which fork for my mountain bike?

Question

i'm thinking of getting a new fork for XC and road
looking for a good performance fork within my budget
hope to get a light fork if possible.
remote lockout is a must for me.
budget 550SGD. about 350USD
have 3 choices. not sure if its within my budget
-
3 choices are fox vanilla R or RLC and rockshox SID race
fox vanilla is about 500grams heavier and is coil fork
SID race is dual air and very light
but i like the fox brand more
which one do you think is the best in performance?
which one is the cheapest and the most expensive?

Answer 1

Fox and Rock Shox makes some great forks.

If you're really looking into road and XC, look more towards the F80 or F100, depending on the amount of travel your original bike has. If it's a XC hardtail it will likely have 80 mm travel fork. Putting a Vainilla or a Float will probably slacken your geometry by a bit and the bike would probably feel slow.

I'm not really a fan of a SID, while they are light, I would look more towards a Reba, which I think has better damping even if it's a little bit heavier.

I had a Fox Talas R and then a Rock Shock Revelation, and I think that both brands are pretty similar.

Answer 2

Hi Ivan,

When you added "road" and "light" to what you where going to use your bike mainly for the only choice I see would be the RockShox SID Race.

-I use the FOX Vanilla RLC with 5.5 inches of travel on my Santa Cruz Juliana and it raised my stand over a little and slackened my headtube angle. I sometimes do a little freeriding, so it works great for me. The rebound and compression control is what I use a lot. I like the plush coil spring ride and at 4 pounds it is just right and not too heavy for my setup.

-The SID Race is just under 3 pounds and has 80 mm of travel, so this would be better for XC and Road riding.

-In my opinion the FOX has the best all around performance and the FOX will cost about $50 to $100 less than the SID Race. If you only have 350 to spend you will probably have to go with the FOX. I paid about $390 for my 07 FOX in January, so you should be able to purchase a FOX at about $350 or less. Most bike shops are blowing out their 07 shocks, so shop the Internet. Hope this helps a little.

Kimber

Answer 3

This isn't really an apples to apples comparison. The SID is a super light weight, short travel fork built specifically for XC racing. The Fox Vanilla is a 5.5" travel fork that is really more oriented to all mountain riding and doing some drops. A more head to head comparision would be SID to Fox F80.

I've never riden Rock Shox. My friends who've ridden both mostly prefer Fox.

Fox forks usually cost more.

Hope this help.

Answer 4

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