and have been ultra reliable.

150 mm Rockshox Sector coil with lockout,faultless so far(even when I forgot to unlock them for a rocky DH section after a roadclimb),£250 for maxle version from Bike 24.Why pay more?

U-turn is great. can adjust the travel on my lyrics in seconds whilst on the move.

Wind them in a bit for long climbs, wind them out a bit for long descents. leave them at 130ish most of the time.

Anyone know if you can drop these revs to 140mm.

http://www.merlincycles.co.uk/Bike+Shop/Frame++Forks/Forks++Shocks/Rockshox+Suspension+Forks/2012+Rockshox+Revelation+RL+Forks_RS-REVELATION-RL.htm

Im loving my DT SWISS XMM 150. Use them on my Turner 5 Spot and there buttery smooth. Not cheap but well worth it

robhughes

I have the 2011 vertion of the RLT like in the link below, to reduce the travel it is just a case of adding spacers internally, i even got some supplied with the fork.

http://www.merlincycles.co.uk/Bike+Shop/Frame++Forks/Forks++Shocks/Rockshox+Suspension+Forks/2012+Rockshox+Revelation+RLT+15mm+Axle_RS-REVELATION-RLT-15.htm

If you dont need the fork to be QR i’d recommend spending the extra £30 on the RLT they are ace.

I’ve got 150 Rev Team on my Mmmbop and 36 Float RC2 on my Helius AM. Both are good forks and feel great. I plan to try the Revs across on the AM some time… but not for big gnar rides as there is much more flexyness/twangyness to them. Whats more important… light weight or control?

I used to have Talas 36’s and would generally use the travel adjust quite a bit, not at the top and bottom of climbs though but generally in that I’d have about 130-140mm for xc/trail and wind them fully out for DH tracks.

I now have 160mm Lyriks which I much prefer. Not sure if I had a bad set of 36’s but they felt quite dead to me. My coil Lyriks are far better and the travel adjust is very handy(if for nothing else than creating an extra few inches space when loading the bike in the car…)

I have revelations rlt dual air and they are brilliant. Dual position so I can 130 or 150mm. And the remote lockout for ease of locking out. Had dual air revs before these too. Can handle anything and very plush. Also you can service them yourself unlike fox forks which are a bitch to service. Why spend twice the amount for fox when the revs do the job just as well.

so RS revelatiuons are looking like a pretty good option then. Next problem would be do I stick with the 9mm QR with the current wheel or do i go for the maxxle and change the front wheel at the same time. Would upgrading the wheel /axle be better for future proofing?? Recomendations on a front wheel would be good as well if its the better option.

Personally having moved from 9mm to a 20mm maxle i noticed a huge difference when climbing out of the saddle, I move the bike around beneath me a lot so it is generally at funny angle so the maxle helped to stiffen everything up at the front. So from that I would always have a maxle/bolt through at the front now.
However others will say that there aren’t huge benefits from it, i think it is very much your riding style.
But if you go for it, I would be recommend going for a hub which axle sizing can be changed such as the hope hubs etc.

I’m also looking for forks at this length and the best bargain that I can find is:

Marzocchi 44 RC3 £414.99

+1 revelations
i have 2011 rl, dual position air, can be adjusted on the move, 120 or 150mm.
i rate them.

Got some Revelation XX a couple of months ago.
Love them, great fork.

Bos Deville.