26" Fork question/recommendations

[gillyske]

Hello guys.
Got into riding about 6 months ago so be gentle.
I purchased 2005 Banshee Scirocco with a (2005?) Fox Float RLC 130mm fork for my first bike on the recommendation of a friend.

The previous owner of the bike put a spacer inside of it to reduce the travel to 100mm as he used it for enduro racing.
I'm probably never going to race this bike, I just like riding trails and mostly just go to lysterfield and buxton.
As I'm now beginning to ride black diamonds and go faster on blues I think I would like to have the rest of that 130mm available as I figure it couldn't hurt, I do find myself bottoming the fork a lot. Took it to bike shop for a fork service and to see if they could remove the spacer.
They were able to remove it but said that with the spacer out, the fork felt very harsh in the remaining 30mm of travel. They also said that I would most likely need to replace the dampener but was unable to get a quote on cost. So its still stuck on 100mm at the moment.

Ok so... I'm guessing I'm probably looking at close to $300 for a new dampener + labour. Or should I look at getting another fork with even more travel, I'm thinking 150~ (Banshee says the frame will accept a 180mm fork). I tried looking around online but its near impossible to find a 1 1/8" Straight Steerer 26" Fork over 100mm.

Any thoughts or recommendations would be super appreciated.

Thank you.

 

[treble]

I would say get a new fork. if the fork is as old as the frame, its probably past its use-by now anyway.

The going trend for those of us still clinging on to our 26" wheels is to just get 27.5" forks.
Pretty much nobody makes any decent forks in 26 anymore (except for downhill or dirt jumping). I've just bought a new 27.5" Lyrik for my 26" bike and its only very slightly different to the old one. I haven't set it up yet, but by reports from others on this forum, they are no different to ride.

 

[yuley95]

Hey mate - welcome to the forum. As you have already found, it is getting harder to find good quality forks with a straight 1 1/8 steerer.

What shop did you take the forks to? I'm a bit surprised by the response but not an expert by any means.

Do you have access to the trading section on here? You may have just missed the perfect fork for you. a 150mm RockShox Revelation http://www.rotorburn.com/forums/sho...RL-26-150mm-solo-air-(straight-steerer)/page2

I recon 180mm would be too long for what you are riding but there were these recently as well http://www.rotorburn.com/forums/showthread.php?306508-Rockshox-Totem-Coil-180

Things come up but they are rare. If you can keep riding for a few month on what you have, something else will come up. Consider a 'Wanted to buy' ad in this forum as well.

Cheer

 

[gillyske]

I would say get a new fork. if the fork is as old as the frame, its probably past its use-by now anyway.

The going trend for those of us still clinging on to our 26" wheels is to just get 27.5" forks.
Pretty much nobody makes any decent forks in 26 anymore (except for downhill or dirt jumping). I've just bought a new 27.5" Lyrik for my 26" bike and its only very slightly different to the old one. I haven't set it up yet, but by reports from others on this forum, they are no different to ride.

This is super interesting and has opened up another can of worms haha. So I can run my 26" wheel in a 27.5" fork and in theory not really be affected by a difference in geometry, since I will be moving to a fork with more travel is my understanding?

Hey mate - welcome to the forum. As you have already found, it is getting harder to find good quality forks with a straight 1 1/8 steerer.

What shop did you take the forks to? I'm a bit surprised by the response but not an expert by any means.

Do you have access to the trading section on here? You may have just missed the perfect fork for you. a 150mm RockShox Revelation http://www.rotorburn.com/forums/sho...RL-26-150mm-solo-air-(straight-steerer)/page2

I recon 180mm would be too long for what you are riding but there were these recently as well http://www.rotorburn.com/forums/showthread.php?306508-Rockshox-Totem-Coil-180

Things come up but they are rare. If you can keep riding for a few month on what you have, something else will come up. Consider a 'Wanted to buy' ad in this forum as well.

Cheer

Thanks, I'll probably do thjat once I get access to the forum.
I took it to life of bikes in pakenham, which i actually found in a thread in this forum. They have a good reputation so I have no reason not to trust the assessment.

 

[yuley95]

Thanks, I'll probably do thjat once I get access to the forum.
I took it to life of bikes in pakenham, which i actually found in a thread in this forum. They have a good reputation so I have no reason not to trust the assessment.

One other thing to keep in mind is your current front wheel, the axle it takes (I'm assuming QR). You might be further limited in what fork you can buy based on whether your wheel can be adapter to other axle sizes (15mm or 20mm) or if you are willing to update the wheel.

A new fork AND a new wheel could easily cost you more than you spent on the bike in the first place.

By this stage you can see that some times you need to view a $500 bike as a good starter bike to test if you like the sport before saving up to buy something a bit newer and up to current standards...

 

[gillyske]

another valid point, a new fork + front wheel will put me over the initial cost of the bike haha. Yeah its probably time to start saving unless I see a nice second hand fork around. Thanks again.

 

[Juz1970]

Fox 36

Dunno if this counts but FOX still make a FOX 36 with a straight-steerer for 26-inch bikes. I just got one for my all-mountain hardtail build. They ain't cheap though!
Cheers,
Juz