Wondering if anyone has any first hand experience with these forks:

Suntour Axon 32 LO-RC, 120mm. (On a 27.5 aluminum frame, 1x11.)
Rockshox Recon Gold, 100mm. (On a 29er carbon frame, 1x11.)

I've narrowed my choices (I think) down to two bikes with these forks. From reviews it seems that the ST has a slight advantage, but the Recon is not far behind. Can anyone reaffirm this?

Suntour use grease. RS uses oil.

RS = Better

I had Suntour forks on my first bike and even after doing the Suntour trade in upgrade I wasn't impressed with their quality. Just my experience of course.

Which forks did you have?

I went with the XCR. Way better than the original junk but after riding on Rockshox I won't ever ride on Suntours again.

Rock Shox Recon.
Amazon. $225.
Clear winner on price. The box was overnighted from China. Yes, it's authentic. It's just with out the middleman contractual brand value markup.

RockShox Recon Silver TK MTB Bike... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071XW1N53?ref=yo_pop_ma_swf

Ooops, the link I posted says "product unavailable"

I guess shutteling things out the back door got noticed.

Never fear, though. $250 is still worth it IMO.

The reason I ask is I'm looking at the '19 Giant Fathom 1 which features the ST Axon 32. I finally got to ride one and the whole bike really is smooth as butter. The fork was a little stiff but still smooth. I'm sure with proper tuning and some break in time it would only get smoother. The frame is made in Taiwan which makes me feel very good about build quality and the welds looked tig and appear to be above average.

There are two other bikes I was looking at which both have RS forks, one being a Reba RL and one being a Recon Gold. All three are equal for the most part, but the other two have lesser warranties than the Giant and who knows in ten years if they will be around. I am fairly certain Giant will still be here ten years from now. I am also unable to ride the bikes with the RS forks and for some reason zero out of the dozen bike stores I've been to around me have anything in stock with either of these RS forks... Without being able to compare the Giant to anything in person I feel like I have to play it safe and go with the Giant...

Giant will only warranty the frame...which is a lifetime warranty. The rest of the individual components on the bike will only be a 1 year warranty no matter which bike company you choose.

Reba and Recon Gold are both a step up from anything that Suntour offers.

Ever rode a bike with a Axon?

It's around a $450 fork, I'd imagine that it's a lot better then the lower quality Suntour forks that are fitted to a lot of bikes.

the full air Axon and Raidon are much better than the XCR coil/air forks. The grease vs oil, grease will get stiff and cause stiction, noticeable mostly on small repetitive bumps, and will require maintenance more often than oil forks. But they are decent, and there is a way to convert them to oil. I have not done it and not sure if it is worth the trouble. I wouldn't have any problem recommending the Giant, as down the road you can always upgrade the fork to what ever you want, if you don't decide to upgrade the whole bike.