Fork tech trickle down
Fork tech trickle down
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shouldbworking

Original Poster:

4,801 posts

241 months

Wednesday 28th May 2014
quotequote all
My 2009 suntour epicon fork is feeling a little bit past its best, and I've no idea about how to service it, nor does it appear to be easy to find info on via the internet.

Before I dive into it regardless, how has suspension fork tech progressed since then? riding with a friend he was muttering complex things his recently purchased xc32s had that were only on rebas not long ago.

Could I get equivalent performance from a similarly budget replacement now?

P-Jay

11,404 posts

220 months

Wednesday 28th May 2014
quotequote all
Unless I have the wrong ones in mind your forks are pretty low-end OE forks, you seem to be able to buy them online for not much more than most places charge for a service.

I'd bet a entry level fork from Rockshox or Marzocchi for a couple of hundred would be a huge performance upgrade for you.

Beyond Rational

3,544 posts

244 months

Thursday 29th May 2014
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As someone who as owned Epicons, along with various Fox and Rockshox offerings, I'm not as dismissive of Epicons as the previous poster. Working correctly, they easily outperformed Rockshox's budget offerings, I don't however know enough about Marzocchi to comment on that.

In comparison to your friends xc32, you'll find that your fork weighs roughly half a kilo less due to the quantity of aluminium, rather than steel, used in it's construction.

They are also very easy to take apart, so before writing them off, I would do that. Clean, inspect and re-lubricate them and see what the result is.

These are some guides for changing travel, but they also show the disassembly process;

http://www.srsuntour-cycling.com/service/tech-vide...
http://gearinches.com/blog/how-to/how-to-adjust-ep...

I believe that you can also order new parts from Europe if you know the part numbers, although I have not tried this.

shouldbworking

Original Poster:

4,801 posts

241 months

Thursday 29th May 2014
quotequote all
Cheers. I'm actually quite a fan of these forks - at least when they were new - hopefully I can bring back some of that performance.

richardxjr

7,561 posts

239 months

Thursday 29th May 2014
quotequote all
They seem like an alright air fork worth servicing imo. As far as developments go, as with the whole bike industry, nothing at all, except marketing bks like CTD, pointless stupid remotes, special coatings made out of unicorn jizz, harder to service...

Maxles are something I suppose, but I think yours came with 15mm anyway.

Stugots

358 posts

255 months

Thursday 29th May 2014
quotequote all
Unicorn jizz pmsl



You got a link for a tub of that.