Bicycle Mechanics - Which Fork???

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rocky_rider
02-09-08, 07:50 AM
Hello there. I am looking into buying a new fork for the upcoming seasion, but I can't make up my mind on which fork I should get. I am mostly into riding dirt jumps. I am around 170 lbs. I was wondering which one would be a better fork for me, the Fox Talas, or the Fox vanilla? The Talas is Air, when the vanilla is coil. This is for the 32, but should i invest in a new front hub and get the 36 that has the 20mm thru axle? I have been riding coil all long, and i was also wondering is air any good? Does it leak alot? Is is bouncy? Also my current headset is 1 1/8 threatless headset. Will these forks work, or does it even matter?

Wordbiker
02-09-08, 08:48 AM
Neither.

Both of the forks you mentioned are not focused on jumping. Sure, they'll handle a good bit of it, but you want a fork with an extreme rising rate (gets harder to compress the further into the stroke) to handle serious jumps. By default most shocks focus their compression rate on XC-type riding and have a linear rate that works best for low speed impacts, not the high speed landings you'll be experiencing. By speed, I mean the rate at which the shock is compressed, not your riding speed.

Take a look at the RockShox Argyle, the Marzocchi DJ series or the Manitou Sherman.