Buy it, if you need 5" inch travel and your not hucking it off everything in sight then this is THE fork. Best, most efficient travel ever, you don't even know the fork is there, you can't actually feel it absorbing the trail it just does it - no nonsense, no messing about.
The only fork I have ridden that is similar is on my MX bike! my previous Reba on the same trails is a bit like a 2" fork from 5 years ago, nowhere near as stiff and loads of trail noise.
RC41 is the best!
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Submitted by
Dan
a Cross Country Rider
from York Date Reviewed: October 9, 2006
Favorite Trail:
Cut Gate; the Dark Peaks
Duration Product Used:
3 months
Strengths:
Plush, light, and stiff as hell (in 20mm version)
Weaknesses:
Price
Similar Products Used:
Fox talas, Fox float
Bike Setup:
Intense 5.5 EVP. Fox RP23 rear shock, King, Hope, DT Swiss, Thomson, Easton, Avid Juicy etc. etc.
Bottom Line:
Very plush, stiff and simple fork. Linear air spring is way more progressive than the Fox air forks I've tried and is extremely 'coil like' in operation. Very light (around 3.5 lbs) for the amount of travel (130mm) and stiff enough to be sold in 20mm axle version (which is the one I have).
The ability to lower the forks travel quickly is great on climbs and at the first hit the fork immediately extends to full travel - great idea.
Fork is expensive but then but carbon fibre and magnesium isn't cheap.
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Submitted by
Peter
a Cross Country Rider
from Slovakia Date Reviewed: September 8, 2006
Favorite Trail:
all mountain, cross country
Duration Product Used:
6 months
Purchased At:
www.ChainReactionCycles.com
Strengths:
Lightweight, carbon look. Nice fork for the all mountain and marathon. Easy adjustable.
Weaknesses:
Fork is still quite sticky, circlip design in 2005 models, doesn't stay locked.
Similar Products Used:
Pace RC-36 EVO III
Bike Setup:
Specialized '05 SJ S-Works FSR 120, 11.4 kg, Pace RC-41 XCAM/Fox Septune, Hope mono M4 brakes, DT swiss 240s hubs/Mavic XC717, Syntace VRO carbon handlebars, USE Alien Carbon seatpost, Middleburn RS3 cranks, Fizik Gobi, etc.
Bottom Line:
The fork is quite sticky and isn't sensitive to small impacts. My previous RC-36 EVOIII fork was far more plush. I hoped in bedding as Pace says, but there are more than 1200 km in it and it's not getting better. I tried all recommended tricks from PACE FAQs - seals are clean and there is enough oil. I am afraid that the problem is because the fork stanchion tubes are not parallel (!) - like counter "V" - Pace allows 2mm tolerance (max 102mm measurement across width of dropouts!!!). Locked fork doesn't stay locked, but it slowly extends back even during the climbing. Circlip design is stupid when disassembling/assembling the fork for the maintanance (2005 models only, I think). Pace advised me to send the fork back to be checked, but as a paid service, so I have hard feelings and feel a bit disapointed! Because this is the only option, I'll probably do so in the winter and then come back with next review. I'll hope it'll be more positive.
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Submitted by
Thomas
a Cross Country Rider
from Perth Scotland Date Reviewed: July 2, 2006
Favorite Trail:
Rannoch Moor
Duration Product Used:
6 months
Purchased At:
450
Strengths:
Looks great (Carbon), very stiff , ultra plush, very linear spring and easily the best damping on the market. Ideal fork for the all mountain or light freeride. Also a very light fork for it's travel. (which you get all of)
Weaknesses:
Reputation for unreliability though I have had 6 pace forks in the past 6 years and only one issue very quickly resolved. Not any worse than Fox in my experience.
Similar Products Used:
Various Fox forks
Bike Setup:
Turner 5 Spot (4 Bar) with Romic Twin Tube, works great together and overall fork hight works great with this frame
Bottom Line:
I had the default Fox RLT 130 on the Turner and even tried Push upgrade. But the 65 MM Pace on my Spec FSR still felt much plusher than it. This is the main issue with Fox forks. The damping and linearity of the air forks is just way less sorted than Paces products. Even Specialized race team has seen the light. Reliability will also improve with the new damping system which is simpler and not prone to leaking air like some of the older ones. Great lockout as well which packs down on climbs and springs into life with one hit. Always needed to dismount to get Fox forks back to full extension. Next time you are going Fox give Pace a try
$
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