the suntour can only handle around 160-180 psi
That doesn't matter. The volume of the air spring is not necessarily the same in every fork; 160psi could (and probably does) feel absurdly stiff. This is a fairly worthless thing to compare across forks. How much air you need can vary radically from fork to fork, depending on how the air spring is designed.
cobba said:
Suntour forks + the Rockshox XC & 30 Gold models have non replaceable bushings in the lower leg assembly, when the non replaceable bushings wear you will need to buy a whole new lower leg assembly for the fork.
Whatever. On an entry level fork the bushings are probably shot because the fork has been run for a while with no bath oil and the stanchions are cooked too.
cobba said:
Did you see this fork?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Manitou-Towe...21fdb#shpCntId
* It can be adjusted to 100mm.
This is the only desirable fork in this thread. It has a real shim based compression (and rebound!) valving. This fork will move a little bit for little bumps, and really get out of the way in a big impact, and then tries to get the wheel tracking asap. A good fork transforms an entry-level mtb used offroad.
The orifice damped suntour and RS forks discussed here want to always move through their travel at the same speed- too fast and divey under braking or pedaling, or too slow and spikey rolling over bumps. Granted, they should last a long time with maintenance, perform consistently, and ride a lot better than the XCM... they're just missing what makes a good fork so rewarding.
moefosho said:
Save for a little longer. It will be worth it.
yep. It's hard to believe until you've used both the good stuff and the budget version with the nice chassis though.
I don't mean to be dismissive of your new fork in your thread bubba, and i apologize. It IS a good fork, and down the road i'm pretty confident you can fit a motion control cartridge from the recon (and maybe the reba) and enjoy a more-supple ride. Ride on!
