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Which RockShox Shock to choose for an Anthem X


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Posted

Hi

 

My Anthem X2 came out of the factory with the Rockshox Recon SL. Now I have no complaints with the shock but I am looking to upgrade.

 

I ride mainly XC races (45km classics).

 

I want to stay with the brand as my mates have had issues with their Fox shocks where I have had none.

 

Please let me have your thoughts.

Posted (edited)

SID shocks are the lighter air shocks but not for heavy blokes wanting to do the occasional harder hitting stuff. I went for a Reba and I am quite happy with it. SID XX if you want to spend silly money otherwise one of the cheaper versions.

Edited by Just Keep Pedaling
Posted (edited)

Giant will specify a maximum travel for the Anthem - probably the shorter travel of 80mm/100mm. Make sure the one you buy fits both the steerer and the wheels you have. They normally come in white/grey/black options.

Edited by Just Keep Pedaling
Posted

Monark, the question is: what's your reason for wanting to upgrade?

 

- Do you think the Recon SL is too heavy? Spending a few thousand rand has the potential to help you save about 200-500g over the Recon.

- Do you want something which smooths out the bumps better? You're not going to see much gain with spending a lot of money. Any smoothness improvement is going to be marginal, Recons are pretty damn good in this area. Sure, more expensive forks have better seals and better damping cartridges, but you have to ride very hard to notice any difference. If you do 45km Classics and not national XC (the real short-course-lap technical XC stuff) level riding, I can almost guarantee you won't notice a difference.

- Do you want more adjustability? This ties in with the post above, more expensive forks will give you compression adjustment ability (low and high-speed, to get stuff like dive-control to your liking), fine-tuning of initial stroke sensitivity, etc. If you're racing World Cup and need to adapt your bike to specific courses, this is great. If you're not, it's not.

 

Generally, it's a case of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it"...

 

What's your primary reason?

Posted

One of the REBA family, if you want value for money. Go to their website and them you can do a weight comparison, and compare with prices. A REBA SL will be a good match IMHO. Sid will ba an overkill for the X2, rather buy an XT wheelset.

 

To put into perspective:

 

SID fork = ca. R7k

 

Weight saving vs. Recon probably 700 g?

 

 

REBA SL = ca. R3.5

 

Weight saving vs. Recon prob 400g.

 

XT wheelset = ca. R3k

 

Not sure about the X2 wheelset, but I would guess the weight saving can be around 500 g (of rotational weight)

 

 

 

 

Posted

Hi

 

Thanks for the responses chaps. Mine is fine and I am sending it for a service soon so when it comes back it ought to be as good as new...

 

But... I have been riding quite a few of my mates bikes of late and am finding their front shocks to be a lot more plush/smooth. The Recon SL is a great shock but not nearly as smooth as some of the others.

 

I was considering a SID but the price is quite steep.

 

Can I maybe upgrade the internals of my recon SL?

Posted

But... I have been riding quite a few of my mates bikes of late and am finding their front shocks to be a lot more plush/smooth. The Recon SL is a great shock but not nearly as smooth as some of the others.

 

Which forks are you referring to? If your Recon isn't buttery smooth, it probably needs a service. I rode a Recon Race for two years, and it was just as smooth (although not as adjustable) as the Revelation I now ride, which costs 3 times as much. Yes, it had less travel, less adjustability and less controlled damping over *really* rough stuff, but smoothness was on a par.

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