Front Suspension: Between a Rock Shox and a Suntour

So you are looking into the front suspension of your mountain bike, or maybe you are in the market for a new bike and you're wondering what sort of shocks you should have. If only you had infinite moneys... but the thing is you don't, so whatcha gonna do?

(Image sourced from: http://mombat.org/)

Suspension forks has been a pretty much "standard" component on mountain bikes for the last 10 years or so. You could even buy a mountain bike for RM800 or less and it will come with a suspension fork. But which is a good buy?

Well, in Malaysia most bikes that you buy off the rack would come with a Rock Shox or a Suntour. Today, I am here to shed some light on these two very common brands.

Rock Shox has been in the suspension fork market since it all started over 20 years ago. They carry all the brand prestige due to them. Suntour on the other hand has been known to make really cheap stuff that are well... crap. They're also Taiwanese whereas Rock Shox is American.

LOW END ROCK SHOX: THE XC 30

Rock Shox XC30 TK with Remote Lockout

The XC range is the lowest of the Rock Shox range. The XC 30 is a coil sprung fork that weights in at about 2200grams. 2 kilos in mountain bike terms is nothing short of "heavy as hell". That aside the XC 30 is a functional fork that requires little maintenance and is found as a standard component on many off the shelf bikes in the RM2500-RM3500 range.


LOW END SUNTOUR: THE XCR



The XCR is not the lowest of all the Suntour forks, they also have the XCM and the XCT. But I'm not going to be nitpicky about this, cos the lines between all of these three models are rather blurred. And so is the sub models within the XCR range itself. If you're going for a bike with an XCR, it could be coil sprung, or it could even be an air fork. It could weight a reasonable 1800+grams or it could be a 2450gram monstrosity. Whatever it is, as a stock fork that comes with your buy... you can't get much lower than one of these Suntours. This generally comes on bikes below RM2000 more or less.


UPGRADE OPTIONS

Assuming you currently own one of the XCT, XCM, XCR series forks, you might be in mind to upgrade it. And if you are, this blogpost is meant for you!

I don't know how much you have to spend, but considering you didn't spend a bomb on your bike purchase to begin with, I am going to assuming you don't have all that much. Less than RM1000 definitely... right?

IF you are new to the mountain biking world, you may be surprised by what I am going to say.
(TIP: Don't be overly brand conscious)

If you are on a budget, avoid Rock Shox! At all costs! You may have an XCT right now, but that doesn't mean that upgrading to the Rock Shox XC range is much of an upgrade... yes you may think that you are very "glamour" for owning a Rock Shox but really... don't be fooled.

What you should aim for which is not only good and not to mention rather light is the air sprung Suntour Epicon, an upper average cross country fork. Trust me, people are starting to realise that Suntour has in recent years been making splendid championship winning forks and many world class riders are on Axon's which is a Suntour fork just one up from the Epicon series.


WHY SUNTOUR?

A new Epicon fork is better, cheaper and lighter than just about all of the low end Rock Shox series.

Go look around, and if the Epicon is still out of your budget (it's only like RM600+-), go look at the Suntour Raidon. It may not be the same level as the Epicon, but at least you'll be getting 300-400g weight savings over your low end Suntour or Rock Shox alike.

~Less Weight, Bigger Bumps.