Suntour Zeron 35 coil fork – good or bad idea?!

I’m building up an On-One Big Dog on a modest budget and was thinking second hand Yari or similar for the fork…then spotted Singletrack Bikes selling Suntour 35mm coil forks for round about £250. I’m 13ish stone and bike will be setup for Peaks and Lakes trail riding big tyres etc.

Seems like they have similar parts to their posh forks, which people seem to like, just with a big old spring in instead of air. They were specced on a 2018 Norco Torrent hardtail, and are on some Trek eBikes I think. Can’t find any reviews.

So what do people reckon…could be interesting and good? or a bad idea? I’ve read all the coil fork vs air fork stuff on t’interweb but would be interested if people think this would be a crappy fork or not.

What about an xfusion coil fork

Personally I would go Yari, they are a known quantity, easy to work on, easy to change travel, easy to upgrade with a number of damper options available.

I guess it depends on the quality of the damper.

£250 is a decent price if the damper isn’t budget.

Looks like it has low speed compression adjustment and springs aren’t expensive (and available! )

Resale will be poor compared to RS/Fox, but Suntour spares are readily available, unlike RS.

Suntour tend to have pretty good exploded diagrams on their website, maybe have a look at the internals compared to the high end stuff to see what the difference is?

I’m a big coil fan, and £250 for a good spec fork would be a bargain.

Got a pair on the way from Germany, new <£150 posted on eBay.

Also going on a Big Dog when that arrives.

Spares not as easy to come by as suggested. Cant find a 130mm spring as yet, so might end up running it at 140mm for a while.

I bought a pair for £140 new off eBay. Perfectly fine for My budget hardtail build.
Rebound works / lockout works. Comes with bolt on mudguard. Only ridden twice but a comfortable, controlled feel. Spring rate ok for me at 13.5 stone.

I nearly bought a set of these, same chassis as the auron and other 35mm forks but with a more basic damper. In theory you could fit the damper from the higher end forks. They look decent in the flesh and I wish there were more similar options. Interested to hear anyone elses experiences.

Suntour spares are readily available, unlike RS.

First time i’ve ever heard that RS spares aren’t available. Where stocks Suntour parts?

I actually also bought a pair for my Sonder Cortex. You can find them brand new for around £135 on ebay from a German seller. I also took a total punt on them as there is very little information regarding them online anywhere, but I decided that £140 for a brand new fork with warranty was less of a risk than more than £200 for a second hand fork. They’ve been specced on a few Giant ebikes too.

I have been genuinely impressed with the fork. The build quality is excellent (certainly matches that of FOX/RS forks), the 15mm skewer is a really cool design, the integrated mudguard is excellent also. I’ve ridden mine loads since I’ve had it and it’s really quite acceptable. Mine has the medium coil and I’m 80kg. It’s perhaps a touch too hard for my tastes but I used 130mm of the 140mm travel at BPW last week so they’re not a mile off in fairness.

I moved over from an old skool Coil Pike and I’d say that they are comparable. You only have rebound damping to play with as the lockout is all or nothing. Harder and softer springs are available (although Suntour suggest the soft is for sub 70kg and the hard is for over 90kg). From what I’ve read, you can upgrade the damper assembly from the more expensive forks too for around £120 when I looked before.

So, overall, for the price of sub £150 it’s genuinely excellent and I’d totally recommend it. It’s not got the adjustment and performance of a top spec fork but it probably shouldn’t be directly compared to them as the price difference is too great. I bought it thinking that if it was terrible i’d just upgrade sooner rather than later but I’ve not no plans to replace it just yet. It performs a lot better than I do!

Suntour forks are ace and the the basic damper is fine if (like me) you just want to fit and forget- no fuss, no hassle, they just work and I’ve even found myself using the lockout from time to time.

Spares are available here-

Fork Parts

or all over ebay if you search.

edit- to space then down you can just use a 10mm spacer like you would in an air fork but it’ll add 10mm of preload to the spring.

Thanks everyone for your kind thoughts and advice. Brilliant to get feedback from people who’ve ridden the thing, and also great to get alerted to the eBay bargain, which was about half what I was thinking of paying. Just ordered one to stick on the incoming Big Dog, ta again everyone!

You can also get spare through Greyville Enterprises[/url] too.

I wish I’d seen this thread sooner, having just bought a second hand Yari from eBay for a budget hardtail build.

Hey ho….

According to the ebay description it weighs 2515g, that’s a pretty hefty 386g more than a Yari!

I’ll be honest, I didn’t weigh mine but I didn’t think “holy crap, this is a boat anchor” when I picked it up so decided not to be a douche about it! Just gotta pedal harder.

also… according to the TF Tuned conversion kit for the Pike:

“Converting from air to coil will add roughly 300g to your fork.”

So, sounds reasonable for a coil fork.

Where can you get a firm spring from? a quick google and ebay search didn’t come up with anything.

Found one at Greyville

https://www.greyville.com/products/13486-fep783-11-sr-suntour-hard-spring-zeron-35-140mm-travel?store_referer=true#.XbwujPZ2vcs

How much do you weigh? I’m 80kg and actually find the medium a little too firm.

Springs available here though as was mentioned earlier:

Firm Zeron Spring

I’m a little chunky at 100kgs :o)

How is the tyre clearance on these – the specs say 2.4″ in 29 mode for the 29/27.5+ boost fork, but 2.4 seems very narrow for a boost fork? Or is it more a clearance issue with the lower bridge or the fork crown underside? And has anyone managed to source the 130mm springs, standard or soft, yet?

Tyre clearance…don’t know exactly. I did buy the fork but not got tyres for my bike build yet as I’m still waiting for the frame. It comes with a mudguard you can bolt on (but don’t have to use) that looks kind of like it may reduce space more than cheaper zip tied on mudflaps. As far as I know the metal bits on the Zeron 35 are the same as the Auron 35. The only bikes specced with Zeron 35 I could find were running 650B 2.8 tyres but that doesn’t solve the height question.

Any advice for setting up this fork? I am around 14 stone dry and with the preload fully soft only get around 20 percent sag?

I’ve got a DHF 2.5 on the front of mine and there is still loads of clearance under the bolt on mudguard.

I’ve had a fiddle with the preload and I can’t notice any discernible difference when riding at all. I’ve just got mine a few clicks wound in from fully out. I wouldn’t worry about the sag, how much travel are you using when you’re actually riding?

Maybe I’m being dumb but can’t find these cheap from german on ebay, anyone help?

Circa £300 is the cheapest I’ve found it for. The place I bought it doesn’t stock it any more. I assume that the price has gone up as people have realised that it’s actually a decent fork and totally worth more than the £140 they were being sold for!

£170 at CRC, but 2018 27+ version, so not sure if that covers either end of the spectrum of 29 and 27.5.

EDIT – sorry, they’re air not coil.