ed 

I was just cruising the 'net b/c of my recent fork woes and noticed that no matter what you're riding...it's gonna suck. My RS Pilot broke in 6mos. My Fox Vanilla R was excellent for 2 yrs then suffered stiction issues in the small bump arena no matter who rebuilt it. I've never owned a Manitou. The 55 has got me sowing seeds fo doubt. The only fork I would say that was trouble-free was my Tora. It was no where as plush or smooth as my Vanilla in the first two yrs or this 55r, but it didn't fail on me.

I've thought about installing my TST cart. and selling the 55, but then what do I get?

I thought PIKE, but then I've read some really good AND bad things about it. I was starting to lean the way of the Manipoo, but now we have a 50/50 split between Smashy and double-six, not to mention some other bad stories. A Wotan seems to get consistantly good reports, but I don't have $900. The Domain is an option, but still read some mediocre reports there. I'm almost ready to deal with steep'ish 69 degree HA's and get an Argyle. The 2008 4xWC is looking fairly consistantly positive too, but there aren't may left.

Really...I'm not all that picky. I would prefer 5-6" of travel with a good rebound control and a 20mm TA. I would be more willing to go with a 100mm Argyle or Marz DJ1 then move over to a light duty 140mm RVL with a Maxle Light. I guess I want to err on the side of tough instead of travel. Though Greenfish was blowing out '09 Vanilla R 9mmQR's with CaneCreek S3's for like $389. (tempting, but no TA)


How difficult is it to make a working fork these days?

I still have a tiny shred of hope that the new TST cartridge will solve my problems, but every day that I wait for it to arrive...is another 24 hours of doubt that festers.

ca7erham

https://www.treefortbikes.com/82_3332...nish-Mint.html

About the same weight as what you have now.

ed 

Yeah ca7, I'm really in consideration mode dood. I think I'd prob. go with the 318 though.

ca7erham

Yeah, and you probably dont want that color.

ed 

That color doesn't bother me a bit.

I ride it as long as it works properly.

dminor 

Storm.

ed 

To tell ya honestly D...I tried to go to RST's site this a.m. and it was down. It's a consideration, trust me. I've been guilty of judjing RST by their Xmart crap, but Rockshox makes the Dart, and Marzocchi makes the 55r. Your endorsement of RST has made me second guess my judgement. The only problem is that I don't have any upper eschelon RST stuff nearby to test. You could ship me yours for a week, hahahaha.

I was actually also looking at the SpaceFork again too

I mean...all I really need is a 20mm fork that doesn't leak and has an effective rebound circuit. How hard is it? Marzocchi sure can't make it work. (or Suntour)

mtnbiker66

Another option, you could send it here......

https://www.mtbsuspensionexperts.com/

ed 

Light at the end of the tunnel, silver lining...yada,yada.

I called the Suspension Experts, 66. He was a great dude to talk to. He said a few interesting things that warrant sharing:

1. The R and TST's for 2008 were horrendous. He listed off some of the issues.
2. 2009 will be a "rebuilding year" for Marzocchi. Looks promising. They may have gotten their act together.
3. The TST2 that Marz is sending me will fix my issue.
4. If I want the TST2 cartridge to work a little differently (enhanced, more adjustability), I can send it to these guys and they'll do a little more of a "shim stack" style mod to it. It runs ~60-75 bones.

Promising.

dminor 

Hope that does it for ya.

In the meantime, RST's site is back up. Dunno what happened.

https://www.rst.com.tw/storm.asp

I'd send you my Storm Super, but it's really not a fair evaluation piece for your needs (long and heavy). I'm starting to formulate an idea, though: I've been encountering more and more people interested in RSTs. I'm thinking of requesting a Storm Lux or Air just for the purpose of shipping around for people to demo and see what they think.

ed 

Yah, saw that.

I guess you can't buy from the factory anymore though?

dminor 

^^ Aaron and the guys in Portland closed up shop and gave the RST-USA contract to a third-party outfit named Gallop (they evidently handle a few brands). Unfortunately, I have no idea if Gallop is going to do any marketing/distribution or if they are just going to handle warranty/service.

I know that QBP handles RST; but I don't know if they carry the longer-travel stuff. When I get a chance, I'll have my LBS look in their QBP catalog.

mtnbiker66

...and all these people on here say that I'm no help,just a smartass,bla bla bla.

dminor 

I like to think of you as the best of both worlds: A helpful smartass .

born2bahick

I made a post that complimented you on your link 2x6, It seemed like it was deleted? I dunno.

ed 

They asked me if I was local, but I told them I was a KS boy. They wondered how I'd heard of them...who told me 'bout them. I said "Well, his name is mtnbiker66, (but I think that's not his real name.)"

Nah...I told them some dude here on the forums with a Nixon highly recommended them.

dminor 

His name is *****OUCH!*****

BikeForums just shot high voltage through my keyboard! It could have just asterisked it out, for cryin' out loud. That's some identity security.

Now I'm goin to have ot learn to type wiht my ttttwo pinkies fro a while

Dheorl

I'm kinda keeping an eye open for almost exactly the same thing as you atm so will definatly be following this one.

Pocko

RST has been confidentially manufacturing forks for a couple big name brands for years, so now they're making (or finally allowed to produce and market) their own high end forks, so I wouldn't doubt their engineering prowess one bit. I haven't seen any high end RSTs over here yet, I'd be keeping an eye out for them.

Yeah, all forks fall to bits... just some earlier than others. It's either bad design or bad production tolerance, but worse yet when a particular fork has them both.

I also remember when Rockshox had really serious issues just before SRAM took over. When the Psylo first came out, I bought one and it had really bad bushing slap issues from day one. I actually had to check my headset to see if it was loose. Thank goodness the local distributor had some creative people who fixed the problem by installing 2 bushings in each leg instead of 1, even before the company figured out the problem. It's still good to this day. After SRAM took over, I recon Rockshox forks are the least problematic out of the lot... for the last 6 or 7 years maybe... and hopefully they can keep it that way.

.

dminor 

RST has been making a higher-end line for a number of years now - - it's just that most of them have been in the OEM and aftermarket over in Europe. At one point, the Sintesi Bazooka came with an early-generation Sigma (inverted).

My first RST DH fork was a beefy 6" travel model called the Alfalfa. It was actually the predecessor to the R-One.

dezracer

Well this is interesting reading to me. As a noob to MTBs but an expert off-road motocyle rider it surprises me that no one can make a fork that works well and holds up.

Off road forks on motorcycles take a BEATING in all kinds of conditions. Yes you have to service them and occasionally a seal will leak, but they do not fall apart and they last forever. Well a long time anyway.

I will take a guess its a result of trying to make bicycle forks as light as possible. Seems to me there is a tremendous marketing opportunity for a manufacturer to come up with a reliable fork that works well. I for one am in the market as my Raleigh 8.0 came with Dart 3s. I have the dough to upgrade but I don't want to end up with crap.

ed 

Yes...light, tough, cheap...pick two.

There are excellent forks out there...Fox 36 Vanilla RC2, Marz 55RC3, Wotan, Totem lowered to 160, Lyrik Coil U-turn.

I just can't quite throw down for those expensive things.

Oleanshoebox

You are just too rad for your own good, Ed.

dezracer

Here's another difference I have noticed between MTB and off-road motorcycle suspension. It appears there are dozens maybe a hundred fork manufactures for MTBs. When I look at just the MTB fork reviews everyone and their brother has some tubes, springs and valving stacks and claim they are in the suspension business.

On the other hand you have a small handful of suspension manufactures for motorcycles. KBY, White Power, Ohlins are the "Big 3" and a few others. They are all very good and in most cases you have them re-valved and re- sprung for your weight and skill level and you have an unbelievably plush ride that is good for the life of the bike and then some.

I am making this comparison because I have noted that a lot of MTB technology has come from off-road motorcycles.

dminor 

There are actually quite a similar amount of actual suspension manufacturers between bicycles and M/C. Quite a few of the makers cross both platforms (Marzocchi and Fox come to mind).

One reason durability is such an issue with bicycles, as Ed pointed out, is weight. When you have a 125 cranking out, what 25+ HP nowadays?, you can get away with making stanchions out of steel and a lot of steel internals. On a bicycle, the "engine" power is measured in mere watts - - you HAVE to conserve weight wherever you can to get the most bang for every watt expended.

Believe me, I've wrestled mentally with the differences since I started mountain biking, having also come from a moto background. I am by no means a bicycling purist; but I have had to face some realities in the physics of a bicycle in my reasonings of what aspects of moto can cross over to bicycling.