[oxel007]

Hello everyone, couple of days ago I realized that the fork on my not so fancy bike is going to die soon. (http://www.raleigh-canada.ca/popup/chill.htm#specs). I already put Yasusu shocks on it and I am determined to fix it not swap it. Problem is that i dont know which fork should I buy and how to make sure that it would fit my bike. I looked at both Manitou R7 and RST M-29 - both seem to be decent forks that will fit my budget of 350$ including shipping charges. I would appreciate if someone could help me to take right measurements of my bike to ensure fork compatibility and to choose a proper fork. Also that would be great if you could recommend me any online m.b. stores that ship to Canada.
Thank you!

 

[NonHands]

Balance

Coincidentally I just got a Yasusu rear shock (great working shock) for my bike and I have a Manitou R7.

I can't comment on the RST fork but in general you want to have your front and rear suspension balanced. If not, you'll get this see-saw effect off bumps because of the differences. There are a few factors that come into place when I say balance. I'll list them in order of importance (at least for me), most important first

1) Travel
2) Spring rate/sag
3) Rebound damping
4) Compression damping

So I would make sure that the fork you get has the same travel as your rear. Both forks seem to be air springs with adjustable rebound. So at the very least both forks have factors 1-3 covered.

All I can say is that the Manitou is really light and really stiff compared to my old fork (Marzocchi Z1). Also I would trust Manitous over RSTs. Back in the ol' days that name was always associated with the word cheap. Maybe things have changed. Possibly someone else can chime in on this?

I've never been overly concerned with compression damping. If you put the right weight oil I find I never really needed to adjust compression damping.

As for online bike shops, you can take a look at these links

https://www.pinkbike.com/forum/listcomments/?threadid=1074

https://www.cyclepath.ca/

Can't really vouch for any of them. Prefer to deal with my local bike shops