What ‘Fit and Forget’ XC Fork?

Looking increasingly likely I’ll pull the trigger on a new Beady Little Eye from Starling, so doing the build in my head.

Rear travel is 90mm so looking at options for a 100mm-120mm XCish fork. I’m not a tinkerer so want ‘fit and forget’. There’s a coil Cane Creek Helm Mk2 that Joe and the team have which could be included at 120mm, which would suit the bill – anything else I should be looking at?

A coil is not the first thing that comes to mind when you say xc fork!

True, but I really do mean ‘not a tinkerer’ so I’ll take a small weight penalty for lack of faff!

I’d argue that there’s no such thing – just more or less maintenance intensive.

And since they’re all much of a muchness for maintenance (practically if not by the official guidelines) then I’d go for whatever is easiest to service or have serviced.

Therefore I’d recommend a SID with a 35mm chassis. You’ll find seals and parts for them everywhere for ever because of the shared 35mm hardware with Pikes and Lyriks.

Pike @ 120mm + an annual service

@ 100mm your looking at a 32mm stanchioned SID which I’d avoid

Damper still needs to be serviced and you still need to do lowers service so very little difference there.

I reckon you need to reframe the question.

– what is the least amount of faff and fewest parts and oils to maintain

It’s surely not that awful to do some lowers and chuck some fresh oil in the damping circuit.

Then send it off once a year for a more serious overhaul.

I really don’t ride as much as I’d like but an hour once or twice a year does my Rebas (I guess that’d be every couple of months for a lot of people).

I’ve tried a few over the years.

In my experience Rockshox (and Pace) have been the least reliable. Pace aren’t a thing any more, but it put me trying DT

Manitou and Marzocchi have been the most reliable, although when they do need to be done parts can be difficult to source. Fine if you plan ahead a little and order from abroad.

I’ve not had Fox long enough to comment on the reliability but first impressions of my 36 Factory forks are good, not quite as nice to ride as my Manitou Mezzer Pro but still good and no problems so far.

Not had a DVO but friends say they are very good and also reliable, if a little basic. Not sure about Cane Creek or MRP.

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For an XC fork for me it would be a Manitou R7 with the Pro damper set to 120mm, recommend what you have, but they are difficult to find over here. Maybe a Z2 might suit you better? The downside being that they are more than 2kg. I don’t know if parts are easier to find since the Fox takeover?

When you say fit and forget do you mean, “easy to set up” or “doesn’t need much maintenance/maintenance is easy”?

if the latter go for something that is serviceable at home without expensive, proprietary tools. I believe that manitou and dvo can be done without expensive tools. Formula can certainly be done at home easily and they come with the tool to remove the damper and top of the air spring. I believe the cane creek fork needs expensive proprietary tools. I’m not sure about Rock shox or fox

if you mean easy to set up, the Z2 only has 4 adjustments (Air pressure, tokens for the air spring, rebound and a lockout) but is said to perform well.

edit: just read your comment about not being a tinkerer. Z2 is probably has the least knobs to worry about.

Anything with an open bath damper will require a lot less servicing. I’m not sure if many forks are open bath any more though…

I’d say a RS Reba. Mine have always been reliable. If you do a lowers service it is very simple and quick. You just set it up and go so there are things like remote lockout to consider.

Also relatively cheap so no need to worry about selling it on or should it die, just replacing it.

More expensive, performance forks tend to be more sensitive. My fox on the race bike certainly isn’t as bomb proof (but is lighter and better when it is fully functional).

If you can’t be arsed with a fork service, is a full suss with pivots that need bearings and a rear shock that will also need work the bike for you?

None of those bits are particularly famous for being fit and forget are they?

I’ve got  RS Revs on my bike, they came with it in 2022 and I’ve not touched them since. They still go boing.

Interesting, thanks all. Contextually, I’m coming at this from my Stooge MK4, which is put away muddy and wet, and occasionally gets a showing of the hose and a quick lube of the chain. If I go back to an (albeit simple) full suss, I want it to be as grab’n’go as possible, so twiddling with suspension settings, and adding a few PSI here and there is NOT on my wish list!

Pike set at 120mm, or for a bit more cash, a SID 35mm.

I like RS’s as they’re easy to take apart and service.

Z2s also have a simpler damper so require less servicing

I’d go for the latest 120mm Rockshox SID 35mm for your needs + bike. Easy to set up and just ride.

SID 35mm for me. Out of all the xc forks that I have tried they’ve had the best feel, ease of tuning & reliability. I’ve run most versions of Fox over the yrs & consistently return to Rockshox regardless of the type of fork I’ve run.

I had Z2s on my Orbea Rise – I found it a pretty grim fork, that I couldn’t find a sweet spot between pogo stick and overly damped. The RS Revelation and Pike I have on my other bikes have both been ‘set and forget’ for 3 and 4 years respectively.

OK, I have a coil Helm on my all-mountain bike.

It’s a good fork – lively, comfortable, well-damped (not great for lighter riders). Doesn’t feel massively coil-y but the comfort adds up over a long descent and it’s got a nice first touch.

But for that frame, I’d probably look at a 120mm Pike or even 34 as the sweet spot of weight/stiffness.

yer i would be thinking Fox 34 myself, very pleased with the budget rhythm on my trek, so much so i’ve been looking for a performance model, to save a few grams, easy to setup, haven’t had the pleasure of servicing it mind…

 I want it to be as grab’n’go as possible, so twiddling with suspension settings, and adding a few PSI here and there is NOT on my wish list!

Most forks seem pretty stable once you’ve set them up tbh, unless you’re an inveterate tinkerer. I’ve run a couple of sets of X-Fusion forks over the past few years, some RS Pikes, Yaris and now Manitour Mattoc Pros. None of them have needed regular re-adjustment, just the odd lowers service/seal change to keep them smooth and occasional damper oil change/bleed.

Personally I’d just buy the fork that’ll work with your frame at your budget and accept that you’ll need to do some easy, basic maintenance with any of them from time to time. But you shouldn’t need to micro-adjust any of them unless you’re mega-fussy.

Fiwiw, the Mattoc Pro is lovely, but slightly fiddly to set up initially and hard to find in the UK, but you can run them at 120mm.

My Mrp ribbon has been excellent

In 3 years it has not had any dirt inside the fork. Not one speck.

It’s on a hardtail that gets ridden all winter in sandy gritty places

It was a faff to set up. But I’d recommend the sorter travel MRP if lack of faff is what you are after.

I reckon pike or a 34 as others have said. Looks the kind of bike that will lead you into unexpectedly daft rides so nice to have a slightly burlier fork.

If you can get a Pike Select+ (rather than Ultimate), they are cheaper and have less adjustment – but the HSC is set at a really good place for an average rider.

Absolutely love mine with the Charger 2.1 damper.

To answer a couple of points, this is not going to be a budget bike so happy to pay for the best answer to the question (though not unnecesarily).

Historically I’ve not got on with RockShox (had Pikes, Lyriks, and Rebas before) – hard to say why in a coherent way, but my favourite forks were a pair of Factory 36’s I had on an old bike for a while that I set up once and never had to think about after that. 35mm SIDs seem sensible, but the blue isn’t really the look I want (I know I can always refinish the lowers); gloss black or silver is probably preferable.

Worth considering something left field like an Intend or stick with the tried and true?

Pace RC31.

IGMC

34 Rhtyhm with grip sweep is as fit and forget as you can get. Avoid Z2, superficially similar, but they don’t last. Sid 35 if you want light.

DT swiss f232 are meant to have particularly long service interval, and supposedly perform v well. Ludicrously expensive, but biketart did ones at a huge discount recently, with remote i think…

Just in case you did want SIDs, the newest ones come in gloss black as well as blue

Given budget isn’t an issue and you want – not biblically heavy / 120mm travel / not too many adjustments / easy to service then I’d probably pickup a RS Pike personally.

That said if you have a preference for Fox then you’d not go too far wrong with a Fox 34. The ‘performance’ model has the least amount of adjustment but is said to be a decent enough damper. The ‘performance elite / Factory’ 34 has the grip 2 damper which is the best one – but has loads of dials / adjustments.

On the Pike the Ultimate is the equivalent of the performance elite / factory Fox forks but has one less adjustment I think. The Select plus has the same damper as the ultimate but I think it’s missing hsc – so one less adjustment. My Pike ultimate needed very little setup to be totally usable and I haven’t played with it since it was on the bike. I think I’ve done 2 lowers services on it which are quick / easy / don’t need proprietary tools.

I was under the impression the Cane Creek Helm is actually quite a fiddly thing to setup and not as easy to maintain as RS and Fox.

Manitou are meant to be harder to get parts for / support for in the UK so I’ve always swerved them.

Whatever is in the sales.

https://www.edinburghbicycle.com/fox-34-float-factory-fit4-29-130mm-tapered-suspension-fork

130mm though, but I’d just add another token and run 30% sag.

Or if you’re on a budget and don’t mind a little faf with customs and exchange rates etc. These are very cheap.

https://www.bike-discount.de/en/fox-racing-shox-34-a-float-29-awl-130mm-rail-sweep-adj-tapered-boost

Fox 34 Rhythm. Have they got any of the cheap.ones left at Merlin?

I’d recommend a Fox Vanilla but they haven’t existed for years (looks into the distance feeling nostalgic and forgetting the twanginess of 1 1/8″ steerer tubes, QR axles and 32mm stanchions. Happy days).

SAPPHIRE has neg coil

Cane Creek Helm is actually quite a fiddly thing to setup

Interesting, I had assumed coil=easier (provided the spring rate is correct for rider weight etc)? More work to do here I think, good job I’ll have a good while until the frame’s ready.

@didnthurt Don’t want to overfork it really, I want a low aggressive front end so a longer fork is kind of out of the question. Leaning more towards 100mm at this point to support that use case. Will dig in to options for 35mm SID, Pike, Fox 32/34 and hoping the answer will become obvious!

+1 for the Z2, mine feels great. I don’t get to ride loads so YMMV but it’s easy to set up, feels good and apparently the service is pretty straightforward, I’m yet to do that. I haven’t messed with volume spacers or anything feels good to me with the compression wound on about a third of the way so I’ve just kept it with whatever it is as stock.

34 or Pike