What a difference a pair of forks makes!

[XmisterIS]

A while ago I posted a few musings about the relative merits of sus over non-sus mtb forks ... well, I went and did it! I replaced my knackered old Manitou Splice Super forks (which were pretty crap, it must be said), with a pair of Nuke Proof carbon-fibre forks.

Looky (at the same time I fitted Avid BB7's and of course I had to get cable housing to match the forks!):

Anyway, all I can say is, my God, that bike is FAST!!! what a difference changing the forks has made ... it's so much lighter, better balanced and it flies down singletrack!

So, go old-skool I say! Get rid of those sus forks, you don't need 'em for anything other than DH, I reckon! You certainly don't need them for XC.

 

[Tynan]

good

that looks to be a very straight line one of the yellow cable to the front wheel is making

I thought you singletrack types didn't like things that might get caught on other things?

fingers crossed the nuke proofness isn't tested

 

[Globalti]

I agree! When I bought my Global titanium frame I was forced by the geometry to buy a suspension fork, so I got a second-hand SID that gave me good service. When that eventually died I bought a new Reba but it leaked oil like my Land Rover. I have sent it back to Fisher Leisure for repair and in the meantime have fitted this carbon rigid fork: http://info.carboncycles.cc/index.php?s=0&t=2&c=43&p=197&

Have tried the bike on tarmac with slicks at 60 lbs and yes, it is super fast and light and the fork looks to be taking a lot of the bumps out. Next I will fit some 2.2" off road tyres and try it. I'm expecting to find it fast, light and not much less comfortable on XC rides than with that heavy lump of a suspension fork on it.

 

[XmisterIS]

good

that looks to be a very straight line one of the yellow cable to the front wheel is making

I thought you singletrack types didn't like things that might get caught on other things?

fingers crossed the nuke proofness isn't tested

It's longer than it looks! Just the way it's curving there.

I have faith that it's nuke proof!

Anyway, there are greater dangers on singletrack than the prospect of broken forks!

 

[dan_bo]

looks the nuts that. I haven't bothered with a sus fork for years- as long as you don't mind going slower on the DH bits I find there's so much more to be gained staying rigid.






Did that make sense?

 

[betty swollocks]

Some bikes just look right: yours does.
What make/model saddle?

 

[Muddyfox]

The forks look great but i dont like the yellow cable housing though

My MTB's have always had traditional front suspension forks but i recently bought a Cannondale F5 with the ultra fatty headshock and that makes a huge difference both on the road and on the trails and the ultra fatty is alot lighter than traditional sus forks

Simon

 

[lukesdad]

Those are very similar to my Rc 30san d couldn t agree more!

 

[jayonabike]

I like that, i was thinking along the same lines for my rockhopper.

 

[Globalti]

Here's my titanium Global. I put some fat tyres on it last night and went out for a blast around; it felt pretty smooth for anything other than kerb-hopping so I'm looking forward to taking it out for some proper XC riding. You can certainly see that carbon fork soaking up the bumps and I've always liked the Easton carbon seatpost in the Ti frame, the two seem to compliment each other very nicely.

Retro note: the bike has flat bars and Suntour thumbshifters, now increasingly difficult to find. Hope Mini brakes do a great job though they do pump up on long hard descents.