notfred

So, earlier today I posted this thread about building dirt jumps. I went over to my dirt jump spot, and instead of building a jump from scratch, I decided I'd just fix up a jump that someone else had built. The whole place is full of a lot of jumps that are kinda worn down and overgrown, but this small jump was in pretty decent shape, and about the same size as the one I wanted to build, so I just did a little bit of work on it. It's a small jump, but I'm just learning this whole dirt jumping thing.

Anyway, I got the jump in decent shape, and I hit the jump 3 times just fine, first time was kinda scary since I'm new to dirt jumping, but I pulled it off alright. On the fourth try I landed and got pitched over the front of the bike. I didn't know what went wrong, until I got up and looked at the bike.

Up until today I was wanting a new fork. Now I definitely NEED a new fork.

Anyway, here's some pics of the jump. The lip is about 2 feet high or maybe a little higher than that, and the gap is right around 8 feet.

This is the stock fork that came on my 2004 Kona Scrap. This is supposed to be a dirt jump bike, and this was a small dirt jump. Kona might want to rethink the standard fork they put on this bike, this one jsut doesn't seem safe.

Now I've got to choose: Rockshox Pike? Psylo? Fox Vanilla? Marzocchi All-Mountain 3? If you have any suggestions, you can see the types of forks I'm looking at, let me know which you'd pick.

By the way, I'm ok. Knee is slightly sore but otherwise I'm fine.

Here's the jump:




And here's my fork:

MadMan2k

Did you land front wheel first? Earlier today, at the skate park I hit a jump, leaned forward to match the transition and found it was behind me :/

I almost fell off the front of the bike, but didn't break anything.
Note: the jump I hit wasn't that big, its this curved cement thing for skaters and bikers to do tricks on, it serves as a ramp. You get like 3 or 4 feet into the air, and if you do it right you can land on the down slope.

PWRDbyTRD

Is that the intended use of that fork? how much do you weigh? What model is that fork and all that?

notfred

I'm really not sure exactly how I landed. On the last 3 tries I landed pretty smooth though, so I don't see why I would have messed up the fourth one.

notfred

I weigh about 200lbs (197 or something), and that's the stock fork on a Kona Scrap, it's a Marzocchi MZ-Race, which is one of thier OEM models. The bike is suppsoed to be a dirt jump bike though, and that's what Kona puts on it as standard equipment.

MadMan2k

Looks like a MZ race to me... an improvement over my RST, but still not meant for jumping. Stupid kona... (I'm kidding, all companies make questionable product choices)

MattP.

lmao, that is exactly what happened to my old fork. Broke in the EXACT same spot. But i wasnt doing any extreme dirt jumping....

Phatman

are you gonna get it warrantied? or is that "abuse"? I'd find it very funny if they didn't, given that kona tries so hard to cultivate a "hard core freerider" viewpoint.

hooligan

Marz arches break. Rasheed's EXR's arch broke. So did yours. You abused yours, that's what happened. It was meant for aggressive XC. Personally, I didn't think you could break it that easy. + You get what you pay for. Kona can't slap on a dj3 on it without raising the price over 100 USD.

madbiker555

I have yet to break my RST fork, but it will soon. I am jelous that your can even ride around this time of year...your ground is green with grass and mine is snow covered. Get a good sturdy fork and get out there and ride.

notfred

Even if I got it warrantied, they'd replace it with the same fork, which I don't want.

hooligan

That's abuse. 1) He used it for dirt jumping, not aggressive XC. 2) He crashed. Not good for the fork.

Anyways, I'd suggest one of the medium end manitou stances. They're supposed to be stiff and strong.

notfred

1) it's on a DIRT JUMP BIKE. How is dirt jumping abuse of a dirt jump bike?

2) I crashed because my fork broke.

dirtbikedude

If you can get it warrantied try. They might upgrade to a better fork for a few extra bucks saving you from paying full price for a new one.

hooligan

It's on a dirt jump bike. So? What's your point? Kona can't afford to put anything more expensive on it without increasing the price. It's not abusing the DIRT JUMP BIKE. It's abusing the fork. Youre djing an aggressive xc fork. You ain't gonna keep that fork for long.

You crashed because your fork broke. So that could be a defect.

hooligan

Dude, if you don't want to warranty it thats it. No, your understanding is wrong about kona putting those parts as standard equipment. They put it on as "whatever fits the bill". At that point, OEM forks are less than 100 dollars. If they were to put on something better, expect your bike's price to go up a lot. Get it through your head - for about 600 USD, you're not going to get a perfectly suited DJing bike. If you wanted that, then even the cowan would be too weak. You need KonaRider24's bike, minus the *Extra extra* luxuries (ie stem). Not to mention you need better rims, probably a better derailler, better pedals (you already have some I think).

hooligan

For a cheap but decent replacement, I'd suggest the stance static. https://www.mtbr.com/reviews/2005_fro...t_124410.shtml

At a rating of 4.5, and for only about 200-250 USD (339 CDN at Cycle Solutions) thats probably one of the most cheap and kickass FR/DJ forks around.

swifferman

The stance was pretty awesome. I tried it out on a Rock Hopper and it was pretty sick. Personally, I'd pay the little extra and take the MX Comp though.

Dirtbike

You. Need. A . Dirt. Jumper. I used to have that fork and it simply sucks. According to the Marzocchi website, its meant for "XC". Why put it on a scrap? Because its cheap and alot of people dont even do big jumps and wont upgrade it anyway.