Submitted by
emcurry489
a Cross Country Rider
from Cleveland, TN
Date Reviewed: December 28, 2009
Bottom Line:
This is a great cross-country fork. Don't abuse it too much with dirt jumping and urban assault because IT WILL BREAK. The part in which connects the two tubes actually snapped on me after doing some serious urban riding for about a year and a half. Overall, it's an amazing fork for cross-country.
Submitted by
papanoel
a Weekend Warrior
from France
Date Reviewed: April 1, 2009
Strengths: I didn't use it enough to be able to talk about its strenghts and it was my very first suspension fork... Anyway it seems to be reliable and confortable. The lock out feature was among the things that made me buy the bike.
Stiff fork. Easy to set up
Weaknesses: Way too heavy (2.3kg - coil spring)
Bottom Line:
Removed it to lighten my bike. Seems to be a good fork for those who start riding as it's quite easy to set up, reliable, confortable. I put "only" four chilis because of the weight.
Submitted by
lew242
a Cross Country Rider
from China
Date Reviewed: August 7, 2008
Strengths: Good Value...for a decent fork.
Great adjust, travel, rebound, compression very useful,
Strong and durable forks
Weaknesses: Better forks out there, if you have the $$$
Terrible instruction manual
OK if staff in bike shops are aware of the forks adjustibity and can explain how to set them up right
Heavy, but doesn't matter at this price
Bottom Line:
Really good fork.
I have a fair idea of what I'm doing can pretty much do anything on a bike, in terms of maintenance and assembly (if I have the correct tools) and can dismantle motorcycle carbs and change the jets. But the manual for the Tora 318 confused the hell out of me, until I read about the fork on the forums on this site (thanks MTBR forum users).
Message to Rock Shox: Forks need to be set up properly or they can get damaged or used in an ineffective way, so thanks for all the adjustability BUT:
1.Please write a manual for each of your products, don't write one hoping to cover all your products in one confusing booklet. Or at least write decent .PDF versions for each and stick them on your website for peeps to download (in lots of languages).
2. Differentiate between your forks, maybe you could name them Tora 318A and Tora 318C for air and coil versions respectively (where is the air valve? Oh, this is the coil version, thanks for not explaining) :(
Weaknesses: Supplied at ridiculously low pressure, Should have included shock pump. Mud clearance on 29er version not what it could be.
Bottom Line:
Really nice stiff forks, a huge jump from the 1998 technology that I upgraded from. They feel very smooth and when combined with the 29er wheel really soak up the bumps. For everyone with the SoloAir version with complaints about bottoming out, the biggest problem with these when included with a new bike is that they will not come with a fork pump, which is absolutely essential for complete setup of the fork. Mine were pumped up to 90psi on delivery which would only suit a sub 140lb rider (in other words, no-one!). You will need to purchase a shock-pump and adjust the fork pressure to get best results. Riding with too low a pressure in the forks will cause damage to them and you!
There could be more space between the top of the fork and the wheel, I have a feeling that lots of sticky mud could clog the space easily.
These are, apparently, adjustable for between 85mm and 130mm of travel but details of the modification procedure are hard to track down. What is the large cylindrical lump of rubber included with the accessories?
Submitted by
Tom H
a Weekend Warrior
from Pleasanton, CA
Date Reviewed: February 23, 2008
Strengths: stiff, plush, lots of adjustments.
Weaknesses: quality control. VERY soft stock spring. Uturn and compression knobs are weak plastic.
Bottom Line:
pretty nice fork, very comfortable.. at 195lbs the fork bottoms out all over the place, even riding off curbs. the motion control works great and helps balance out the ultra soft spring. unless you're a very light rider, get the air sprung version or expect to upgrade the spring. i never bottomed my old pilot! way too soft for jumping at any weight!
i also had some quality control issues with mine. some plastic stuff got caught between the rebound damper and lower oring and caused a leak that hydrolocked the fork. i had to fully tear it down and remove the offending plastic piece and refill it with oil.. its great now, but stuff like that shouldnt get past QC!
even with that said, id still buy this fork again. tons of value for the money.. cant get another 135mm fork with this many adjustments that work for 200 bucks!
Strengths: It comes with all the gismoz you look for on a modern fork, the price is reasonable, looks cool, and it performs very well
Weaknesses: It is heavier than my last fork...Manitou Answer Spyder which came with my Trek Y5 1998 model. But it is lighter than all the new forks I tested before I purchased this one
Bottom Line:
For me this shock is several generations ahead of my last fork, so I must say it is amazing. Compared to the best 600+ dollar forks, let's say it only lags 10% behind their performance, but the price is less than half. I think it's a great fork!
Similar Products Used: Tested Reba, Fox Vanilla Float,
Bike Setup: Y5 brakes, handle bar and rear shock stock, '07 XTR crank, '07 XTR front and rear derailler, '07 XTR cassett, '07 Shimano HG93 chain, '07 XT Fire shifters, and finally '07 Rockshox Tora 318 fork with lockout remote.
Overall Rating:
Value Rating:
Submitted by
Mike
a Weekend Warrior
from Stowmarket, Suffolk
Date Reviewed: October 2, 2007
Strengths: Very stiff, takes a 203mm rotor/hydraulics easily. Same as the Revelation, but with Cro-Mo stantions rather than aluminium. Travel is plush (Coil, U-Turn). Strong Crown. External rebound!!! Excellent steering, no deflection over bumps. Oil Bath, wonderful swishing sound on compression.
Weaknesses: A little bit heavier than most, but stronger. XC, so warranty doesn't cover All Mountain (Which these are more than capable of!) U-Turn knob is slippery when wet, but with gloves on is fine.
Bottom Line:
Excellent. I mean for £150/$300 you can't go wrong. Just for those who want to know, I dropped the air Zokes 'cos these are stiffer and have more travel. Quick note to all, the Solo Air appears to have seal problems, so it's safer to go coil/upgrade to the Revelations. And to the guy with the air ramp up complaints, it's normal, ALL air forks ramp up, it's to do with air compression rates not a fork problem so don't worry about it.
Overall, an excellent fork. Can't complain about weight for the price/stiffness. Coming down from an MX Pro, which is a top grade fork, I have no complaints. External rebound, like the MX Pro. Travel adjust, but better than the MX Pro. Thicker tubes, stronger. Motion control, Compression adust, which on the MX Pro was a guessing game of oil weights/viscosities!
Buy it if you're a Heavy XCer on a budget! Not for Jumpers!
Similar Products Used: Mozo Vibe-R (AWFUL), SR Suntour XCR (Better, stop-gap), MX Pro ETA+TAS (Wonderful, but flexy)
Bike Setup: Kona Caldera '06, LX Drivetrain/Brakes, Easton Cockpit, EX729 Rims. The Toras are the '07 coil U-Turn versions. No Bosses.
Overall Rating:
Value Rating:
Submitted by
Kristina
a Weekend Warrior
from Australia
Date Reviewed: August 21, 2007
Strengths: Air Sprung Adjustable Travel 32mm Stanchions Easily to Service Simple set up
Weaknesses: Ramps up too much towards the end of travel at the 100mm setting (fore a person of 60kg) and as a result not as plush as it should be.
Bottom Line:
I think this is a great fork. The weight isn't so bad if you consider that it's a 130mm travel fork. It's air sprung and very adjustable for your weight, and not too much dialing in to do (just the air pressure & rebound really). Seemed a bit harsh towards the top of the travel at 100mm setting, I changed it to 130mm and it's great for the riding I do now. I found it pretty easy to service myself and remove that travel spacer. I didn't think that much of the remote pop loc, leg mounted would be better.
Nice Simple & Functional, great to get if it's going to be your first good fork as it hasn't got too many confusing settings to adjust.
It's versatile. Yes having to change the travel internally is a bit of a pain but I have read that u-turn type forks aren't usually as plush as non u-turn ones so I think I'll live with it.
Bike Setup: Trance 3, fork @ 130mm , 1x9 speed, sram X7, Syncros PNC 2.5 tires, bashring & inner ring, race face deus XC bar, Syncros FR 50mm stem, thomson post, avatar saddle, v12mag pedals, oury grips, shimano xt hydro brakes.
Overall Rating:
Value Rating:
Submitted by
Ben Schafer
a Cross Country Rider
from Rockville, MD, USA
Date Reviewed: July 30, 2007
Strengths: Strong design, great durability and amazing rebound
Weaknesses: A bit heavy, have to take it apart to change travel.
Bottom Line:
Fork came with my bike, solo air...its a great fork and i was going to buy it for my rincon but the rincon needed so much work i just decided to get a new bike. The travel isnt as smooth as i expected but i was probably just expecting too much. from the fork that came with the rincon to this...great step up. i only recomend this fork for cross country bikers! when i went up to schaeffer farms, i noticed almost none of the bumps that you would ordinarely feel with other forks. however, if you do get this fork, i recomend u get the u-turn coil version instead of the air. (also saves u money)
Submitted by
Johan
a Cross Country Rider
from Sweden
Date Reviewed: July 16, 2007
Strengths: Bulletproof function Easy adjusted Works realy good
Weaknesses: A bit heavie mine is 1950g weighted on my scale
Bottom Line:
So good fork for good money. I was looking for a Reba when i got my Tora. Tested and compared several times and found out that ok teh reba is a bit better but not that much better so it is worth the pricedifference not for me atleast
Similar Products Used: Rock Shox Reba RST Omega Manitou R7 Suntour
Bike Setup: Avanti Competition with XT setup and Mavic wheels
Overall Rating:
Value Rating:
Submitted by
Gerald
a Weekend Warrior
from Orlando, FL, USA
Date Reviewed: July 10, 2007
Strengths: Adjustability, looks, travel, pop-lock capability, and price.
Weaknesses: Heavy!!! The 318 U-turn only comes in white.
Bottom Line:
So far this has been a great fork. A little on the heavy side, but can't ask much for the price. Does exactly what I needed it to: travel adjustable, compression adjust, lock-out, and rebound adjust without having to take it apart.
Overall, this is a great budget fork!!!
Oh, the only thing that bothers me is that it swishes under compression... A little annoying...
Bike Setup: 2004 Raleigh Ram 2.0; highly modded...
Overall Rating:
Value Rating:
Submitted by
Steve
a Weekend Warrior
from Montreal
Date Reviewed: July 9, 2007
Strengths: - Great value for the price - stiff handling - good clean looking fork
Weaknesses: none so far.
Bottom Line:
This fork is great, i've only used it a couple of times, but i can already feel the difference when i ride, this is an excellent fork for the price, considering the performance that you get, this fork deserves 5 flamming chillis. By the way...this fork is meant for XC...not downhill...it will do fine on little drops, like maybe 1-2 feet...but don't expect to be able to drop 6 feet with this one.
Bike Setup: GT Avalanche 2.0...stock except for the new Rockshox Tora 318
Overall Rating:
Value Rating:
Submitted by
Lynda
a Weekend Warrior
from Australia
Date Reviewed: May 31, 2007
Strengths: Stiff Strong 32mm stanchions Looks great Adjustability Pop Loc option is very useful
Weaknesses: As mentioned, the 318 with solo air needs to be taken apart to change travel.
Bottom Line:
I bought this fork to replace the Judy 1 that came stock on my bike. The difference was immediately noticeable, and I feel much more comfortable going over all sorts of obstacles on the trail. The bike is so much more responsive now, and there is heaps of compression/dampening adjustability to play with. The Tora feels very similar to the Fox 100RL, but costs much much less. I strongly recommend this fork to anyone who is looking to upgrade their entry level fork
Similar Products Used: manitou six, black, RS tora 289, recon air, marzocchi gran fondo 3, mz, mx pro.
Bike Setup: stock avanti hammer
Overall Rating:
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Submitted by
Bujor Vasile Lucian
a Weekend Warrior
from Craiova,Dolj,Romania
Date Reviewed: May 17, 2007
Strengths: At this price it gives alot!!! Swaps alot of bumps and makes riding over obstacles easy even at large speeds .
Weaknesses: Well...at the money payed I can't have the expectation of a Marzzocchi ALL MOUNTIN 2 or 1 but it sure makes alot of impression.
Bottom Line:
Grait for everyone that is a starter in all mountin biking discipline . I have rock shock tora 318 U turn coil and it helps in making service easy and it reduce cost . The air thing it is more expensive and not so efective when it comes to extreme stuff . For that I recommend rock shock recon atleast .
It does not look like rockshox still makes the tora 318solo air. What current shock that they are making would be its equivalent in quality? Read More »
I had the Tora 318s in the closet waiting for a rainy day project. It appears that the travel came pre-set from the factory at 130mm. After reading through the tech manual, I see Read More »
I have an issue with my fork. After two seasons of riding with no leaks or problems whatsoever it has suddenly become nearly useless.
While riding my normal trails I noticed that Read More »
So, I've got a Tora 318 solo air that has been on the bike for several years and never been serviced. Haven't ridden much lately, but want to get back with it . . . ordered the sea Read More »
Looking to upgrade my fork.. Its the last thing left I have to upgrade on my Kona Dawgma.. Its a full suspension rig and I ride alot of rooty, rocky trails with drops up to 4 ft an Read More »
