Hello, need suspension for advice 1999 Trek 6000 245lb rider!
 

Hi, new to the forum, getting back on my what I believe to be a 1999 Trek 6000 with Manitou sx-d suspension forks...

When I was riding this thing all the time, I was 225lb and I had to put the stiff springs and foams in the shocks to balance my weight. Now I get on the bike and I want to have even stiffer front fork suspension. What is the thing to do nowadays? Can I find some pneumatic shocks? Or is their even stiffer spring stuff to be had for my shocks?

I've been out of biking so long it seems like everything has changed, fork tubes are short, wheels are tall, bikes are smaller. Just give me some guidance. I went to my old standby "nashbar" and they seem to be a shell of their prior selves. It seems like they used to have anything you'd want, and now I couldn't find anything I wanted.

thanks

I'm thinking it will be difficult to find parts for a suspension fork that old. I'd be tempted to find a rigid fork with a similar or slightly larger axle-to-crown distance, and run that on the bike instead.

A '99 bike should have a normal, modern 1 & 1/8" headset, so you should be able to replace it with any fork you'd like to buy. Yes, they make pneumatic forks. They are also expensive as hell. If you want to buy new, expect to spend $350-$1000. Yes, just for the fork. Make sure you buy a NON-TAPERED(aka straight) steerer tube version of the fork.

Rockshok makes nice forks. Fox is the other big one. Manitou still makes forks. All of them are expensive. Forks are very much a "you get what you pay for" item.

There is always the choice to go rigid as well for significantly cheaper.

Thanks. I've been thinking that I should have some really solid forks. And i don't mean rigid.

I have done this same thing. It's a struggle to find a fork that meets all of your requirements. An air spring vs coil spring is going to be lighter and easier to adjust to your weight. You also need it to be a 1 1/8" straight steerer tube. Finally unless you are doing an upgrade to wheels brakes you need rim brakes and a quick release axle. You can look around for a number of different offerings and a few pop up here and there but the easiest solution is the RockShox Recon Silver TK. It hits all the requirements you will have and unless you are hitting big drops or aggressive downhill riding it will serve you well. I ran one for a year at 250#. They are on ebay often in the $200 range.

Wow that sounds perfect thanks.

Ask the moderator to move this thread to the Clydesdale Forum, There might be somone who has had the same problem.

What did you move onto after?

At 44 years old the roots finally did in my back and I moved on to a full suspension Specialized Camber Comp from a '94 Hard Rock Sport.

So I solved this problem with a 2018 Trek Fuel ex8. XXL.