Short term review: Rock Shox Recon Gold TK Solo Air OneLoc 26″ Fork 100mm Straight 9QR

uncut weight

 

Bad experiences:

First time I received the forks one of them was soaked in oil & grease and the seals were had popped of under transport.

one of the forks had seals that were way too easy to remove and press, I could press them back in and remove them with my fingers, clearly not up to specifications.

The fork was Also leaking air, and had horrible knocking sound coming from the rebound side.

But I returned the forks and they got rebuilt by Rock Shox, after that they performed how they should, no seal issues.

 

This fork was just a fast & easy solution, I just need to have a bike to ride, so I had to buy a fork, I did not know about any service centres that serviced Marzocchi forks, Which I had at the time.

 

Pros:

• Not crazy heavy, the alloy steerer & magnesium lowers results in a decent weight.

Cons:

• the lockout is reversed so it’s not unlocked by default as on previous forks, which is stupid., combined with the Rockshox OneLoc remote it’s even crazier, the fork would unlock due to vibrations & due to the flimsy remote.

The Poploc was is much more reliable, the same goes for the Marzocchi & SR Suntour remotes, but none of them has a hinged clamp.

• The bad tyre Clearance:

You can’t use a mudguard with 2.3 tyres, 2.4 tyres will rub.

2.1 Suomi Studded tyres & Mudhugger FR mudguard, got enough clearance.

Setting:

110PSI

Rebound to max

ca 75kg

 

almost 5 years of use Review:2010 Rock Shox Tora SL

 

i have ridden thsi fork in the winter only in 2014 in about 5 to -2 degrees c

but 2015/2016 winter i ridden it alot in – 6 degrees celsius,but the coil became notisable stiffer at -6 degrees celsius

I had this fork on a 2010 trek 6300 disc, and thspring/coil was way too soft after i got over 70kg. so i upgraded to the 100mm coil  11.4015.437.090.

after the shop changed coil, the plastic preload adjustment screw failed,here you can see that the threads are stripped off.that resulted in 20mm loss of travel,and the coil scratching agist the crown.

here you can see how i bodged it,with a gripend,but of course i no longer have prelaod adjsutment.

i had lubed the stanchions every week,cleaned the bike when it got some dirt on it.

This fork was not my biggest priority at the time, i got more bikes, so i got thsi fork on my trek 3900 witch is my spare and winter bike.

the 6300 disc got a 2011 Marzocchi Corsa SL RC

now know who import sram/rockshox to nroway so i can buy directly from them, but before I did not know and the bike shops could not get parts for forks.

I have jumped ridden technical downhill without any issues,but of course the preload adjustment broke and I lost travel.

Pros:

• much better that the Sr suntour forks at similar price.
• seals last long time after 4 years it got few small cracks(withc isww prettyy good in my opinion, the seals on the 2011 sr suntour xcm fork worn out jsut in few weeks)
• the pop lock remote works smoothly, and does not take up too much space.
• can be upgraded to solo air. witch I want to do.
• acceptable with.
• don’t notice flex when braking, jumping 1 meter or doing stunts, riding down stairs or shredding the local trails.(when having the wheel between your legs and the fork in your hands you can of course notice flex)
• travel can be increased up to 120 mm or decreased to 80mm

Cons

• prelaod adjsutment screw is made out of palstic so it wears out too fast.
• the Reboudt adjustment umbraco key will fall off when you ride. so you better set it up how you want it and take it off.
• i got the blue coil installed, and i turned the rebound dampenign to max, but its still too fast.
• Lack of proper adjustment, the fork has preload and rebound adjsutment,but the rebound adjustment range is too small.
• the coil spring snapped

Broken Coil psring

Verdict:

decent body but bad internals,with low durability, so i can’t recommend this model.

 

 

REVIEW: 2011 SR Suntour XCM v3 100mm RSLO ( Heavy terrible fork for a terrible price)

RSLO= Remote speed lockout

i got this for because my xct v2 on my trek 3900 2010 had too mutch play and was jut horrible to ride on.so the store ordered the xcm  fork .

First i must tell you the travel is about 40mm not 100. i had a xct fork on mm trek 3900 disc 2010,it had alot of play and was flexing and alot of play when braking hard,but with the XCM V3 fork i don’t get that issue. i have not been riding this fork hard,in fact i had nto been riding mtb with it jsut used it to comute from store to store to home and so on. afther ca 1 year of riding the fork got play specially the left side,noise when braking clicking sounds. the paint on it is glossy black , it did not scratch easely or no paint fallen off yet.

i have ridden this fork in late summer and fall(few times only),winter(few weeks)

pros

• Stiffer than XCT v2 2010 fork,but it still is bending and twisting
• preload
• comes in white and black
• remote cockout
• you can put it on older bike with vbrakes
• 2 color option white and black
• the remote works well,its the same as marzocchi use.

Cons:

• rebound is bad when you sit on the bike,it just does not work, my weight is between 70 and 80kg. Small bumps get abozorbed by the fork,but big bumps the frok will stay compressed. you need to lift the front wheel to get it back to normal posistion.
• no rebound adjusment
• weight,very heavy,i put my rock shox tora from my 6300 on my 3900 biek and its a big improvment.
• Very heavy, poor dampening, doesn’t provide confort.
• my opinion the price is too high compared to rockshox forks that cost little bit more.
• the seals on mine wore out very fast,they expanded so they now got ca 2 mm cap. witch resulted in water and mud got inside the fork.
• tuned wrong for most people
• after ca 1 year i got play and clicking sounds and twisting from side to side,play when braking, feels very dangerous to ride that way i did not take it apart so don’t know how much is wrong with it if there is more.

concllusion: this fork is a terrible and way too heavy fork, don’t get this fork. get a real mtb fork from sr suntour or get a rockshox xc, monitou or fox.

i desided to but my rockshox tora sl 2010 on my trek 3900 and upgrade to a new air fork on my 6300. no point in  fixing that xcm fork,service plus parts will cost almost as mutch as the fork it self.

i no longer have this fork the store trown it away.