Fork upgrade for Trek 6300

[mackie1]

It came with a Rock Shox Dart 3 front fork which is OK but not great. Would I be wasting money on something like a Rock Shox SID Race if I can get one for a reasonable price? It's a ridiculous 1kg lighter than the Dart 3 and seems to be top notch as far as XC use goes. There's currently an in-need-of-a-service 2003 one and a brand new unboxed one on ebay at the moment and it's tempting, but I'm worried that it's pointless bling for the amount of punishment I'll put it through.

[Geoff82]

Have you considered the Rockshox Reba SL? You can pick a set up for around £200 if you shop around and I've found them to be very capable XC forks on my GT Avalanche.

A friend of mine has also fitted a set to his Specialized FSR XC and is very happy with them as well.

[longblackcoat]

The old SID forks really aren't very good - get a Fox Vanilla secondhand for £150 or so and you'll enjoy it more.

[rhinochopig]

Geoff82 said:

Have you considered the Rockshox Reba SL? You can pick a set up for around £200 if you shop around and I've found them to be very capable XC forks on my GT Avalanche.

A friend of mine has also fitted a set to his Specialized FSR XC and is very happy with them as well.

Another vote for REBAS. Infinitely adjustable and very reliable. IMHO they perform better than the offerings from FOX which are double the price. Tim at TFT rates them as the best mid price forks too.

[mackie1]

Cheers for the advice. There seem to be about a billion different models so figuring out what I want/need is tricky. I will see if any bargains crop up in the next few weeks. I need a 245mm steerer tube and most second hand/new-but-fitted-to-bike ones seem to be quite a bit shorter though :/

[longblackcoat]

mackie1 said:

Cheers for the advice. There seem to be about a billion different models so figuring out what I want/need is tricky. I will see if any bargains crop up in the next few weeks. I need a 245mm steerer tube and most second hand/new-but-fitted-to-bike ones seem to be quite a bit shorter though :/

You need 245mm? If you've measured it at that, fair enough, but it's a very strange size.

[mackie1]

That's the size of the standard one, albeit with 40mm of spacers so there's a bit of leeway.

[longblackcoat]

40mm of spacers is a LOT!

[mackie1]

• shrug*

The photo in Trek's website shows a lot less but mine is probably a different frame size (21.5).

[mk1fan]

21.5-inches!! How tall are you 6ft 5?

Do you need the spacers under the stem or can a couple be removed?

[Beyond Rational]

Adjustable stem and some serious riser bars?

[mk1fan]

High rise risers would help if you can only fine forks with 230mm steerer length.

[mackie1]

I don't need them, but they are there. 1x 20mm and 2x 10mm. I am 6'3", the 19.5 felt just a smidge too small. The gents veg still clears the top tube

[mk1fan]

Fair enough,

Well if you don't need them then you don't need such a long steerer tube - which should bring more second hand examples into your options.

[longblackcoat]

For a start, and before you buy any forks, try dropping the bars, i.e. remove the bars and fit the spacers on top, effectively moving the bars down 20mm/35mm as desired. If this gives you an improved riding position then that's great, it means you can get forks which are already cut to c.220mm. If not, then you will probably need to go for brand-new forks.

[mackie1]

Looks like I've found a couple of potential options on eBay. Lightly used Reba SLs seem to be go for around £200.

[Geoff82]

You can get brand new ones for that price if you shop around on the internet!

I paid £190 for mine from Winstanleys Bikes.

[mackie1]

Geoff82 said:

You can get brand new ones for that price if you shop around on the internet!

I paid £190 for mine from Winstanleys Bikes.

I've not found any for that price, although I'm currently winning an auction at considerably less than that with 1h left to go.

[Geoff82]

I've just had a quick scout on my usual haunts for bike parts and you're right - the closest I could find was about £230 - £270 for a new pair.

God damn it! When did everything get so expensive?

Ps good luck with the auction, the Rebas are an awesome set of xc forks.

Edited by Geoff82 on Sunday 31st May 19:15

[mackie1]

I think the exchange rate must have something to do with it. I believe 09 bikes tend to have cheaper components that 08 ones for the same reason. A guy at work has an 08 GT Aggressor and it's got a much better spec than what you can get now.

PS. eBay fork got poached

PPS. But I did just get a good deal on one from a US seller. £240 all in for completely brand new with poploc included and uncut steerer. It's white too.

Edited by mackie1 on Sunday 31st May 19:31

Edited by mackie1 on Monday 1st June 07:54