New forks needed for my 29er

James07 · 24 May 2017 at 11:05

As the title states I need a new set of forks to suit my Trek Marlin 29er, im going off road on the Yorkshire moors, the terrain gets a bit rough from time to time

The forks I have now are on their way out and need replacing, they have done 1000 miles, about 700 of that were road miles before I bought my first road bike.

What would people suggest? Im looking at under £100, my friend has Suntour XCM forks on his new Talon 3 which look good but his wheels are 27.5" they are around £60 but id like something slightly stronger than stock if possible.

Thanks in advance

Begbie · 25 May 2017 at 06:57

Get yours serviced?

Sadly £100 isn't much for a set of forks.

mattyfez · 25 May 2017 at 08:28

Suntour xct, XCM and Xcr are budget forks and not really worth upgrading to unless you just want 'a' fork. Out of those a 2017 model Xcr is the only one worth considering really as the new one's are air sprung rather than coil sprung.

What you want is an air fork, such as a Raidon or epixon, much better, but twice the price.

I upgraded to an epixon, and along with performing much much better, it has magnisium alloy lowers so they are quite lightweight, thicker stantions, and some other refinements.

kevpuk · 25 May 2017 at 16:05

How about a Fox one?

James07 · 30 May 2017 at 09:03

Begbie said:
Get yours serviced?

Sadly £100 isn't much for a set of forks.

I took them to my local store that normally services my road bike and he said that the forks are that cheap as standard that they wouldn't be worth servicing nor are they really serviceable plus they're not in a great condition, for what they cost he said he would just replace them with something similar. I trust them as they always give me great advice, ive been using this store for years.

I dont want to upgrade them as the bikes only £450 brand new, I have plans to upgrade the bike later this year maybe early next year to a Giant Fathom so no point spending stupid money on forks for now.

mattyfez said:
Suntour xct, XCM and Xcr are budget forks and not really worth upgrading to unless you just want 'a' fork. Out of those a 2017 model Xcr is the only one worth considering really as the new one's are air sprung rather than coil sprung.

What you want is an air fork, such as a Raidon or epixon, much better, but twice the price.

I upgraded to an epixon, and along with performing much much better, it has magnisium alloy lowers so they are quite lightweight, thicker stantions, and some other refinements.

Ive just been looking at the 2017 range on the Suntour website, cant seem to find a link to buying a 2017 model anywhere though, can you help as these seem ideal for me.

kevpuk said:
How about a Fox one?

Way above my budget buddy but thank you

mattyfez · 30 May 2017 at 09:34

I ordered mine via my Lbs. Aside from ebay (and it's often not clear what year they are or where they come from) they don't seem to be stocked by the normal online bike component shops.

Guess they mostly come from a distributor, my Lbs didn't have any issues getting hold of them.

James07 · 30 May 2017 at 16:38

mattyfez said:
I ordered mine via my Lbs. Aside from ebay (and it's often not clear what year they are or where they come from) they don't seem to be stocked by the normal online bike component shops.

Guess they mostly come from a distributor, my Lbs didn't have any issues getting hold of them.

Thanks buddy