Suggestions for a 120mm trail/am fork

[sbd]

Going to be building a Ellsworth Evo and looking for a good matching fork. I ride mostly flowing technical singletrack with the occasional day bombing down steeper stuff. I am 6'1" 195# and ride several times a week.

Help!

[_Alberto_]

We are almost the same height/weight I ride more trails (rocks, roots) over single track though. Small air nothing big over 3'. I recently installed a Tower Pro at 120mm with the 20mm TA. With the firm spring shimmed it rides super plush and has tons of compression damping left for bigger hits. Very stiff fork no perceptible flex. Couldn't be happier. Especially considering I paid $330 for the fork.

[sbd]

Man thats a bargain.

[_Alberto_]

It was a 2011 that comes with a medium spring installed. 2012's come with the firm.

So I ordered an xfirm (I'm 210lbs) only to find out its on back order. I then installed an $11 firm ride kit and shimmed it. It is working well as I'm not having to over air the fork to keep from blowing thru the travel. No other fork in the price range has the tunability of this thing. Compression full soft to lockout in 8 adjustments. Rebound. Springs are a 10 min swap and then you fine tune the air. Very, very plush but doesn't dive under braking. These forks go on sale every few months for less than $400.

I'm not associated with Manitou. Just a very happy customer. We have 3 in our group of riding friends everyone is happy with them. Good luck!

[thomllama]

ya, I recently did the Manitou switch, thing is sweet!! Note, the springs on them are setup to really work well over small bumps as well as larger stuff.. It floats over the "chatter" trails, but some people find it too soft. You can upgrade the springs rather easy.. and the 20mm or 15mm axle is a noticeable improvement over a regular QR... light, cheap, stiff, easy to tune... no stiction, just all around best bang for the buck!

[sbd]

Thanks for the info Alberto. Where did you get the fork as well as the parts?

[_Alberto_]

Fork was on clearance at jenson. The firm ride kit was available thru them as well. I ordered the xfirm ride kit to try later thru my LBS, Manitou promptly answered my emails and questions but won't sell you the ride kits directly.

Remember the 2012's come with the firm spring aka ride kit installed. That's a good move IMO as you don't usually see 150lb guys on 29ers.

I've seen these on sale at $360-370 a few times over the last few months. I picked up one for my fiancées bike (26") from pricepoint for $360. Keep an eye out they go quick!

[jeffw-13]

Another vote for the Tower Pro. They're around $400 at Price Point with the 15mm axle/tapered steer tube.

[_Alberto_]

FWIW-I've ridden all the versions 9/15QR, 20TA, tapered and straight steer tube I felt no difference between a 15QR/tapered and a 20mm TA straight tube. Both very stiff.

[sbd]

Seems too good to be true...I like that. Thanks for the tips!

[cbd5600]

FYI - The Tower Pro Tapered 120mm 15QR fork is on backorder at pricepoint right now, but if you order anyways they take an additional 10% off. ~$358

[gregnash]

Another vote for the Tower Pro... I am 180# now but started out at about 200# with my 2011 (i.e. medium spring kit). With the original kit I had to air up to 100psi+ and then as I lost weight I could drop it more, then swapped in the FIRM kit... after some tuning, wow what a difference!! Mine is only 100mm but still feel like the thing is endless in travel, I paid $386 through ebay to my door. And any questions I have had for Manitou have been returned by email within a day or two, and a couple I have actually even received calls back on. Now that is customer service and I will be purchasing from them again as well as Sun Ringle, Answer, Hayes, etc as they are all part of the same company and share the same CS from my experiences.

[ATX_fix]

Go tower pro or fox 32 f29 120mm

[DYI01]

Another vote for the Tower Pro. The ability to tune this fork is IMO unmatched by any other fork for the price.