Description:Stiff 32mm tapered wall steel upper tubes mated to U-Turn or Solo Air make Tora the perfect choice for today’s high value All Mountain bikes.
Key Features:
-Stout new chassis design, travel up to 130mm
-Weight saving tapered wall 4130 steel upper tubes
-Disc specific or bossed lower leg options
-Forged 6061 hollow aluminum crown
-Solo Air and U-Turn coil spring options
-Motion Control Damping (318)
-Compatible with all PopLocs
-External rebound adjustment
Submitted by
Diomedes
a Cross Country Rider
from Pensacola, Florida, USA Date Reviewed: November 11, 2008
Duration Product Used:
6 months
Price Paid:
$180.00
Purchased At:
Elite Cycles
Strengths:
Design of body is strong (heavy too, but strong). Relatively little flex, even at 130 mm. Put a good fork oil in it, and get the levels right, and it will be fairly plush.
The design is pretty universal, so parts from other forks can be used to fix this when it breaks. (and it probably will)
Weaknesses:
The internals are crap. Plastic, plastic everywhere. They break, too. I fixed the rebound damper three times (plastic piston slid down the shaft), and it broke again each time after only a short time in use.
Finally, I broke out the hacksaw, and cut a groove in the damper shaft, then safety-wired the piston so that it could not slide anymore. This effectively eliminated the ability to adjust the rebound, but that didn't really matter, since the adjuster knob fell off in the first few weeks of owning the fork.
Oh, and it leaks from the bottom of the damper leg. I've replaced the seals three times, and it still seeps oil. Not a lot, but it is FRUSTRATING.
The lockout is not very durable either-all plastic. It broke within 4 months of normal use. Found a motion control damper on eBay for $10 to replace it. A world of difference!
Similar Products Used:
None for any long period of time. I've worked on Darts and Judy forks though, and this is definitely better designed than they are.
Bike Setup:
Leader 526 frame, this fork, Sram x7 drivetrain, etc. Basically a 30 lb trail bike.
Bottom Line:
The lowers and stanchions on this fork are fairly burly, and I've never worried about them failing me. The internals are where SRAM cheaps out on this one.
I'd like to give it a higher rating, but the rebound damping (breaking and leaking) is a massive achille's heel of this fork, and is beyond the ability of most people to fix.(my fix is not even really a fix... just a stopgap measure until I can get another damper, or better yet, another fork and relegate this one to backup status) This means downtime and expense while a shop fixes it, or it gets sent off for warranty work. Not fun.
Granted, I may have gotten a lemon, but I don't consider it unreasonable to expect trouble-free service from a nearly $200 fork.
Would I buy it again?
Not unless I found a really smoking hot deal. Given the chance to do it over again, I'd spend my money on a used 2004-2006 Marzocchi AM1, or possibly a Recon- I hear that they are a bit better on the internals department.
Value Rating:Overall Rating:
Submitted by
Dave
a Weekend Warrior
from Bunbury, WA, Australia Date Reviewed: November 9, 2008
Favorite Trail:
Mt Lennard
Duration Product Used:
1 Year
Purchased At:
LBS as bike package
Strengths:
Performed flawlessly for first six months.
Weaknesses:
Hasn't stopped Leaking oil from rebound adjustment since
Similar Products Used:
none, previous fork on old bike was a RST capa
Bike Setup:
Stock 2008 Specialized FSR XC Comp.
Bottom Line:
If you had to ask me whether I would reccomend it, I would have to say no.
Sooner or later it will start leaking oil from around the Rebound knob. Once it does, you lose rebound and may as well be running a toy store fork. I took it to the LBS, they fixed it, and now less than 10kms later it is leaking again. I don't ride hard so have to put this down to a design flaw.
Value Rating:Overall Rating:
Submitted by
justinwug
a Cross Country Rider
from grandrapids, mi, usa Date Reviewed: September 6, 2008
Duration Product Used:
3 months
Price Paid:
$160.00
Purchased At:
online
Strengths:
price,good for big roots and small drops, bad for any thing else
Weaknesses:
weight, lock out broke first week.
Similar Products Used:
reba, marzhui r1
Bottom Line:
get a air fork...dont buy a 302 spring
Value Rating:Overall Rating:
Submitted by
Mbirds
a Weekend Warrior
from Santa Rita, Guam, USA Date Reviewed: April 19, 2008
Favorite Trail:
Channel 10
Duration Product Used:
3 months
Strengths:
Price, rebound damping, strength.
Weaknesses:
Weight
Similar Products Used:
RS Pilot XC, Dart 3
Bike Setup:
2007 Giant Trance 3 frame, components from 2006 Reign, hence this fork
Bottom Line:
This is a review of the Tora 302 Solo Air. It is a tough fork, and very forgiving. This one came set up for 130mm, and I thought it was too much, but have made a couple of mistakes where the fork used full travel to save my a**. Another fork might have sent me over the bars. I added a lockout damper since I was using it for some races that had a pavement climb included. This fork seems easy to work on and I intend to perform my own service thanks to the excellent and readily available service guides. I may also use a spacer to reduce travel to 100mm because that is what my frame was designed for, and the front gets light on steep climbs. The only downside to the Tora is weight... solo air versions are about 4.8 lbs and the coil versions are like 5.3. For tis reason I am glad to have an air version, though adjustable travel would be nifty. I just don;t want any more weight on the front of the bike. I plan to replace this with a lighter Reba if it ever breaks, needs expensive maintenance, or I get drunk enough in front of the computer. Overall, for the current price the Tora is an outstanding value.
Value Rating:Overall Rating:
Submitted by
Some guy LOL
a Weekend Warrior
from Forgot Date Reviewed: October 13, 2007
Favorite Trail:
mount dandneongs
Duration Product Used:
3 months
Price Paid:
$200.00
Purchased At:
GOld Cross
Strengths:
it is good untill the spring hits u in the face
Weaknesses:
Well The Spring side of the forks blew out and hit me in the fac eleaving me with 50 stiches broken nose and bits of missing floating around
Similar Products Used:
A peice of wood
Bike Setup:
Cross Country
Bottom Line:
Get 1 if u want but Dont do anything that wil make ur forks blow up
Value Rating:Overall Rating:
Submitted by
Griffin
a Downhiller
from Massachusetts Date Reviewed: September 13, 2007
Favorite Trail:
Heartbreak Ridge
Duration Product Used:
3 months
Price Paid:
$250.00
Purchased At:
Belmont Wheel Works
Strengths:
Good for a few weeks
Weaknesses:
breaks easily
Similar Products Used:
sr suntor crap
Bike Setup:
Rockhopper Comp Disk w/ bontrager gel seat
Bottom Line:
i jumped a 6" curb and the spring came out with such force it stripped the threads and hit me in the collar bone.
Value Rating:Overall Rating:
Submitted by
Andrew Palliser
a
from Leeds,Yorkshire,UK Date Reviewed: September 4, 2007
Favorite Trail:
Meanwood Park
Duration Product Used:
3 months
Price Paid:
$100.00
Purchased At:
Friend
Strengths:
Sucks up eveything,not too heavy and the rebound,compression and pressure really do make a difference (unlike my old dart 1's).
Weaknesses:
The poploc broke but that was my fault
Similar Products Used:
Rockshox Dart 1's, some rigid carbon forks and some lovely forks on my old (and very dead) apollo excel
This is a really nice pair of shocks as far as im concerned.It takes everything you throw at it as long as its all set up alright. And for the price I paid for it it was definately worth it.
Value Rating:Overall Rating:
Submitted by
Randy
a Cross Country Rider
from MOAB UT Date Reviewed: April 17, 2007
Favorite Trail:
Secret squirull
Duration Product Used:
Tested or demo'ed only
Purchased At:
Chile Pepper Bike SHop
Strengths:
Cheap
Weaknesses:
Cheap. Worked on this fork as a mechanic. Sold to customer, fork failed on first ride. Took apart fork to find that rebound assemble had moved down on the rebound shaft and was covering the rebound slot. On older forks this assemble was held buy a C-clip. On this fork the shaft was knurled and the parts are just pressed on. I repressed the parts on the shaft, fork worked again untill the first hard compession moved the rebound assemble back down the shaft. Put in a call to Rock Shox/sram and was given the same reponse as every time you call them, which was that they had never seen the problem before. Returned the fork, the rebound assemble and shaft was replaced, but they were unable to tell me why it had failed and/or why it wouldn't fail agian.
Similar Products Used:
Worked on all brands of forks as a professional mechanic for the last 18 years.
Bottom Line:
Rock Shox/Sram sells a well marketed, cheap products and has one of the worst service/warranty departments in the industry, which seems to get worse by the day. If you want a product that will hold up and you can trust, dont buy sram.
Value Rating:Overall Rating:
Submitted by
Ben
a Weekend Warrior
from England Date Reviewed: March 31, 2007
Duration Product Used:
3 months
Price Paid:
$200.00
Strengths:
Looks good, works extremely well, the U-turn travel settings is a great idea, great for an upgrade
Similar Products Used:
Marzocchi mz or sumthing
Bike Setup:
GT Avalanche Frame, Rockshox Toras, and some crap bits that came with my GT
Bottom Line:
A good fork for an upgrade, Quite cheap and affordable, I upgraded from some crappy RST's so i can really feel the differance when im out hitting the trails
Value Rating:Overall Rating:
Submitted by
max penti
a Weekend Warrior
from bonita, CA Date Reviewed: March 19, 2007
Favorite Trail:
Mt. Laguna
Duration Product Used:
6 months
Price Paid:
$220.00
Purchased At:
randall scott
Strengths:
Didn't break when I peeled off the 1.5 mil shipping tape.
Weaknesses:
design of air seals. After five or six rides the left air seal let go. In trying to refasten it, I discovered that the seal is grooved for screw insertion but the tube has no grooves. Don't see how the seal will EVER hold. I don't do jumps and the shock has not been mistreated. I don't overinflate the shock...probably underinflate a tad for my body weight: 183.
Similar Products Used:
marzocci...for nine years with no problems
Bike Setup:
K2 Lithium 4. Replaced the Hayes gizmos with BB 7's, XTR shifters and brake levers, cassette. Should have replaced the shocks
Bottom Line:
Shock came with bike. Love the bike...though with a great frame like this I kinda thought that the components would be a bit lighter. Ever tried to contact Rock Shox? Impossible. You have to go through the dealer. Some customer service! Even the IRS has a help line and a live voice on the other end. I guess Sram is just too busy churning out recycled aluminum can MTB components and banking their profits to care about the customers who mistakenly (never again) purchase their knock offs.
Value Rating:Overall Rating:
Submitted by
jason smith
a Weekend Warrior
from Woodstock, Ga USA Date Reviewed: October 28, 2006
Favorite Trail:
Blankets Creek
Duration Product Used:
Less than 1 month
Price Paid:
$214.00
Purchased At:
Performance Bicycle
Strengths:
For me the strength of this shock lies in its adjustability and value. It sucks up the big stuff and seems to handle the small bumps just as well.
Weaknesses:
A little squeaky but this could be because it is almost brand new
Similar Products Used:
None
Bike Setup:
A little bit of this, a little bit of that. WTB, Shimano XT + LX, Mavic, Ritchey, Time, and Sette, Frame is an old hardtail, Overall its a parts bin bike built with friend's hand-me-downs
Bottom Line:
So far i love this fork. I get plenty of travel and ive never had as much fun riding (my last fork was a '97 Manitou with maybe 75mm of travel) Hopefully the squeaks will go away soon. I cant imagine you could get much more out of a 200 dollar fork
Value Rating:Overall Rating:
Submitted by
Chris da man
a Cross Country Rider
from Hampshire England Date Reviewed: October 23, 2006
Favorite Trail:
Four Marks-Alton
Duration Product Used:
6 months
Price Paid:
$160.00
Purchased At:
Merlin Cycles
Strengths:
Lightweight, strong, durable. Great rebound adjustment. Solo air is amazing. Brilliant
Weaknesses:
Have to buy a shock pump to adjust solo air
Similar Products Used:
CRAP! RST gila plus T-5, rock solid and i hated it.
Bike Setup:
Specialized Hardrock disk 05(a few new titbits added on)
Bottom Line:
Great 'lightish' fork that is great all-round and you sould definatly buy it for its price and performance.
Value Rating:Overall Rating:
Submitted by
P. Pace
a Weekend Warrior
from Abq, NM, USA Date Reviewed: October 12, 2006
Duration Product Used:
6 months
Price Paid:
$215.00
Purchased At:
Fat Tire Cycles
Strengths:
Very robust, extreme lateral strength, good looking stiff 32mm stancions. GREAT rebound adjustment, and of coarse the fact you can adjust between 85 and 130mm. THE BEST XC fork you can get for $200.
Weaknesses:
Way to soft for my style, great softness for mild to aggressive x-country, but too soft for most urban and trials.
Similar Products Used:
Marzocchi mx comp (clunks bad, no rebound) OLD school manitou magnum (elastomer shock, way old, but good for xc b/c weight and simplicity)
Bike Setup:
'01 Trek 6000
Bottom Line:
If you are an aggressive XC guy, or MILD DH, this is the best you can get for under $500. If you are mild XC guy, buy something lighter b/c this wasn't build with weight in mind.
Value Rating:Overall Rating:
Submitted by
Adam
a Cross Country Rider
from Reading Date Reviewed: May 29, 2006
Duration Product Used:
6 months
Price Paid:
$100.00
Purchased At:
shop
Strengths:
strong, durable, awesome looks!
Weaknesses:
none so far
Bottom Line:
a nice cross country fork with plenty of travel, yet plenty of lock-out at the turn of a switch
Value Rating:Overall Rating:
Submitted by
Geoff
a Weekend Warrior
from Austin, Tx, USA Date Reviewed: April 19, 2006
Favorite Trail:
greenbelt
Duration Product Used:
Less than 1 month
Price Paid:
$250.00
Purchased At:
Discovery Cycle
Strengths:
Waaaaaaaaay lighter then previous. Adjustability from 85-130mm.....sweeeeeet. turn it to 80 for the street and up to 130 on the trail. Brake bosses and disc compatible.
Weaknesses:
No lockout but at 80mm it dosent bounce much.
Similar Products Used:
Spinner Edge(stock on Gary Fisher Opie)
Bike Setup:
Heavily upgraded GF Opie.
Bottom Line:
The diffrence between a $100 fork and a $250 fork=huge The diffrence between a $250 fork and a $800 fork=not much
I havent had it long but i am so thrilled so far i had to post.
Value Rating:Overall Rating:
Submitted by
Fred
a Cross Country Rider
from Lens, FRANCE Date Reviewed: April 14, 2006
Duration Product Used:
3 months
Price Paid:
$265.00
Purchased At:
local dealer
Strengths:
good rigidity not too heavy simple adjustment
Weaknesses:
no lock out no sensitivity to small shocks
Similar Products Used:
none, it is the first air fork i have
Bike Setup:
2004 Lapierre Tecnic Lite hardtail, full Deore, CrossRide wheels, Deore rim brakes.
Bottom Line:
the reason why i bought this fork is that i wanted a smoother fork. It is good on "light downhill" but not on small shocks. For the price, it is a good fork.
$
Overall Rating:
Overall Rating:
