120mm fork throwdown 2023 edition

Discuss light weight issues concerning mountain bikes & parts.

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DanW
Posts: 1243
Joined: Fri May 02, 2008 5:39 pm
Location: Here, there and everywhere

by DanW

We have a bit of a different set up here in the UK where the average shop won't do a 200 hour damper service on any fork and it is quite normal to send forks away.

For DT Swiss, I have the added advantage of being a short drive from the UK service centre so no issue there for me if they are otherwise robust. The lowers service seems identical to all other forks so super easy at home.

I think the issues DT Swiss suffer from are indeed lack of OEM and therefore lack of spread of their fork, but also they acquired Pace and sold rebranded Pace forks for ages which were expensive and not particularly reliable. They were also very linear IIRC at a time when Fox and Rockshox started marketing "mid stroke support" which wasn't really a marketable term before.

The DT Swiss F232 use of Open (HS and LS circuits open)/ Drive (HS circuits open only)/ Locked (both HS and LS side closed with a threshold blow off) settings plus LSC adjustment is interesting.

Image

Suntour... I am similarly ignorant :) Their website is a mess and they also have very little spread fo their products. Tom Pidcock had been winning on a proto fork but outside that I've never seen anything particularly special looking on the XC/ light trail side of things. DH forks seems to be getting a bit of a push and review well. Happy to be educated on their 100-120mm forks :)

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Hexsense
Posts: 3270
Joined: Wed Dec 30, 2015 12:41 am
Location: USA

by Hexsense

How about this thing?
https://www.ohlins.com/product/rxf34-m-2/

3 levels of HSC. 15 clicks of LSC.

rothwem
Posts: 211
Joined: Wed Jul 09, 2014 4:45 pm
Location: Asheville, NC

by rothwem

So, honest question, why is the 34SC with their FIT4 Damper not being considered here? Is it that bad? I've got a 35mm SID Select that I don't love (its so damn harsh!) and the 34SC seems like the best replacement, though I've never ridden one.

Hexsense
Posts: 3270
Joined: Wed Dec 30, 2015 12:41 am
Location: USA

by Hexsense

Re Fox 34SC:
My un-impressive comparison: viewtopic.php?t=169663#p1744493

DanW
Posts: 1243
Joined: Fri May 02, 2008 5:39 pm
Location: Here, there and everywhere

by DanW

Deviating a bit from the 120mm thread title, but still on the topic of me trying to find a very supportive fork for a singlespeed hardtail with descending benefits over a rigid fork....

Does anyone have any experience of the latest SID with the BRAIN damper? This seems right up my street with trying to limit the fork being active up until a certain point then open up. A little old school as manufacturers have moved away from "platform" suspension but I think it could meet my needs well. IS it as horribly unreliable as the BRAIN rear shock? :?

rothwem
Posts: 211
Joined: Wed Jul 09, 2014 4:45 pm
Location: Asheville, NC

by rothwem

Hexsense wrote:
Fri Apr 28, 2023 8:02 pm
Re Fox 34SC:
My un-impressive comparison: viewtopic.php?t=169663#p1744493
Jeez, well that's a bummer. Might as well stick with my SID.
DanW wrote:
Sun Apr 30, 2023 8:24 pm
Deviating a bit from the 120mm thread title, but still on the topic of me trying to find a very supportive fork for a singlespeed hardtail with descending benefits over a rigid fork....

Does anyone have any experience of the latest SID with the BRAIN damper? This seems right up my street with trying to limit the fork being active up until a certain point then open up. A little old school as manufacturers have moved away from "platform" suspension but I think it could meet my needs well. IS it as horribly unreliable as the BRAIN rear shock? :?
I used to have a Brain SID years ago, the issue I had wasn't with reliability, it was unpredictability in low-speed tech. At low speeds, it would just "fall away", making me crash. I crashed like 5 times at jogging speed when I was riding in Canaan, WV and I ditched it after that.

I wonder if Spec has somehow managed to fix that attribute on the current gen fork.

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