Throughout my years of bike riding I've owned various different bikes, mountain, road, hybrid all from different manufacturers such as, Trek, Giant and Specialist, from low-end to midgrade. I personally prefer Giant mountain bikes. Five years ago I purchased a Giant Boulder for when I'm on the bike path for pulling my kids in the bike trailer. It had a SunTour fork that felt like a pogo stick and anytime I went over a bump the front wheel would vibrate like it was going to fall off… I expected this from a bike cost $300. My son, daughter and wife all have low-end bikes with RST forks and none of them had the same characteristics as my giant Boulder… again I expected this from a low end bike. I always thought SunTour was better than RST…. But apparently not!

Recently I purchased a 2011 Giant Talon 29er 1, again I understand this is not a high-end bike midgrade at best, and it came with a SunTour fork. After about 100 miles of riding I started to notice the same characteristics I was experiencing from my giant Boulder with a SunTour fork, rattling, vibrating and a pogo stick feel. Again I know the Giant Talon is not a high-end bike but it's not a $300 bike either. I would expect on the giant Talon price range the SunTour fork would be a little better than what is installed on a $300 bike. When I contacted SunTour support they mention the issues I'm experiencing are normal, but the rattling can be resolved by adding more grease to the spring and wrap a heat shrink tubing around the center of the spring. So apparently other people are experiencing the same issues and heat shrink tubing is the fix… Seriously Suntour, did you not think about doing this in the manufacturing process!!!

So in conclusion if a manufacturer is going to put a low or midgrade fork on a bike go with RST… Or a pogo stick (the engineering is better).