[stevek]

I am looking for a fairly inexpsensive, light cross country fork with 100 MM travel and think I've found two pretty good deals:

Marzocchi MX Comp Air 100 - $229 at performance less 20% coupon
Manitou Skareb Elite - $224 at Supergo

Which do you think is a better fork? Is there anything else you would suggest for less than $300 that weighs less than 3.75 lb?

Thanks.

 

[Cary]

Well looking at your weight restriction, the Marzochii clearly does not fit as it weighs about 4.2-4.3 pounds. You need to give a better description of your riding and you. How much to you weigh, do you do any drops, how high, etc. The Skareb is a great fork if you aren't doing drops of more than 2 feet, the Marzochii is a heavier but stronger fork. You might also consider a Duke Race.,

 

[stevek]

Thanks for the reply. I though the MX Air 100 came in around 3.8 lbs. I'm into fast XC heavy on the climbing, with no big drops etc. I live in Southern Cal, so it's pretty dry and rocky...

 

[thebronze]

Thanks for the reply. I though the MX Air 100 came in around 3.8 lbs. I'm into fast XC heavy on the climbing, with no big drops etc. I live in Southern Cal, so it's pretty dry and rocky...

mine was closer to 5lbs, something like 4.8 I think.

 

[Cary]

For a nice balance between weight, performance and price, check out the Rock Shox Duke Race, and Manitou Black Forks. They will be between 3.8-4.1 pounds, but both can take hard xc riding.

 

[Jacques12345]

Hey! For your style of riding where you take no big hits and need a light fork for fast climbing, if you don't mind spending a bit out of your budget I would get the rock shox sid world cup wich weights 2.7 pounds and has remote lockout for the steep climbs, this one will cost you about 600$ or if this is too expensive then I would go with the manitou skareb platinum wich comes with a fix 80 or 100 mm of travel depending on the amount of hits you take and weighs 3.6 pounds and it also has external lockout mounted on the crown. This one will cost you about 300$ As mentioned earlier, the rock shox duke race would also be an option.

 

[Carbon&Ti_Guy]

I would look for a noleen mega-air, preferably an 01' model I just got one off of ebay for about 140, they are nice and stiff very adjustable and can withstand abuse from 220+ lb riders and weigh in at jsut aound 3 lbs

 

[Wheelie]

www.greenfishsports.com has the 100mm '04 Skareb Platinum w/ SPV for only $349. I just got one yesterday after much surfing for the best lightweight 100mm XC fork under $400. The kicker is it's bossless so you must run disk brakes.

 

[synkronized23]

Well looking at your weight restriction, the Marzochii clearly does not fit as it weighs about 4.2-4.3 pounds. You need to give a better description of your riding and you. How much to you weigh, do you do any drops, how high, etc. The Skareb is a great fork if you aren't doing drops of more than 2 feet, the Marzochii is a heavier but stronger fork. You might also consider a Duke Race.,

I also strongly recommend the Duke Race. I have a Fuel 95, and after the 2nd ride, I blew the seals of the stock Skareb Comp with lockout. I then upgraded to a 2004 Duke Race at the recommendation of my lbs. Never looked back. It feels soo much better. The skareb was just way too soft for me. I was running it at 2 clicks before complete lockout and it still bottomed out often. Then suddenly the entire fork like froze up. The lockout didn't even work. Then I knew something was wrong. So i brought it in and ended up that the seals blew. The Duke Race is so much stiffer and hardly bottoms out, even at fully open. Awesome fork. Highly recommended. Very good for the aggresive xc rider.

 

[Wheelie]

I blew the seals of the stock Skareb Comp with lockout... The skareb was just way too soft for me. I was running it at 2 clicks before complete lockout and it still bottomed out often. Then suddenly the entire fork like froze up. The lockout didn't even work. Then I knew something was wrong. So i brought it in and ended up that the seals blew.

Did you take the Skareb in for warranty? Manitou has an excellent warranty dept. from what I've read. My '04 80mm Skareb Platinum w/ SPV has worked flawlessly all year. I am 6'-5", 205lbs. and I ride some pretty gnarly XC. I can get the air spring rate plenty stiff and it rarely bottoms. The Comp model is spring/air. You probably needed to install the optional stiffer springs if you were bottoming hard and the hard bottoming probably is what damaged the fork. The Duke is a good fork but it is heavy.

 

[synkronized23]

Did you take the Skareb in for warranty? Manitou has an excellent warranty dept. from what I've read. My '04 80mm Skareb Platinum w/ SPV has worked flawlessly all year. I am 6'-5", 205lbs. and I ride some pretty gnarly XC. I can get the air spring rate plenty stiff and it rarely bottoms. The Comp model is spring/air. You probably needed to install the optional stiffer springs if you were bottoming hard and the hard bottoming probably is what damaged the fork. The Duke is a good fork but it is heavy.

Well, when I found out that the seals blew, the shop told me that they could get the parts, but it had to be shipped from the states and it would take a week or so to come. But he's a good guy and he said he wanted to get me on the trails asap. So he said he could temporarily put on a used fork and let me go, or he could give me the 2004 Duke Race for free for a swap with the Skareb. It was a no brainer for me as the Duke is much stiffer, which I like, despite the slight weight penalty, and it's worth way more than the skareb anyway. So i took it. Anyway, I'm not a weight weenie for my Fuel 95, it's my trailbike. I have my XtC for weightweenie-ing and racing. And it's got a sid, which is almost as light as you can get.