Joined: 12 Oct 2007Posts: 87Location: Greenwood/Phinney
Hey All,
I'd like to try my hand at more mountain biking. I've got a un-suspended gary fisher from the pliocene era, thinking about putting a suspended front fork on it. Suggestions on what to not get? On what to get?
I'm mostly looking at XC stuff, not free ride tricks, but my understanding is that a short travel front would be a good move...
caustic meatloaf
Posted: Sat Jul 14, 2012 9:45 am
Joined: 06 Dec 2010Posts: 1235537Location: a hammy melange...
Is that a pre-vertebrate gary fisher?
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Alex
Posted: Sat Jul 14, 2012 2:01 pm
Joined: 18 May 2006Posts: 3128Location: Roosevelt
Is your frame suspension corrected? The easy way to tell is if there is a ton of space between the wheel and the bottom of the fork.
You probably want an 80-100mm travel fork (finding shorter is very hard these days). If you are on a budget you might be able to find a used Marzocchi Bomber Z2 (with cute names like Atom or BAM). Those are 63-80mm travel forks from the late 90s and early 2000s that are in fact bomber and reliable and they should be well under $50. Check to make sure that they aren't having major seal issues and don't buy one with an air spring.
If you are buying new the Rock Shox Reba or Fox forks are great, but you'll have some price shock. You might look at the lower end Suntour forks, they aren't very serviceable so they won't last forever, but may ride okay in the short term. They come on a lot of OEM bikes, so you can probably pick up a used one for cheap.
You'll also want to consider head tube size. Yours could be 1", 1-1/8", or 1-1/4". If you have a threaded headset you'll want a new threadless one, because you don't want to buy any fork that has a threaded steerer.
Pinkbike buy/sell classifieds are also a good potential source of inexpensive 26" suspension forks.
I assume you're also weighing what it takes to add a suspension fork vs. simply buying a whole bike that already has one on it? In my mind, once you talk about over $250 total to get set up with a fork, it gets tough to deny the benefits of just buying a whole bike.
seabiscuit pinged me in email recently about riding at Duthie sometime. I haven't been on my MTB in a while, but next time there is a group trip I'll let you know. A lot of us are similar sizes and then you could try a pile of bikes (and thus forks) at once.
It didn't come up, but sticking with 26" wheels is good for the budget, 29ers are trendy and thus cost more. I've ridden both and seems advantages and disadvantages for both and have no problem sticking with 26".
If your bike is 1-1/8" threadless you could probably borrow my 1999-era Marzocchi Bomber for a couple of weeks and see how you like basic suspension. I like how my Reba rides a bit better, but the Bomber is still a good fork.
Rory has a full MTB with a nice US-made 853 Voodoo frame and front suspension in your size that he's been talking about selling for at least a year.
seabiscuit
Posted: Sun Jul 15, 2012 2:02 pm
Joined: 12 Oct 2007Posts: 87Location: Greenwood/Phinney
Sadly, threadless steerers weren't invented until the paleogene period, so my bike has a 1" threaded stem. I'm doubtful I'll find a suitable fork in this size in my extremely cheap price range.
I'll probably keep my pre-neogene ride, but who knows maybe I'd be in for a contemporary voodoo.
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Joined: 12 Oct 2007
Posts: 87
Location: Greenwood/Phinney
Joined: 06 Dec 2010
Posts: 1235537
Location: a hammy melange...
Joined: 18 May 2006
Posts: 3128
Location: Roosevelt
Joined: 10 Jan 2007
Posts: 1491
