Air Fork for 26 inch Giant XTC

kmj831 · Nov 17, 2018

After looking at a lot of kids bikes, my 9 year old and I decided on the XTC.

https://www.giant-bicycles.com/us/bikes-xtc-jrdot-26plus

He loves it, but we want to add a light air Fork. Really not sure what's out there for kids bikes. Suntout send to be mostly coil and Grind doesn't have 26 in the right travel. Most of theirs are 100mm or more which I think is to much for this bike. Any suggestions?

Trying to get my head around what fork would be good, light and what are axle to crown length and travel amount would suit it without messing up geo.

svinyard · Nov 17, 2018

Xfusion Velvel seems pretty decent. It's XC fork, you could probably get it retuned to fit his weight too. I'm sure SRAM makes something that perhaps you could then upgrade with fancy damper/spring.

POAH · Nov 17, 2018

you not need a boost fork with it being 2.8 tyres

kmj831 · Nov 17, 2018

POAH said:
you not need a boost fork with it being 2.8 tyres

Good point, I hadn't considered that.

Mr Pig · Nov 17, 2018

I'm not sure a suspension fork is going to make the bike any better?

kmj831 · Nov 17, 2018

Mr Pig said:
I'm not sure a suspension fork is going to make the bike any better?

He's so light it's hard to say if he'll get much benefit, but he's getting faster and we have a lot of rocky downhills....

Mr Pig · Nov 18, 2018

I guess it depends but most forks aren't really designed for kids and don't seem to help them that much. Has he tried a hard-tail? That might be an idea. See if he can borrow or rent one.

TwiceHorn · Nov 18, 2018

Manitou Markhor. Seems to be tailored to replacing OEM forks on low-end or odd bikes.

Steve-XtC · Nov 19, 2018

Mr Pig said:
I guess it depends but most forks aren't really designed for kids and don't seem to help them that much. Has he tried a hard-tail? That might be an idea. See if he can borrow or rent one.

Unless he can borrow one tuned for his weight it won't tell much...
(Depending on his weight)...

My 9yr old used some of my old Revelations this weekend (as it happens they are off for a full service and tune for his weight (35kg) today) but with the pressure down for his weight he lost the first 10mm as sag but he was able to use all the rest of the 140mm.

He would not have sent the rock gardens on the downhill without them (nor would any sane adult) so even without a tune they were way better than rigid.

richj8990 · Nov 19, 2018

TwiceHorn said:
Manitou Markhor. Seems to be tailored to replacing OEM forks on low-end or odd bikes.

Manitou Mountain Bike Bicycle Fork 100mm Travel 9mm Axle Option: 26" 27.5"
by Manitou
4.7 out of 5 stars 22 customer reviews | 20 answered questions
Price: $219.00
Amazon.com

Suntour Epixon 26" is also fine at around $237 on Amazon. Suntour makes low-mid range air forks and they are fine. Don't condemn their decent air forks because of their bad coil forks.

I don't think anyone makes 80mm forks anymore except specifically for the bike, as in they don't really sell them separately.

Make sure the front wheel axle (& the dropout where the wheel fits into their current fork) is 9mm wide.

PMK · Nov 22, 2018

If you do not need a disc caliper mount, I have a modified Rock Shox Quadra. Set it up for a kid. No elastomers, runs one coil spring. Fairly light XC fork. Asking $30 plus shipping in the USA lower 48

telejefe · Jan 23, 2020

What Fork did you end up with? Also looking at the 26+ xtc and definitely need a fork. I am not on board with the rigid philosophy. We ride real mtb and even 1" of travel does a ton when kids run bluntly into rocks.

slowride454 · Jan 23, 2020

I found a 80mm travel SID Race on eBay for $100 when building up my son's 26er.

Kingfisher2011 · Jan 28, 2020

I went the same route. 100mm RS SID Team dual air. I still haven't got the pressure quite right, but it functions and he does ridiculous things on that bike, so it's certainly not slowing him down.

kmj831 · Jan 30, 2020

I haven't found one for my kids bikes yet. They started riding BMX at the park and every mountain bike ride we went on was mellow enough that they weren't complaining, but I really need to get some forks on their bikes as they're getting more aggressive. Does this bike require tapered or straight steer? I haven't even looked yet. I'll check into those forks you guys mentioned. I'm betting I need to run narrower tires...also, between the 80 and the 100 mm which one keeps geometry most similar to stock? What travel amount starts to slacken it out?

Kingfisher2011 · Jan 30, 2020

Man I just realized that thing is a plus bike. I'll have to go check Si's SID fork and see what kind of clearance we're dealing with on that. I don't think it'll be nearly enough. It's weird though because the stock fork has 100mm spacing and not the 120mm boost. As for the fork length, check the axle-to-crown length on it as that'll dictate your fork travel. I'm guessing though that the 100mm is probably appropriate. The trick is finding one to clear those chubby tires.

kmj831 · Jan 30, 2020

Kingfisher2011 said:
The trick is finding one to clear those chubby tires.

For sure. I need to check internal rim width too... may be able to get away with running 2.6 or something instead of the 3.0.

Air Fork for 26 inch Giant XTC

kmj831

svinyard

POAH

kmj831

Mr Pig

kmj831

Mr Pig

TwiceHorn

Steve-XtC

richj8990

PMK

telejefe

slowride454

Kingfisher2011

kmj831

Kingfisher2011

kmj831

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