This year the super plush, laterally stiff Noleen Mega air is back with a couple of significant upgrades. Most noticeable are the WTB Grease Gun Serviceable lubrication ports that provide quick and easy maintenance. Another cool new feature is Variable Travel Option – VTO. VTO allows you to remove the stanchions and switch the spacers around to set the fork up with either 75mm or 100mm of travel.
HIGHLIGHTS
MEGA STIFF - Nobody has a stiffer single crown fork. In fact, the Noleen Mega air is stiffer than many of the dual crown forks currently on the market. How do we do it? Simple...32 mm oversized Nickelcel plated 7000 series aluminum stanchions mated to a forged and CNC’d 6061 hollow, aluminum crown; mated to a butted 7075 steerer tube. All of this working in concert with a one-piece cast magnesium slider, with a matched set of Teflon coated aluminum bushings.
MEGA CHOICE - Noleen Mega Air offers 75 or 100mm of travel out of the box with the new VTO - Variable Travel Option
MEGA LIGHT - At 1365 grams with a 240mm steer tube and steel hardware, the Mega Air is light.
This fork is awesome if you don't wanna spend time reaching to the crown to adjust something cuz you cannot adapt to your own ride. I'd say about 50% of the members on this site DO NOT WORK ON THEIR BIKES... I do not understand WHY they care not to LEARN something. But this fork was, and still IS, the easiest fork to maintain. Pull the Schrader housings out and Loctite them back in. Get a shock pump and stop WHINING! You're on an extinct fork that has NO PARTS available from it's manufacture, but that's the cost of having an older product that is desperately being mimicked to this day. This is not a throw away fork like any RockShox or lower end Manitou... But if you by chance see a guy riding on one of these obscure forks, give him a nod and know inside that this guy actually does NOT depend on the flimsy advice of a LBS.
This fork is so stiff, front to back, that it vibrated the top cap lose!
Seriously, $50 fork that can last 10-15 years beats buying a Fox brand every 3 years...
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Submitted by
lionelds69
a Cross Country Rider
from Great Falls, Montana Date Reviewed: May 10, 2009
Favorite Trail:
Souther Helena
Duration Product Used:
6 months
Price Paid:
$59.00
Purchased At:
e-bay
Strengths:
Light weight
Weaknesses:
no adjustabilty
Similar Products Used:
rock shoc xc and variants sid
Bike Setup:
Gt team i drive 4.0
Bottom Line:
I read the reviews but no problems with the seals. there are alot of place to get them but did purchase spares at a local hardware store. didn't like the non adjuttabilty but over all work pretty good. I use these as a spare when just playing around but nothing compared to the sid
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Submitted by
DeeEight
a Cross Country Rider
from Ottawa, Ont, Canada Date Reviewed: July 26, 2003
Duration Product Used:
3 months
Price Paid:
$150.00
Purchased At:
eBay
Strengths:
Very stiff, easily adjusted air spring, good rebound damping adjustment range, lightweight, lots of tire clearance (2.4s fit with room to spare), easily overhauled and maintained.
Weaknesses:
Only one is that its been discontinued and its hard to find more of them.
Similar Products Used:
RST XMO, Englund Total Air equipped Judy's, Manitou XVert, too many other forks to list.
Bike Setup:
Giant WarpDS3 frame, Sid XC rear shock, Rockshox discs, XTR BB, DX derailleurs, AC cranks, Bebop pedals, XC-Pro thumbies, 26.5 pounds of fun trail bike.
Bottom Line:
If they still made the fork I'd buy more of them. Wish they'd offered a 5" travel version too.
Value Rating:Overall Rating:
Submitted by
Phil
a Cross Country Rider
from Orlando, FL, USA Date Reviewed: May 24, 2003
Favorite Trail:
It's in the french Alps...
Duration Product Used:
2 Years
Purchased At:
LBS
Strengths:
Worked okay for a few weeks
Weaknesses:
Leaked air from day one. Impossible to get parts to fix it.
Similar Products Used:
Lotsa Rockshox and Marzocchi
Bike Setup:
K2 EVO 3.0
Bottom Line:
The Noleen Mega Air 100 comes standard on K2 bikes. It's an average XC fork, rather light and not too flexy, but nothing that comes even close to a Marzocchi.
Mine leaked air from day one and kept getting worse to the point that it would need air before every ride.
When I decided to fix it, I called my dealer... they tried to get the parts from K2 for a month... without success.
Tried through another dealer... same story.
I then contacted K2. They told me they had the parts and would call my dealer to arrange that... nothing happened... contacted them again... and again... and again...and... I bought a Marzocchi...
The bottom line is: their product sucks. I could forgive that if they had any kind of customer service but the latter stinks even more than the former.
It is NOT normal to be unable to get a few O-rings and plastic parts for a 2 year old fork through a dealer.
If you buy any K2 or Noleen product plan to junk it once the 1 year warranty expires...
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Submitted by
Ron
a Cross Country Rider
from Glen Allen, Virginia, USA Date Reviewed: August 26, 2002
Favorite Trail:
Poor Farm
Duration Product Used:
6 months
Purchased At:
LBS
Strengths:
Light. Adjustable and plush
Weaknesses:
Slow air leaks made it necessary to check air pressure before every ride
Bike Setup:
2001 K2 Zed team - stock
Bottom Line:
Here's the obiturary...
I have been riding my Zed team for about 6 months and I like it. It is a pretty light reliable hardtail with a good set of components. The Mega Air fork came with the bike.
I hit a rock pretty hard and hit the bottom of the fork's travel for the first time. Got a pinch flat too :-( I think the suspension bottomed out because because of the air leak on the spring side. The leak had been getting worse over the last few weeks and I had planned to bring it in to my LBS to see if they could do something about it.
Anyway, I didn't notice until the next day that the right stanchion was pushed through the crown about .375". RIP. The shop told me that K2 would replace it under warranty with another non-K2 fork.
Two flamin' chilis because it broke.
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Submitted by
Todd
a Cross Country Rider
from Portland, Oregon, USA Date Reviewed: July 3, 2002
Favorite Trail:
the one I haven't ridden
Duration Product Used:
3 months
Price Paid:
$500.00
Purchased At:
purchased as a one-ride complete bike (used)
Strengths:
It is very stiff and will go wherever you point it. It is pretty light. the internal rebound adjuster is easy to use on the trail with a small 2.5mm allen wrench.
Weaknesses:
Too much plastic. I would gladly take more weight for more durable parts. The threads on the part that reveices the schrader valve stripped out, and now the fork loses all of it's air in the 5 minutes. The VTO advertised is expensive ($50 at my local shop) to switch, and if you don't like the new setting you have to pay the money to have it reversed.
Similar Products Used:
RST 321CL, Rockshox Quadra 21 w/Englund Air conversions
Bike Setup:
K2 Zed Team frame, Deore shifters and ft derailler, XT rear derailler, Truvativ Firex cranks (non-splined), Avid brakes and levers with Koolstop pads, kevlar reinforced braided Jagwire cables and housing, WTB Wheels
Bottom Line:
This fork is a great, stiff, adjustable XC fork, but if you're an even light-duty downhiller or freerider, forget it.
Value Rating:Overall Rating:
Submitted by
jason
a
from marietta Date Reviewed: May 21, 2002
Duration Product Used:
6 months
Price Paid:
$400.00
Purchased At:
bike connection
Strengths:
plush travel-100mm of travel
Weaknesses:
chatter when shock tops out
Similar Products Used:
rock shox judy xc
Bike Setup:
orbea full suspension
Bottom Line:
i have rode this fork on 2 different bikes and have had great luck on both a hard-tail, and also on full suspension. I am extremely happy with the lateral stiffness, and the fork allows me to make very accurate turns. Over all this shock has been put to my test and passed with flying colors...don't just take my word for it...one of the top riders in the state has won many races with it. Enjoy.
Value Rating:Overall Rating:
Submitted by
Adam Morse
a Weekend Warrior
from Needham MA Date Reviewed: November 25, 2001
Favorite Trail:
construction sites
Duration Product Used:
3 months
Purchased At:
Dedham Bike
Strengths:
nice plush travel
Weaknesses:
air shock loses air when you break it in
Similar Products Used:
none
Bottom Line:
it's nice for people who do cross country riding and racing. It will give you a nice smooth ride. I happen to be more of a freeride biker and the fork has held up alright but it will cuase problems later on, i'd recomend this to intermediate riders but not to anyone interested in doing drops over 10ft.
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