Review: Lauf Trail Racer 29

[skipperw]

....mmm...no.

... mmm... yes. You pay for all your maintenance upfront!

[Hairy]

... mmm... yes. You pay for all your maintenance upfront!

so if I can make a tyre that never goes flat for R1.00 and could sell if for R2.00 to make a decent profit, but because you never have to fix the flat again I should now charge you R8.00 as this is what you would have paid to repeatedly fix the flats?

 

Not saying this is what the Lauf chaps are doing, as noted I believe this to be a labour intensive product to make, just scratching my head at your point made.

[Goodbadugly]

My riding experience:

I bought one a month ago. I had a few tough days at work and thought retail therapy might be the answer.

I will try not to repeat what was said by others.

 

The Bad

At first I installed the fork on my Lynskey ridgeline. The wheels on the bike was built with revolution spokes and 350 gram rims(read lightweight with flex). I wish I could say it was good. But it was not. The flex in the system was simply disastrous. The flexy frame, flex in the wheels, lightweight tires and flex in the fork made the bike difficult to steer. I nearly had a speed wobble going down a straight tar road!

 

I changed the wheels to my trusty Arch EX wheels and it felt better. But still not what I expected.

 

The good

The next option was to put it on my Santa Cruz Highball carbon frame. Now this is a stiff frame. I previously had 2 Reba forks on this frame. A old style qr model and a 15mm thru axle fork. There was still some flex in the system. Somewhere between the qr Reba and the TA Reba. 

I will review my experience on the Highball then.

1. On tar as expected it is a very comfy ride.
2. Gravel road is a pleasure.
3. Hitting smallish sinkplaatpad is better than any air fork. The reduced upsprung weight shows its advantages.
4. Hitting rough sinkplaatpad at speed is really bad. Maybe even worse than a 100mm air fork on a hardtail.
5. Enough dirtroady riding. And off to Mankele. We went up the old Sabie road, stayed left after the climb up to the ridge. Then down the mountain to the dirt road where we connected to the gold route. A long steady climb. Then down on the other side through Sappi and Junior bushtunnel and back to Mankele.

• The first thing that was noticeable was that this is a very light bike. Climbing was phenomenal. Out of the saddle climbing was superb. Bob was unnoticeable. And the flex that killed the idea of the fork on the other frame was gone.
• Going slowly through the first little rock garden proved to be more challenging than I at first thought it would be. The front end of the bike not only bounced up, but also sideways when you hit a rock. More so than with a Reba. Higher speed fixed this to a large extent.
• The jeeptrack as can be expected was good. Smooth flowing singletrack was fun. Small drops was good, but bigger ones required a LOT of arm and leg suspension.
• I can't really say that the handling of the bike in tighter singletrack was any worse than with a 100mm air fork. Neither did flex bother me in singletrack.
• One thing that stands out is that this is not a fork for a lazy rider. If you like sitting back on your full susser while you fly down the other side of the mountain, this is not what you need. Be awake and prepared to work when you ride this fork.
• I had to get used to the riding style of the fork. Remember that there is no dampening. On the plus side it is much easier to lift the front end of the bike over an obstacle. Just compress it and up goes the front wheel.
• I did not experience any problematic brake diving.
• NO stiction. Ever.

The ugly

1. The fork costs more than 4 generic ridged carbon forks.
2. Half the price of a RS1.
3. Twice the price of a SID.

The question then:

Is it worth R10k-ish?

1. If you are a weight weenie who actually ride the bike it is a good option.
2. If you can fork out R5k for a bike maintenance package on a stage race, R10k might not pose a big obstacle.
3. I still have to ride a lightweight air suspension that is still excellent after 24 months of riding. That includes forks serviced on a regular basis. If you ride 6 hours a week, you will ride 100 hours in 4 months. At least 2 services/year on your SID. You will pay the Lauf off in 2 years. And (hopefully) it won't be dead like a lightweight air suspension fork after 2 years. A new SID will cost you R7.8k (CWCycles). Meaning that the Lauf will set you back R4k more. For 600 grams less on the bike.
4. $1050 is not the manufacturing cost. Neither does it cost R30k to manufacture a Specialized SWORKS hardtail frame.

Is it worth it? Not if you are a blue-collar worker. But I will certainly not be surprised to see this fork on a top end carbon hardtail in 2016-7 straight from the factory.

 

Will I buy it again? 

This is not a Jack-of-all-trades fork. It is a marathon fork. A KOM/QOM fork. A verydirtydustyroadyfork. Unfortunately I am closer to the wheelchair than the perambulator in age. So no KOM's in my near future.  

[BLACKvoodoo]

For 12k wouldn't you rather get a full carbon DT Swiss that has plenty of set up gadgets to keep you happy on the rocks and on the gravel and anywhere in between.. 

[Goodbadugly]

For 12k wouldn't you rather get a full carbon DT Swiss that has plenty of set up gadgets to keep you happy on the rocks and on the gravel and anywhere in between.. 

I am not into multiple gadgets. I prefer a knife with one blade.

[RocknRolla]

nice review Gbu, thanks for taking the time to write it.

[ChUkKy]

I see a similarity...

 

http://i.ytimg.com/vi/CohJksnlT1g/maxresdefault.jpg

[Heel Drop]

12 k for a fork that can only be used in certain surfaces means change of fork or two bikes to be able to ride all surfaces comfortably - I will do with just one air fork which can do it all 

 

long dirt road races its good for if that's all you do but if you want to ride your bike any time anywhere at least an air fork gives much more options - I like the idea and if it was cheaper perhaps it could have been an extra fork for long dirt roads but not at 12k

[i24]

A conventional fork has a bridge between the two lowers so they have to move up and down together. There appears to be nothing stopping these forks from moving out of phase, one extending while the other is compressing, causing the wheel to rock from side to side. Can anybody who has ridden one comment, if you pull the wheel from side to side between the forks, how far will it move? Can the tyre touch the fork.

 

I know the loads on a bicycle wheel are almost always directly up and down, but the above freedom movement might trigger off some unexpected handling side effects or even a wheel wobble, particularly as there is no visible damping.