fork opinions???...Manitou SUCKS

Air Works for Clydes

I took a break from serious riding for about 6 years. I went from 205 to 325. At 325, I bought an S Enduro. It had the Fox Float R with Itch Switch. I pumped it up to 300lbs all the time and never had a problem. I did find that I was having to add air every time I checked it but Fox tells me that the more air you put in, the more escapes when you unscrew the pump. I started pumping it up to 315 (15 PSI over its max) and it would read 300 every time I checked it. I've had several fox rear shox and never had a problem. My epic runs smooth as it gets with no worries.

I am totally impressed with Fox Forx. I have yet to have a problem. I run the air at 135-140 and rarely, if ever, bottom the fork. It'll hold 200psi but at that PSI it rides like a rock. As far as loosing air from bottoming, that shouldn't happen. Most Forks and Shocks are made to bottom occasionally. Of course, I like the fox because they are so easily serviced in my home shop, which is my kitchen table. You can seriously rebuild the whole fork in about an hour. Rear shocks are a little different but your end of the maintenance takes about 15 minutes and if you keep it up you'll never have a problem.

I was totally against air until my buddy let me ride his Enduro with a Talas on the front. Bye Bye went the Manitou. I switched to air and will never go back.

Psylo? Run,as fast as you can...

.. the other direction. I've ridden with a Psylo SL for the past year on my 5.5" travel Titus SB and had many problems with it. The seals failed 3 different occasions and the lockout adjustment knob failed on me 3 times (I never used it, it would fail by popping out of the fork, spilling the contents all over the place). I finally got fed up with the failures and sent it back to Rock Shox, who assured me that the failures were not typical and they would be warranty fixing/replacing my fork within the week. Imagine my suprise when I received my COD package from Rock Shox for $100!!! Not only that, but the fork just wasn't a very good match for my TALAS rear shock. The fork was what I call a 'flexy-flyer' and would move all around while riding. In a nutshell, i hated the fork.

I sold the Psylo SL, purchased a Shermann firefly last week and couldn't be happier. The new fork actually works as advertised!! My SB feels MUCH more stable, stiff and responsive. I've bombed some pretty major hills so far with notsomuch as a whimper from the front end. The bike now tracks thru corners much better, absorbs big hits with great feedback and no ill effects. Jumps can be accomplished with more control on both take off and landing and I feel good.. which is the most important aspect of this adventure! Do yourself a favor, ditch the idea of a Psylo SL, opt for something that's better able to support you as a rider.

Btw, I am 220 lbs and 5'10"

I've had air shocks and forks on various bikes for 14 years and never had an air problem. In fact I don't understand why more air doesn't leak out.

You ever wonder why your buddy who is 30 pounds lighter than you can race down twisty single track and dust you. Because relative to his weight his fork is stiffer. It doesn't work to just put stiffer springs in the fork. All you get is more travel in your suspension on rougher stuff. YOU WILL STILL HAVE FLIMSY STANCHIONS, that twist on the bumps and turns and make you fell like you are going too fast.

One way to improve a flimsy fork is to find a stiffer straight axle to put through it. This will make both stanchions work stiffer by making a more solid connection between them. The best thing is to find a fork that is a mite heavier or built to do heavier stuff. Since your a Clyde you might want to look at things like forks build for jumping or freeride. These forks are stiffer and stronger, usually. The trouble you will have is most FR (freeride) or Dirt Jumping forks will be built taller for different bike frames.

So that's how I ended up with FR style frame and front end , but for me it's a cross country bike. I have had several cross country bikes in the past and there is no comparison in ride. The FR bike handles the downhills so much better that the first time my riding buddy and I rode together I smoked him bad on the down hills. I thought I was going to suffer on the uphills, but it hasn't been a noticeable problem even though I am now 5 lbs heavier bikewise. So find a heavy stiff fork with a straight axle and start really riding.

Which ZI Fork?

I'm spending time trying to figure out how to replace my Fuel 90 that busted it's frame on me once (I'm 250 lb) in less than a year and likely to do it again from what I read on this forum. So I'm looking for a replacement ride before I get stranded in the middle of nowhere with frame break and catastrophic results. I bike long distances into remote areas alone with only a GPS - sort of stupid and drives my wife nuts but I can't find anyone that matches my slightly slower rate for many hours of epic rides, and I enjoy being alone to do whatever I want.

Also, the Manitou Black fork is too weak for me even with the extra firm springs and staying way back on downhills. The fork feels very wobbly to me and caused serious handling issue and crashes on me, including a trip to the ER last year from a 30 MPH tumble with a fork twist on a simple little 4" deep but narrow tire-catching ditch hidden in the grass that caught my tire and threw me down before I knew what happened. I could have bought a new bike with my $1700 deductable on the visit with CAT scans. Since there was nothing to hit in the area, I amazingly didn't break anything, just pulled about every major muscle on every limb, shoulders, stomach, and ribs and left most of my skin in the dirt. I want a good new fork as well. I'll pay whatever it takes to get the right one.

I've been getting lots of good suggestions from this forum and looking recently at the Santa Cruz Heckler. You recommend a Z1 fork, but there's about 10 styles of this fork on the Marzocchi web site (which is a miserable site with no product description I can find). According to Santa Cruz's web site with a standard kit I can get either a Z150 or Z1 FR QR20+. I see the 20 mm axle is recommended for stiffness, and I think the also Z150 comes standard with this. The Heckler can also be configured the Fox Talas, Sherman Firefly and others, but I gather the Z1 is recommend for strengh with my size, even though it's more of a downhill fork. I only need about 4" to 5" of fork travel since I mostly do XC and long steep climbs with occasional mild (<2' drop) technical. I gather the ETA can limit bob on the climbs?
So specifically which of the Z1 forks would you recommend, and what about any of the other fork options for my XC use with my size. What about the other Marzocchi XC forks (the Z1 is listed as DH) - are they not strong or stiff enough?

Thanks for the advice.