[slowride454]

I haven't seen a recent thread about air forks. I picked up an older GT Avalanche frame for free and want to build it up for my son. He's around 70 pounds and currently rides a rigid 20" wheeled bike.

I found a few options within the budget on ebay

X-Fusion Enix RL2
SR Suntour XCR 32
SR Suntour Epixon
Manitou M30
Rock Shox Recon Silver TK
RST First
Magura TS6

Which forks are the most tunable for lighter riders and have good parts support? I hears X-Fusion went out of business, is this true?

 

[jestep]

Go used, and get an 80mm reba or ideally a SID. The TS6's are killer forks, but IME, rebas and SID's are perfect for light riders and can be found much cheaper and parts are readily available for them.

 

[slowride454]

I did see a couple SIDs but the sellers think they are made of gold or something.

 

[chazpat]

I just took a Manitou Scarab Elite 80mm off of my Jamis Dragon if you're interested.

 

[CascadiaPNW]

Manitou Markhor is another option.

 

[nwa bike dad]

I haven't seen a recent thread about air forks. I picked up an older GT Avalanche frame for free and want to build it up for my son. He's around 70 pounds and currently rides a rigid 20" wheeled bike.

I found a few options within the budget on ebay

X-Fusion Enix RL2
SR Suntour XCR 32
SR Suntour Epixon
Manitou M30
Rock Shox Recon Silver TK
RST First
Magura TS6

Which forks are the most tunable for lighter riders and have good parts support? I hears X-Fusion went out of business, is this true?

RockShox Reba work great for kids.

 

[Kingfisher2011]

Preach! I went through this exercise building up Si's new 26" recently. I asked the same question of the folks here and went back & forth. You're not kidding about the Ebay folks... some of the prices out there were outrageous, and I had a hard time decoding what was what on some of the older SID models. It's also feast or famine... there'd be nothing for a few weeks then 2-3 SID forks or similar would pop up.

The forks at the top of my list were -
Suntour XCR
RS XC30 / XC Gold
RST Reveal
Used SID (WC, Team, Race)

The Rebas, at least the new ones were too expensive. Then with the used SID's most of them are tapered so you end up having to throw in another $40+ for an EC44 or similar cup setup to accommodate the taper. I ended up lucking into a SID Team 100mm (the mid-range) that was in good shape and had as straight steerer for $215 and it's been good so far. It's a dual-air and I need to work on the tuning but it's getting there and in the meantime it certainly hasn't slowed him down. It's also LIGHT, atleast relative to the POS sprung fork I pulled off. I found a good deal on an RS XC30/XC Gold, and even ended up with a $70 off code which brought the price down to $280. Considering this was the same fork that Trailcraft has on some of their builds I figured it'd do just fine but I was pinching my pennies so I waited and lucked into the SID. If you're interested in the XC30/XC Gold, I still have the one-off discount code, just shoot me a PM.

 

[backinmysaddle]

I built up a 24/26 convertible frame and went w a Manitou Mattoc Pro off PinkBike. I totally rebuilt it but also had some dumb luck. It has the IRT kit, basically a dual air system, so you can really get rebound to overcome stiction at low pressure in the primary chamber. It easily adjusts 140-160mm but not much less so that may be a no go for some. The frame i have calls for 140-170 so this is perfect. 8 1/2 year old is ripping and getting full travel and also excellent big hit performance. I’m really impressed with the tunability of this fork!

 

[Corban_White]

I put a straight steerer fox 32 from ebay on my son's bike. It has been working really well for him.

 

[Entrenador]

Got the Enix RL2 for the wife's bike. I don't recommend it.

 

[GeoFX]

Got the Enix RL2 for the wife's bike. I don't recommend it.

What's wrong with it? They're selling for a really good price on fleabay now and I was interested in getting one for my Motolite.

 

[Entrenador]

What's wrong with it? They're selling for a really good price on fleabay now and I was interested in getting one for my Motolite.

RL2 damper is reportedly isn't great. There's a lot of old forum stuff here on tuning the RL2 damper. Seems like a lot of folks here made it work by modifying the shim stack and doing other custom tuning.

I don't know if I'll delve in to it or not, but wish I'd have read this stuff before committing to it. It's new, black and set at 120mm; I haven't put it on the bike yet, so PM me if you want it at a bit less than I paid.

 

[airwreck]

Wondering if this is an OEM only fork.
https://www.sram.com/en/rockshox/models/fs-reba-26-a1

 

[Kingfisher2011]

Wondering if this is an OEM only fork.
https://www.sram.com/en/rockshox/models/fs-reba-26-a1

No, they're online. Problem is, and this is why I had to dismiss them quickly for our build... cost. ~$500

 

[svinyard]

I wonder how good that fork is? I'm excited to see some "Kids Tuned" OEM options in addition to Manitou stuff (they need a 26" or 27.5 J-Unit).

My wife has the Silver TK fork (solo air spring) and that fork is so bad. I'm hoping these are closer to the JUnit rather than closer to that Silver fork. I'm guessing they are at this price point with the Reba model.

 

[RMCDan]

No, they're online. Problem is, and this is why I had to dismiss them quickly for our build... cost. ~$500

That price is pretty weak considering that it's Motion Control/Solo Air and tons of places are currently selling Charger2/Debonair Pike RCT3's for $700. When my kid outgrows his Clash 24 I'm pretty sure I'm going straight to 27.5.

 

[svinyard]

That price is pretty weak considering that it's Motion Control/Solo Air and tons of places are currently selling Charger2/Debonair Pike RCT3's for $700. When my kid outgrows his Clash 24 I'm pretty sure I'm going straight to 27.5.

Yeah how is this different than the 26" Silver Tk fork that sells for like 250$? Same damper and same air spring.

 

[airwreck]

No, they're online. Problem is, and this is why I had to dismiss them quickly for our build... cost. ~$500

Link? I'm not finding it.

 

[Kingfisher2011]

https://www.worldwidecyclery.com/pr...pered-steerer-15-x-100mm-40mm-offset-black-a1

 

[nwa bike dad]

I wonder how good that fork is? I'm excited to see some "Kids Tuned" OEM options in addition to Manitou stuff (they need a 26" or 27.5 J-Unit).

My wife has the Silver TK fork (solo air spring) and that fork is so bad. I'm hoping these are closer to the JUnit rather than closer to that Silver fork. I'm guessing they are at this price point with the Reba model.

We put that one on our DJ build and it's fantastic. We tried to use the Manitou 24" but it wouldn't work. He can get all 100mm out of the travel if we want to. I'd highly recommend it.

I can't speak to the differences but we got it at a good deal. We called a couple of pros in the area and this is what they recommended.