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.