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Kowa fork 2008 sneak preview...

CovicRacing

CovicRacing

Monkey
May 3, 2007
123
0
Louisville, CO
Hello all,

Kowa just sent me some early proto pictures of two of their new models for next year. Check'em out.

The details are limited at this time, but what I do know is that the inverted fork (yet un-named) is air sprung, fully adjustable damping and weighs in at 3.09kg (6.81lbs). And the other is their long awaited (by me) 180si air sprung fork designed to tap into the weight weenie market weighing in at 2.7kg (5.95lbs).







Feel free to comment.
 
dante

dante

Unabomber
Feb 13, 2004
8,807
9
looking for classic NE singletrack
CovicRacing said:
Sorry. 200mm on the invert, 180mm on the upright.
Click to expand...
wait, the 180si has 180mm of travel? never would've guessed... :bonk: :happydance: :banana:


(sorry, it's a friday)

great concept, super lightweight air race fork, but 180mm of travel? most DH frames today are based on 203mm travel, 565mm axle-crown height forks. i'm guessing minnaar runs a 7 x 7 combination or something similar, but...
 
rockwool

rockwool

Turbo Monkey
Apr 19, 2004
2,658
0
Filastin
I like the machining on the upsidedown fork too, but with the poor reliability of the RS WC I wouldn't buy an air fork. It's just too high maintenance.
 
xy9ine

xy9ine

Turbo Monkey
Mar 22, 2004
2,940
353
vancouver eastside
rockwool said:
I like the machining on the upsidedown fork too, but with the poor reliability of the RS WC I wouldn't buy an air fork. It's just too high maintenance.
Click to expand...
there's nothing wrong with the rs air spring. the only issues with the wc were with the compression cart o-ring seating (a relatively minor glitch thats easily fixed). i've had my wc for nearly a year & a half and its been absolutely reliable & low maintenance. based on my experience with this fork, i'll never go back to coils.
 
chris_f

chris_f

Monkey
Jun 20, 2007
390
409
That inverted one looks great. If it rides as good as it looks, I really need one.
 
L

luelling

Guest
boozy1976 said:
looks flexy,
does it come in rootbeer?

seroiusly,
THE had a similar fork back in 2000 (or so) and it was wayyy too flexy...
the original manufacturer was kowa IMHO..
Click to expand...
You're really going to compare what they did seven years ago to what they are doing now?
 
Dogboy

Dogboy

Turbo Monkey
Apr 12, 2004
3,209
584
Durham, NC
xy9ine said:
there's nothing wrong with the rs air spring. the only issues with the wc were with the compression cart o-ring seating (a relatively minor glitch thats easily fixed). i've had my wc for nearly a year & a half and its been absolutely reliable & low maintenance. based on my experience with this fork, i'll never go back to coils.
Click to expand...
Ditto. Mine is on its second season and has been near flawless. One rebuild per season and it's working perfectly.
 
CovicRacing

CovicRacing

Monkey
May 3, 2007
123
0
Louisville, CO
boozy1976 said:
looks flexy,
does it come in rootbeer?

seroiusly,
THE had a similar fork back in 2000 (or so) and it was wayyy too flexy...
the original manufacturer was kowa IMHO..
Click to expand...
It is true that this fork is a desendent of Kowa's old GISM inverted fork from 7-8 years ago, but as luelling suspected, this fork was completely redesigned inside and out. Only time and testing will tell if some of the GISM fork's issues were ironed out. I cant wait to get my hands on the final product...
 
H

Hougham

Monkey
Mar 28, 2007
375
3
That is a shame. I tried to get the UK rights to Tech-in forks and was told MSC had them too.
 
boozy1976

boozy1976

Monkey
Sep 7, 2005
129
0
world-euro-ger-bavaria-munich
luelling said:
You're really going to compare what they did seven years ago to what they are doing now?
Click to expand...
all of a sudden the other "old" names fall: "Tech In" "MSC"
t.b.c.

what about the White Brothers "180" air sprung fork?
with amazing 2,8kg?!?! released in 2005 (i think)...

i say: too many CNC'd parts make a light weight fork flexy.
you need cast and forged parts (RS, Zokes, Manitou)
i heard they work (for hardly a decade now, almost unchanged)
 
CovicRacing

CovicRacing

Monkey
May 3, 2007
123
0
Louisville, CO
Hey all,

I just recieved some new pics from Kowa. I also just learned that they are planning to incorporate an adjustable travel system similar to the 160ss fork. Check it out...

@200mm travel


@100mm travel


@0mm travel
 
EVRAC

EVRAC

Monkey
Jun 21, 2004
757
19
Port Coquitlam, B.C., Canada
That's rad.
Perfect for those of us who climb on our big bikes.

Reminds me of my old Stratos Super-Star 8
(which is still in the garage and was not a bad fork)

Needs some kind of integrated stem mount.
 
bdamschen

bdamschen

Turbo Monkey
Nov 28, 2005
3,377
156
Spreckels, CA
boozy1976 said:
what about the White Brothers "180" air sprung fork?
with amazing 2,8kg?!?! released in 2005 (i think)...

i say: too many CNC'd parts make a light weight fork flexy.
you need cast and forged parts (RS, Zokes, Manitou)
i heard they work (for hardly a decade now, almost unchanged)
Click to expand...

I've got one of those sitting in my bike room. It worked pretty good, and didn't seem at all flexy with all kinds of machined parts. I just couldn't get the dampening to feel the way I wanted.
 
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