andhof

Hi everybody,

Will be commuting with my future hybrid. The Q is air suspension (NCX D LO Air) necessary or could coil suspension (NEX-E25) be sufficient?

Have found a line of bicycles I like but ended up in the difficult decision of whether I should shell out some more euros to get the upgraded version with better suspension fork, XT instead of Deore gears as well as some other higher quality details. Im content with Deore but the air fork might tip the scale to the more expensive bike.

Appreciate any input! maybe someone has tried both the NEX and the NCX forks and could give me some insight, maybe both are less worth

KR,
Andreas

hokiefyd 

Welcome! You'll get a lot of opinions on suspension, both for and against. I own bikes with suspension forks (Suntour NEX coil sprung) and I own bikes with rigid forks. I like attributes of both and enjoy both types for different reasons. In general, air suspension is superior to coil suspension, but it's all in the execution of the fork. A cheap air fork may not work any better than a cheap coil fork. For the type of riding I do, it doesn't matter -- even a basic NEX fork is sufficient and works well. I find the best value in mid-range components. You often get lighter weight with higher grade components, but not any more durability.

I would certainly test-ride any potential bike and see how you like it.

Esthetic

In the 63mm travel department, i dont see where the benefit lies to be honest. Deore is very nice, and at this weight of a bicycle i don't see how 100grams at the crankset is really going to improve the overall experience. It sort of depends on the cummulative upgrade in relation to cost. If you are spending 30% or more for XT and another flavor of a 63mm fork, i don't think its worth it.

Rather, after experiencing the Deore bike and its gearing, you could in the future as an option decide on an XT crankset upgrade for as little as $99 with perhaps some different chainrings/gearing than what it would otherwise be equipped with from the factory to switch things up a bit.

andhof

Esthetic, do you mean that for 63mm suspension forks, air or coil doesnt really do much difference? I will do city riding and light trails during weekend excursions.

I have tried the 63mm coil fork (on "my" bike) and a 100mm NCX air fork (on a MTB) and between those two I noticed a big difference, but maybe that was due to the travel and the bigger tires on the 100mm bike.