Urgent Advice needed on Fox Fork

[swich]

So I got a Giant stp this past weekend. one of the things i looking to do is to sort ride trails(northern farms, PWC park) as well as be able to just the bike. having been on a 20" since starting high school most 27.5 or 29ers seemed massive. so when i saw the 26" DJer i grabbed it. been told it a very good frame.

 

any way took it for a ride on sunday around emmerintia dam on the trails there and 1st thing that i hated and was warned about was the fork. with no lockout hill climbing is a pain in the a**. lose all your power bouncing on the fork. so i have been looking for forks. something with lockout that i can jump.

 

went past a bike shop today and was chatting to a guy there that said that he has a fox fork that should handle it. its what he called a franken fork. its made from bits and pieces. it 140mm travel with can be dropped to 100mm, air preload(i think) with lockout. it seems to meet my requirements.

 

he said price 2k till the end of tomorrow other wise he will use them on another bike.

 

advice?

 

PS currently thbike has the stock DJ 3's

[Pappa Bear]

Sounds like a fox talas....... What is the year model? Talas should be ok ........ He mentioned frankenfork?? What did he do or remove? Ask him for a testride on thefork!

[Spoke101]

Would have to agree with Pappa Bear.

[braailegend]

So I got a Giant stp this past weekend. one of the things i looking to do is to sort ride trails(northern farms, PWC park) as well as be able to just the bike. having been on a 20" since starting high school most 27.5 or 29ers seemed massive. so when i saw the 26" DJer i grabbed it. been told it a very good frame.

 

any way took it for a ride on sunday around emmerintia dam on the trails there and 1st thing that i hated and was warned about was the fork. with no lockout hill climbing is a pain in the a**. lose all your power bouncing on the fork. so i have been looking for forks. something with lockout that i can jump.

 

went past a bike shop today and was chatting to a guy there that said that he has a fox fork that should handle it. its what he called a franken fork. its made from bits and pieces. it 140mm travel with can be dropped to 100mm, air preload(i think) with lockout. it seems to meet my requirements.

 

he said price 2k till the end of tomorrow other wise he will use them on another bike.

 

advice?

 

PS currently thbike has the stock DJ 3's

 

I have lockouts on my fork but rarely use it. I think its just a case to get use to it. When I rode BMX for 2 years and got my myself a MTB again, the shock felt exactly the same (bouncy). Its just you are so used to rigid forks, that shocks will come across weird.

 

The DJ3 is a nice but heavy shock, nothing wrong with it for DJ, but trails it might come out lacking a bit. R2k for a fox fork is not bad and you dont have to worry about the travel changing the geometry of the bike to much. I had a 170mm manitou Sherman on my STP and rode awesome!

 

The STP is an awesome bike, but is aimed at DJ/street(also had one), so climbing not its main design feature, but rather have a sweet "Riding" bike than a lame oversized XC bike that can only do gravel roads and hills, haha

 

*jumping with a lockout on is not the best Idea, exerting unnecessary forces through the valves

Edited May 27, 2014 by braailegend

[swich]

 

*jumping with a lockout on is not the best Idea, exerting unnecessary forces through the valves

i know, i want the lock for when im say ride the bike from my place and a road to her place or similar. when i stand and start to pump to power up the hills all my power goes into the bounce and i lose forward momentum. it kills me no matter what gear im in.

 

plus im so used to single speed the gear thing only helps on really steep hills.

[swich]

So went past mikes bikes yesterday. he agreed to let me have a test ride on the fork. he dropped it down to 100mm travel for me fitted it to my bike. and i locked it out and took it for a sprint up the road. and wow. its light and solid. i can pump in a hard gear and go somewhere. its was great. so i got them

 

the housing it a Fox talas but the internals are the same as a float.

so its an air preload. with compression adjustment, rebound adjustment and the lock adjustment.

 

i was playing with the rebound adjustment to see how i wanted it and turned it all the way to the + and held brakes and pressed down. the fork did come back up. 2 click toward - and they came up. when for a 2meter ride and hear "pop pssssst".

On the air side the seal on the fork had popped off. im going to take it back to find what the story is but yeah...

[braailegend]

Had the same think happen to a dual air Rockshox Revelation I had.. end of story meant R900 replacement chamber.

[swich]

Got the bike back yesterday. fork feels so good. they replaced the seals for me as part of the original sale.

 

if this is the service they give huge props to Mikes bikes. wish car mechs did the same....

 

i will be shopping there in the future.

Edited May 30, 2014 by swich