Help with Suspension/Forks

Hello, can anyone help or am i wasting my time?

I'm thinking they may be elastomer shocks, which basically means there's a big cylinder of 'rubber band' material in the shock. (The little dials on the top affect the preload of the shock -- i.e. how hard it presses on the elastomer, before you put any additional load onto the suspension)

Over time the rubber can go hard, and make the shock feel stiff. Sometimes it's a simpler matter of re-lubing the inside of the shock so the stanchions can move more freely. They might be clogged up with dirt and grit etc. making it feel 'stickier'. This is what's usually done at the regular suspension fork service interval (a lube-up and re-grease)

How old is the fork?

Not old at all, it came on my bike and its about 2 months old.

AusJacob said:

Not old at all, it came on my bike and its about 2 months old.

it is possible you haven't broken the fork in properly. I don't know anythign about this fork so I am reluctant to comment.

it is also possible that this is a really cheap lower end fork that will never offer a decent level of performance. consider replacing the fork with a marzocchi MZcomp or if you have a bit more money an MX Comp. both of these will offer reasonable performance on a low budget.

How much did you pay for the bike?

I'm not sure about the break in.

I might havea look at the Marzocche range.

The bike was $679(AUD)

davebee said:

it is also possible that this is a really cheap lower end fork that will never offer a decent level of performance. consider replacing the fork with a marzocchi MZcomp or if you have a bit more money an MX Comp. both of these will offer reasonable performance on a low budget.

Do not buy MZ Comps! These forks are the worst I've ever ridden with. They have no rebound speed ajustment and the rebound is so fast it feel like they are going to snap your wrists off, it lifts the front of the bike up if your not putting pressure on them when they rebound.

I have Rock Shox J3 and these forks are absolutely brilliant in my opinion, and not too expensive.

John90210 said:

Do not buy MZ Comps! These forks are the worst I've ever ridden with. They have no rebound speed ajustment and the rebound is so fast it feel like they are going to snap your wrists off, it lifts the front of the bike up if your not putting pressure on them when they rebound.

I have Rock Shox J3 and these forks are absolutely brilliant in my opinion, and not too expensive.

i found the mz comps ok. you just have to put a heavier grade of oil in to slow the rebound. good for a cheap end fork if you can be arsed.

Hey Davebee and John90210,

Can you guys tell me how much your forks were?

The Marzooche MZ Comp
The Marzooche MX Comp
The Rock Shox J3

Thanks Guys

AusJacob said:

Hey Davebee and John90210,

Can you guys tell me how much your forks were?

The Marzooche MZ Comp
The Marzooche MX Comp
The Rock Shox J3

Thanks Guys

'06 MxComp goes for £150 on chainreactioncycles.co.uk
'06 Judy J3 goes for £90 on same site.
cant find a price for the Mz's but it should be <100

davebee said:

'06 MxComp goes for £150 on chainreactioncycles.co.uk
'06 Judy J3 goes for £90 on same site.
cant find a price for the Mz's but it should be <100

I replaced the judyTT forks on my 2004giantnrs3 with the mx comp with the ETA (external travel adjuster), i am very very happy with it. You can adjust the preload with an air valve. and you can lock down the fork with the ETA.

The marzzochi is much much better than the forks my nrs3 came with.
Very good performance off-road. I recomend it. the price quoted here seems to be accurate. The older Marzochi Bombers without the ETA are considerably cheaper.

AusJacob said:

Hey All

First off i would like to say: YES I AM A NEWBIE!!!

I have got a set of RST Gila Plus - T6 and im finding them too hard. I have played around with the settings on top but they are still really hard. I was wondering how i could soften them...
Thanks, Jacob

Specialized
Hardrock
Sports
Disc
(Newbie)

You may just need to "lube" the fork's sliders ...

Wipe them clean, and then apply some SLICK HONEY OR equivalent.

SLICK HONEY is basically a petroleum product, AFAIK, which has the viscosity of hand lotion -- thicker than most oils you'll find AND thinner than grease.

You can "make" some (the equivalent, that is) by mixing a very small amount of MOTOR OIL with a DAB of (vaseline) PETROLEUM JELLY.

Im not really a fan of RST...had a few issues with them...upgrading would be your best idea...

Check out this link for an accurate idea of the Australian Range and Prices
vicmtb.com.auhub.phpOpen ↗

Have you considered Manitou Axels?...They would be about the same spec as the J3s and MXs. The upper models feature rebound and travel adjust and other fancy things like that.

Hey AusJacob,

Check out Phantom Cycles. They've got good prices on forks. My GT has RSTs on it at the moment but I hope to upgrade soon. I'll thrash it for a couple more months before I get another though.

:eek: ...i completly forgot about PhantomCycles!!!..yeah, take a look at them.

Thanks For All The Replies And Help.

I think I'll keep my forks for a while untill i get enough money to buy something like you guys mentioned.

Thanks Guys

AuJacob

Hey man, Im riding the same setup as you and I've had my bike for just over a month now. The fork is stiff as a rock with very little travel. I think it's an RST thing and everything i read on them is negative. Im just gonna ride it out this summer and look for something better next year when the cash flow is hopefully better.

once i get abit of money ill buy a low end mazoochi fork or something equal

heres my 1993 marzocchi mx-comp with the ETA(external travel adjuster) on my giant nrs3.
the mx comp without the travel adjuster should cost about $100 less.
I am very happy with this fork.

AusJacob, have you had a look at second hand forks? As long as you know they are fine internally and on the stancheons* (sp), that might be your best bet. It also increases your range as for the same price as a brand new set of J3s, you could get a barely used set of RS Pilots or Dukes which will have more adjustments and plusher feel to them. Even Rock Shox Psylos (the Standard QR version) might be the way to go with the U-Turn travel adjustment but ive found (i was looking for new forks as well not too long ago) that Psylos can have a history of abuse.

Good Luck man