Suspension

[2ky]

The RST forks on my Cannondale SL4 have finally died so its upgrade time

I'm a little stuck when it comes to choosing the new forks so I have a few questions:

1. The RST forks have 100mm of travel, do I need to stick to this with the new forks?

2.The Cannondale has a 1.5" head tube but I think the RST forks are 1.1/8 so it has some sort of adaptor(?),should I ditch this and look for forks with a 1.5" head tube and get a suitable headset or stick with the current set up?

3.Curently I'm using a 9mm quick release but is it really worth changing this to something more substantial? (Would mean getting a new front wheel-I can see how upgrading takes over and becomes very expensive!!)

and finally....

I have approx. £250-300 to spend, any recommendations?

[mutsy88]

2ky said:

The RST forks on my Cannondale SL4 have finally died so its upgrade time

I'm a little stuck when it comes to choosing the new forks so I have a few questions:

1. The RST forks have 100mm of travel, do I need to stick to this with the new forks?

2.The Cannondale has a 1.5" head tube but I think the RST forks are 1.1/8 so it has some sort of adaptor(?),should I ditch this and look for forks with a 1.5" head tube and get a suitable headset or stick with the current set up?

3.Curently I'm using a 9mm quick release but is it really worth changing this to something more substantial? (Would mean getting a new front wheel-I can see how upgrading takes over and becomes very expensive!!)

and finally....

I have approx. £250-300 to spend, any recommendations?

1. You don't need to stick exactly to 100mm but don't go far either side as it will change the geometry and handling of the bike as it raises/lowers the headtube and the bike was designed for 100mm so best to stay near it (110mm or 90mm will be fine but at 130mm you might notice some change in the way the bike feels). a lot of forks have adjustable travel now so you can play around and see what it feels like in any event.

2. yes the headtube will have a 'reducer headset' which is good as it means you could run a 1.5" or a tapered fork (although you would need a new headset). Personally if your headset is ok I would probably stick with 1.1/8" as there are enough 100mm forks with 1.1/8" steerer's and you probably wont notice much difference with 1.5" or tapered. Also if you change to 1.5" you will need to buy and install a new headset - which is a ball ache.

If however you need a new headset anyway then maybe its worth doing, see what deals you can get on the headsets and forks and which option is cheaper. There are some nice fox forks with remote lockout on chain reaction that would be in your budget if a suitable tapered headset can be fitted to your bike.

3. bigger axles give you more rigidity which is important on jumping/downhill bikes. 9mm QRs are fine for most people though and have the benefit of being quick to take off if you get a puncture. To upgrade to a different type of axle would require a new front wheel which is also costly and IMO you probably wouldn't see enough benefit from it given forks in this price range will still have a fair bit of flex in them anyway.

So in summary I would stick with a 9mm quick release and if your headset is still ok then just buy a new 100mm-ish 1.1/8" fork, maybe something like a RockShox Reba RL Solo Air or Manitou Marvel Comp.

If you can then go to a bike shop and try some demo bikes as I expect there will be some with suitable forks that will give you an idea of how they feel.

Hope that helps and sorry I can't be more detailed but I don't know much about the Cannondale and there are so many options these days!

[P-Jay]

Second poster has nailed all the technical stuff, I'd go with the best 100-120mm Rockshox or Marz air forks you can get in the sales.

They'll be a huge improvement over knackered RST's

[2ky]

That's great, thank you.

Looks like Rock Shox seem like the best all rounder.

What do you think of these?

http://www.acycles.co.uk/rockshox-sid-rlt-solo-air...

Will I need a shock pump?

[2ky]

Hhhmmm no seen this:

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/mobile/fox-susp...

And I'm guessing I'll need this to fit them?

http://superstar.tibolts.co.uk/product_info.php?cP...

[Vladimir]

I've just changed from straight steerer 100mm Rockshox SID Race forks to tapered (I have a tapered head tube) Fox Float FIT 32 120mm with 15mm axle and the improvement is enormous.
Far stiffer (SIDs are light but flexy), smoother and no utterly hateful remote lockout.

If you can get Fox, you'll love them!

[2ky]

To be honest I liked Fox forks first of all but was surprised how expensive they are! In the sale the price is acceptable but I couldn't justify the full price.
As someone said earlier anything is better than the current RST forks.

The fox forks I've seen have 120mm of travel, will this change the handling much?

[Rouleur]

Have a look at X-Fusion, they're made by Fox at a cheaper price point but people really rate them.

[P-Jay]

2ky said:

Hhhmmm no seen this:

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/mobile/fox-susp...

And I'm guessing I'll need this to fit them?

http://superstar.tibolts.co.uk/product_info.php?cP...

Never expected to see Fox as this price point, yeah - buy those!

[dienamic]

Vladimir said:

I've just changed from straight steerer 100mm Rockshox SID Race forks to tapered (I have a tapered head tube) Fox Float FIT 32 120mm with 15mm axle and the improvement is enormous.
Far stiffer (SIDs are light but flexy), smoother and no utterly hateful remote lockout.

If you can get Fox, you'll love them!

What don't you like about the remote lock out? I love it!

[Vladimir]

dienamic said:

What don't you like about the remote lock out? I love it!

Any dirt and it seized up. I cleaned it non stop but would get about a week of use then it jammed; the return spring isn't strong enough and it's a known fault. My Fox ones have the normal lockout lever and it's 445344545 times better.

I got my Floats for £290 from CRC. RRP was £700!

120mm should be fine but it's best to check with the frame maker. My frame takes 100-140mm. My old one took 80-100.

[Flippin' Kipper]

P-Jay said:

Never expected to see Fox as this price point, yeah - buy those!

I on't know about the shorter travel Fox CTD forks, but the longer travel 2013 ones have been slated for having a too linear spring curve and poor compression damping- I know my brothers 160mm Fox CTD forks suffered from this.

I would personally just go with Rockshox Rebas, much less stringent servicing requirements than Fox too.

[2ky]

Hhhmmm, seems like Cannondale don't want to commit to anything over 100mm as this was the response I got:


The Trail is designed around a 100mm travel fork. Ideally, we wouldn’t recommend anything over and above this as it messes with the geometry and could put excess strain on the frame.

I'll make a few enquiries with my LBS and see what they say.

[Vladimir]

You can get plenty of good 100mm forks so I wouldn't fret too much.

[mutsy88]

Agree, plenty of 100mm forks whatever headset you decide to go for so don't worry.

I would also guess that their response is a corporate line to protect them from liability if anything were ever to break on a bike, similar to car manufacturers saying you should only use original parts etc. I think it unlikely that a 10mm increase in suspension travel would ever be the cause of a snapped frame.

[2ky]

Ok I've narrowed it down to a couple of 100mm forks:

http://www.merlincycles.com/bike-shop/frame-forks/...

http://www.jejamescycles.co.uk/fox-32-float0-fit-r...

Really like these, But servicing seems a bit excessive (Changing fork oil every 30 hours, really?!) :

http://www.jejamescycles.co.uk/fox-32-float0-fit-r...

Any real difference in these 3?
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/rockshox-reba-r...

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/rockshox-reba-r...

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/rockshox-reba-r...

[Vladimir]

The first two have straight steerers, the last is tapered. The middle one has pushloc remote lockout which IMO is cr4p!

Rebas are decent forks but so are the Fox ones - I have the 120mm FIT versions (similar to your second Fox link) which are great.

But my money would go on either the cheaper Foxes or the first Rebas. Good value, decent forks that should last a while.

[neenaw]

The Reba RL's are a good fork, I've got a set on my Epic that have been well abused and never missed a beat and I've just fitted a set to my singlespeed as well.

The bonus with Rockshox is that they're a doddle to service!

[2ky]

2013:
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/rockshox-reba-r...

2014:
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/rockshox-reba-r...

Any preference out of these two?

Thanks for the advice by the way, dread to think what I would of ended up with without it!

[Vladimir]

Again one has remote, one doesn't. Having had Pushloc on my SIDs (100mm), I'd go for the ones without!