I’m building up a Solaris Max at the moment but struggling with which forks to get for it.

I’m after something either 120mm or 130mm travel, must be boost compatible and must be able to take 29 x 2.5 tyres. Budget is £500 at the very most.

I’m having a nightmare finding out maximum tyre sizes for most forks, some bits I’ve read suggest going for 27.5+ forks and others seem to say that a normal boost 29 fork would be fine.

Any help would be hugely appreciated!

I’ve a set of boost Revs which are fine with a mudhugger and a 29×2.6 butcher. I reckon any boost fork would be modern enough to be OK. Worth signing up to Rczbikeshop email list – you’ll likely be able to snag some rct3 pikes in budget.

Rockshox are labelled as 27.5+/29 anyway (for boost models)

Lyriks might be within reach but I’d be tempted to run Pikes. You could look at MRP Ribbons too as lots of positive feedback

I’d have thought most boost 29er forks would be fine with a 2.5” tyre. The rockshox website lists tyre widths that’ll fit per fork but in mm.

The current Pike has 81mm as the max tyre width as does the Revelation as it’s e same chassis. I’d have thought you could get one of those for your budget if you shop around.

X-Fusion usually have a lot of clearance in their forks and are frequently cheaper than RS and Fox so might be worth a look at their forks too.

Thanks for the pointers.

Just managed to find the spec page on the Rock Shox website and as you say, they’re all pretty much 81mm clearance which is good. There’s a few decent deals on RCZ as well. I’ve tried looking at the X Fusion forks but there doesn’t seem to be any decent deals about which is a shame.

The last time I was buying forks was about five years ago for an XC bike and fork prices seem to have doubled since then!

I’ve got boost Pikes, 2019 model I think, and there’s loads of room with a 2.5 Assegai & RRP Pro Guard.

I’ve just bought a set of DVO Sapphire (the new 34mm ones). They are £40 or so over budget (on bike24) but seem to offer best value in terms of a 29/27.5+. I started by looking at Pikes but at £900 decided not.

They are 44mm offset tho, not sure what the Solaris Max needs. I have X-Fusion McQueens on mine and they seem to work well.

DVO Beryl might also be worth looking at, £400 from Winstanleys (who get mixed reviews but I’ve never had trouble with)

I have a set of boost recons that came on my focus jam2 that easily fit a 29×2.6 spesh butcher and the largest rrp guard.
Judging by that alone if say any 29er boost fork would be fine

Not mine but if you’re tight for cash: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/X-Fusion-Mqueen-Roughcut-HLR-Boost-Forks-29-Pike-36/283695664616

I think these are internally adjustable so could be stepped down to 120 – fairly simple job if it’s the same as the 27.5 sweeps

I run a 140mm 34 27.5 plus… which is oddly named being that it’ll take a plus sized 29 tyre.
IIRC there was a PSA on these forks a fair while back and were selling at a super price point.
The extra crown width on these over regular 34’s make them feel much stiffer laterally.. into 36 territory I’d suggest.
easy airshaft swap to hit your 120mm or 130mm travel preference also.

Is anyone running the Dual Position Pikes?

I’ve seen s couple if sets within budget which are 110mm/140mm dual position. They’re slightly heavier than single position forks but look like they could be a good best of both type fork.

Are they any good?

I had dual position Pikes about two years ago on my Bird Aeris, really rated them