Hey guys thought I'd come pick your brains over here as Australia doesn't have heaps of experience with these following forks:
I'm about 80kg in gear for downhill firstly- 75kg normal all round riding.
I've got a 5.4" single pivot frame on its way and plan on running the X fusion h3 air shock 7.5 x 2.0 on the rear instead of the swinger coil 6way.
The bike will be used for downhill, some jumping,the occasional drop and attempted trickery eg. 360 practice and what not.
I need a fork that can run sub 540mm Axle to crown height as any higher makes it very raked for everything but downhill use.
Build kit is around 13-13.5kg without a fork so its a medium weight build.
To the question, im considering the forks below:
RST storm LUX 120-160mm, only had experience with the low end OEM 180mm version with the cr mo steel stanchions which were sticky, fork didn't feel bad however.
Kowa 165 SS- although having a high A-C height i can run the travel at a lower setting to get the determined sizing i need, I've heard mixed things from owner however the importer is excellent here in Aus. Mostly about the earlier ones have stiction issues, although now resolved?
Magura thor or wotan- Although classed as enduro all mountain forks- I've never heard of any complaints with the wotan and only a few hiccups with the thor. However the thor only has 32mm stanchions and the dual arch is quiet thin. I'm not sure how it would deal with landing sideways from under/over rotations. Also heard of issues with the travel adjust clashing and having to use the albert system to balance it out.
X fusion vengeance- The new boy on the block, haven't heard much but having the front fork matching the rear surely would be a good thing, however with no travel adjust model until Nov, this worries me. 160mm all the time isnt really suitable unless it has a tiny AC height.
Spinner Dial / Suntour Durolux SF 9- however finding unbiased info on these is very hard. SF 9 is 2300g which is quiet light and 120-160mm, however a batch did have a damper malfunction. Spinner has a rich history in the fork market so thats a bonus however their weight is a factor and with only the 1 review from Cycle Taiwan is a worry.
If you guys were in my shoes which fork would lean towards and what is your reasoning, im not overly stressed about comments on how they look though.
Regards,
Rick.
I'm about 80kg in gear for downhill firstly- 75kg normal all round riding.
I've got a 5.4" single pivot frame on its way and plan on running the X fusion h3 air shock 7.5 x 2.0 on the rear instead of the swinger coil 6way.
The bike will be used for downhill, some jumping,the occasional drop and attempted trickery eg. 360 practice and what not.
I need a fork that can run sub 540mm Axle to crown height as any higher makes it very raked for everything but downhill use.
Build kit is around 13-13.5kg without a fork so its a medium weight build.
To the question, im considering the forks below:
RST storm LUX 120-160mm, only had experience with the low end OEM 180mm version with the cr mo steel stanchions which were sticky, fork didn't feel bad however.
Kowa 165 SS- although having a high A-C height i can run the travel at a lower setting to get the determined sizing i need, I've heard mixed things from owner however the importer is excellent here in Aus. Mostly about the earlier ones have stiction issues, although now resolved?
Magura thor or wotan- Although classed as enduro all mountain forks- I've never heard of any complaints with the wotan and only a few hiccups with the thor. However the thor only has 32mm stanchions and the dual arch is quiet thin. I'm not sure how it would deal with landing sideways from under/over rotations. Also heard of issues with the travel adjust clashing and having to use the albert system to balance it out.
X fusion vengeance- The new boy on the block, haven't heard much but having the front fork matching the rear surely would be a good thing, however with no travel adjust model until Nov, this worries me. 160mm all the time isnt really suitable unless it has a tiny AC height.
Spinner Dial / Suntour Durolux SF 9- however finding unbiased info on these is very hard. SF 9 is 2300g which is quiet light and 120-160mm, however a batch did have a damper malfunction. Spinner has a rich history in the fork market so thats a bonus however their weight is a factor and with only the 1 review from Cycle Taiwan is a worry.
If you guys were in my shoes which fork would lean towards and what is your reasoning, im not overly stressed about comments on how they look though.
Regards,
Rick.
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