^OPM^

About 10 years ago i was quite heavily into mountain biking-used to enter races etc and win some-anyway -decided the daily drag of training was taking fun out of it so practically gave it up.
However this year i have got back into it now-only for fun etc now tho-my bike im still using is from 10 years ago now-and was a good bike in its day-diamond back axis-but is now looking outdated-i.e no disc brakes, no front suspension-did think about selling it and buying a new bike now but i guess be hard to sell this bike now-so im thinking about updating it-first off i do like to ride fast and on hardcore trails-my local riding ground is cannock chase for tho's that know it-any way question-should i now invest in front suspension forks as on some fast down hills my arms dont half take a pounding-if so which are the good forks nowadays-had a browse on ebay earlier and u seem to be able to get some good bargains on front forks on there-plus hopefully other bits-any recommendations please?whats the order that chainsets go in now-when i brought my bike i had all XT bits when that was 1 down from XTR-that being the top stuff?

TopBanana

Mine are Minitou Black Comp, but I don't really rate them!

I'd go for a new bike if I were you, they've come a long way in 10 years. I sold my beloved Zaskar LE a few months ago and haven't looked back

^OPM^

its selling my old bike now as its say 10 year old so not a model people can relate to now-plus been looking around on web at a few bikes-and mine i slighter then a lot of bikes round now-in the £500 catergory which is all i would want to spend now on a bike as i dont race them anymore

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

My front forks are a bit old and sloppy but when I go back to my old Diamond Back Topanga that I keep at my wife's aunt's house in Wales I really miss them, but not as much as my Hope Mono Mini's, hydraulic disks are awesome, they must be good if they can stop 16 stone of me plus a 30 pound bike from 30 mph.

Unless you are spending a grand plus dont bother with full suspension.

AllanB

I don't know much about this but my cousin does as he used to run a big bike shop and now runs activity holidays doing mountain biking.

He reckons you are much better off getting a quality " hardtail" ie one with just front suspension. Disk brakes are not necessary but you can by bikes that are disk ready and have the brakes etc for them to be mounted on later. Obviously the contrsution of the frame and weight and wuality of the gears need to be taken into account.



AllanB

Sticky Stuff

A half decent pair of forks will set you back by at least £150, more like £300+ for anything that's really worth buying.

Add to that the fact that quite a few will be disc mount only, meaning at least a front brake upgrade, and it's gonna start getting expensive even for a low-end package.

As TB says, 10 years is a long time, and things have moved on. Bite the bullet, go buy a nice CF full susser and re-discover living

BrettC

'Are suspension forks on a mountain bike worth it? '

IMHO I would say definately. A couple of friends and I were out on a local trail a few years back.
The bikes: rigid single speed (on-one? I think), Scott elite racing or something (high end hardtail) and me on my spesh Enduro (Bomber front forks, fox float rear shock, Hope M4s - you get the idea)

Anyway, we were all interested in the comparative benefits of each of our bikes. We did a lap of this particular trail on each others bikes.

The consensus was that the enduro consistently gave quicker lap times for us all. However the rigid bike owner said he still preferred his bike and would chosse over the others!

Another test we did was one section of the trail. Downhill section, really badly rutted and loads of tree roots. With my somewhat questionable skill level I didnt once make it down this section in one go on the rigid bike despite numerous attempts! On the spesh hardly noticed the terrain was quite so bad.

Richard_P

I bought a new bike last year. £500 for a GT avalanche, disk brakes, front sus etc.

It's so much better than what £500 bikes used to be like 4/5 years ago.

I would say buy a new bike, most of the shops do 0% finance on anything over about £300. I paid about £80 up front then I've been paying £36 a month, haven't even noticed it

^OPM^

i was't interested in full suspension-only wanted the fronts-i still tho seem to be able to downhill even over very rutted and tree lined roots faster then most people with suspension-guess i have a good riding style and bendy arms lol-wha tare good front suspension forks now tho-are rock shox judy still good?

Abdabz

Front shocks are well worth the effort but back ones are a

Abdabz

My Rock Shox Hudy's have done 600 miles up hill and down vale and are still as good as new so yeah OPM theyre still good

BrettC

Why?

Surely, this completely depends on what type of mountian biking you like doing, how good the bike set up is, can the rear shock be locked out, skill levels etc etc etc

BOB.T

I'd say a good pair of suspension forks are deffo worth it!

I was big into mtb's about ten years ago too, I had a (rigid) Scott Montana and loved it! I had given up but about 4 -5 years ago got another Scott for about £250, it was that memorable I can't even remember it's name! Anyway, that had cheap nasty front suspension forks and it spoilt riding the bike, so much so that I swapped it for a R5GTT with knackered engine!

Last year I bought a Dawes Watoga and I have to say, Dawes have come a long long way from what I remember them! Mine has Marzocchi MZ Comps on the front, whilst they're much better than what was on the Scott they could still be better. They dive massively under braking, braking and steering just feels like the front is gonna tuck and the lack of rebound damping can be interesting to say the least!

Again, I say you're probably best getting a whole new bike, by the time you've bought some forks, head set, stem, new cables, tyres etc you could be into enough money to get something nice anyway! If you do get some forks, get some good ones, be prepared to spend at least £200 and look for damping adjustment, including rebound and some sort of lock out for climbing would be good.

As for full suspension, yeah it's got it's place, it's really good fun at first and you can't beat it for a downhill blast and a few yumps, it soon gets annoying and is no good for general riding, you just bounce around instead of making progress...hard tail all the way for me!

PS, if anyone knows any cheap tricks for firming up my MZ Comps, especially the rebound, let me know!

PPS, hydraulic disc brakes rock! I've got Magura Julies and they're awesome, **** knows what the likes of Hope can do!

RB5-Black

I changed for a set of poo Rock shox Judy's ( Bottom of the line ) to a set of Rock shox SID team's (ALmost top for XC stuff) and the change in my bike was massive so much easier on my wrists and arms. The bike is now a lot easier to control on those quick downhills