Hi lads what’s people’s experiences with Aion fork?
I’ve used Raidon and they were as good as my Recon and easy to service at home.
How does the Aion compare to a pike or Yari ? And can you actually buy parts for them in the uk as I can’t seem to find any ?

Cheers

I had them in 29er 120mm on my Genesis hardtail. Great fork when they worked but mine had issues with the bushes not staying where they were supposed to (lots of knocking/play) despite minimal use – only occasional use with the kid’s MacRide etc. Mine were fixed under warranty which sorted out the issue, but didn’t fill me with confidence the same wouldn’t happen again.

Then I got lucky with those bargain Fox 34 Rhythms a while ago so sold them on.

That’s a bummer mate. I really liked the raidons and they never flackered. I have pikes on my bike at the min. I was toying with the idea of getting a trance As well which my son would also use. I normally stick with RS just because they are easy to service and parts are plentiful.

I’ve had Aions for a couple of years. Performance-wise, I quite like them, but they aren’t as responsive as the RS Revelations on my mate’s bike. They are pretty sturdy though, and plenty stiff enough for me. I thought the Q-loc system looked like a good idea, but it really has been a PITA, with no alternative solution as there are no threads. It has stuck on numerous occasions, so I’ve had to resort to various methods to get the front wheel off. Gernerally a whack or three with the rubber mallet. Oh, and I’m on Q-loc number two, as the first one fell apart. Not sure if it is something to do with the mallet! If you do decide on them, don’t get the remote lockout ones. The remote is one of the most god-awful looking things in existence.

I had some Aions fitted as OEM on my hard tail for a few years and was initially pretty happy but found a couple of annoying things over time:
– q loc is a neat idea but the petals can jam and make action gritty when muddy and wet
– mine did not have the remote lock out but just the compression dial on fork leg which did not actually provide the ability to lock the damper. I thought this would not bother me initially but did grate over time, especially when using the bike to get to work
– Aions have a coil negative spring which can be swapped to suit rider weight, I ended up going down to the lightest spring which did allow me to get the fork more supple but could only be bought from suntour USA which made it expensive once taxes and shipping were paid
– similarly expensive for spares for spares e.g. seals, not sure if seals from other brand 34mm forks might work?
– Mine had a token type system in the positive air spring but it was just a cylinder of hard foam stuff, I think aftermarket ones had actual tokens but never got a definite answer on if my model was compatible so to avoid wasting money just left it as it was but was always annoying that could not experiment

Maybe says it all that I ended up selling mine on ebay at the end of last year and switching to some rigid forks on that bike which I prefer now for weight loss and lack of faff!

Overall I would say that if you just want a fork that gives ok performance for not loads of cash then maybe worth a look. However any type of tuning or servicing did get expensive for parts. I have to say Suntour USA were helpful though and did send me some exploded drawings to try and help with working out the right parts for my model.