Suntour Aion Fork rattle, anyone have experience with it

nathanm

Eats Squid
So bought the cheap Suntour Aion Forks from CRC for the hardtail build. They feel like a really nice fork and I quite like them but they are rattling/clunking like crazy, particularly at the beginning of the stroke. The noise sounds a lot like a rattling cable, but have eliminated that as an issue as I have run the fork bare, with no front brake hose or mudguard attached. My best guess is it could be the Q-Loc axle which is inserted correctly with no play, or maybe the negative coil spring?

Has anyone had similar experiences? I really hate a noisy bike and I'm not sure I can live with it as it seems to be just how the fork operates.
 

Nambra

Definitely should have gone to specsavers
What are you doing cruising emtb forums @moorey?

Exploded views of Aion forks here @nathanm if you want to see what their guts look like - there are quite a few variants by the looks of it but the internals seem similar in many cases. Skimming through moorey's link, it does sound like it might be something to do with the springs or the little plastic bushings that sit between them. You could drop the lowers and cycle both damper and air side by hand to see if anything catches and try to isolate the source of noise - reduce the air pressure to make it a bit easier.
 

nathanm

Eats Squid
Suntour is now my favourite brand with this reply to a request for service -

Hello Mr. Meyers,

thank you for your email.

The parts the distributor or dealer needs aren’t available at the moment. Caused by Corona we can’t tell you a delivery date.
I know the noise is annoying but you can ride your bike. Nothing will be destroyed.

Please contact them in a few weeks again.

Best Regards

Andrea Lagerbauer-Rufer
Sales


SR SUNTOUR EUROPE GmbH
Riedstrasse 31
83627 Warngau
Germany
Tel.: +49 (0) 8021-50793 13
Fax: +49 (0) 8021-50793 29

andrea.lagerbauer@srsuntour-cycling.com
 

davee

Likes Bikes
I bought the same forks for the same reason. Hoping mine do not have the same issue.
What was the cause and what parts are needed to fix it.
 

nathanm

Eats Squid
I bought the same forks for the same reason. Hoping mine do not have the same issue.
What was the cause and what parts are needed to fix it.
Apparently it's the spring binding. Will have to wait and see how and when they'll fix them.

Seem to be pretty good for a basic fork though. Haven't really tested them out but on the few laps I have done I've forgotten I have "suntour" up front.
 

yuley95

soft-arse Yuley is on the lifts again
It’s the negative spring hitting the inside of the tube it’s sitting in. You can open it up and cover in heatshrink or put the whole thing in a road inner tube then reassemble.
Not great that it happens but once you fix it, it’s fine. I had it with my durolux and raised a warranty issue with the US site (which is where I bought the fork) and they faffed me around asking for a whole bunch of tests to diagnose the issues. In the end, I took it to the aust Distro in Dandenong and had an awesome experience with Christian there. Sorted me out in no time and was really cool to deal with.
 

nathanm

Eats Squid
Righto. So sent it off to the Australian suntour dude. Christians a good bloke and was quick to service and return.

However they still knock and rattle. Aussie dude says he's had heaps of issues lately with suntour forks doing this and has raised the issue with Head Office.

So yeah Suntour experiment had been somewhat of a fail. They work well but I can't put up with that horrible noise like something is loose inside.

For a company trying to compete with the big boys they seem to lack quality control. As they come fitted oem on more bikes these days I'd suggest these types of issue will become prevalent so buyer beware.
 

Flow-Rider

Burner
They work well but I can't put up with that horrible noise like something is loose inside.
I don't blame you one bit, because how can you differentiate between something about to have a catastrophic failure compared to a normal operating fork. A lot of times on coil springs you need heat shrink on 3 parts of the coil and sometimes a plastic isolator at the end, but that's assuming the coil spring is rattling inside.
 

nathanm

Eats Squid
So a semi-conclusion to this story. After 6 months and literally, not exaggerating, 40+ emails to Suntour US, Asia and Bicycle Wholesale, plus Facebook messages and negative reviews I received a brand new Suntour Zeron Fork yesterday from Suntour.
They've also sent a replacement cartridge for the rattling Aion, though the wholesaler/agent thinks its an issue with the air side so unlikely to fix it.
But meh, at least I can ride the torrent now. Hated riding it until now as couldn't stand the fork rattle.
 

yuley95

soft-arse Yuley is on the lifts again
So a semi-conclusion to this story. After 6 months and literally, not exaggerating, 40+ emails to Suntour US, Asia and Bicycle Wholesale, plus Facebook messages and negative reviews I received a brand new Suntour Zeron Fork yesterday from Suntour.
They've also sent a replacement cartridge for the rattling Aion, though the wholesaler/agent thinks its an issue with the air side so unlikely to fix it.
But meh, at least I can ride the torrent now. Hated riding it until now as couldn't stand the fork rattle.
I'm sure it's been a hassle but that's a pretty good outcome by the sound of it. If you want to offload the old ones let me know as I might have a mate that could use them
 

kten

understands stuff moorey doesn't
So a semi-conclusion to this story. After 6 months and literally, not exaggerating, 40+ emails to Suntour US, Asia and Bicycle Wholesale, plus Facebook messages and negative reviews I received a brand new Suntour Zeron Fork yesterday from Suntour.
They've also sent a replacement cartridge for the rattling Aion, though the wholesaler/agent thinks its an issue with the air side so unlikely to fix it.
But meh, at least I can ride the torrent now. Hated riding it until now as couldn't stand the fork rattle.
This is the quality coil spring inside the Zeron. Looks like it could eat its way out of the fork leg in a few rides lol
370506
 

kten

understands stuff moorey doesn't
why you gotta do me like that?

So you're suggesting I'll be having a never ending communication stream with Suntour then?
The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten :D
 
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