[Closed] Will a 10 year RockShox fork be pretty rubbish Vs. today's fork?

Wel, the manufacturers and dealers want you to buy a new fork. Do you?

I'm pretty happy. Just wondering if I'm missing out!

Don't think so, SID from 2007 is a decent enough fork and for the kind of riding you probably do on a 80mm fork and I don't think things have moved on that much - especially not for the few hundred £s you'd have to spend. The likes of longer travel Pikes seem to be a lot better, but doesn't sound like you're in for that kind of fork anyway.

I've a ten year old Pike at home somewhere, it's still a good fork today. Rockshox forks of that era are reliable and hardwearing, I wouldn't worry about missing out on the next big thing.

My 2006 Reba World Cups were far nicer than my 2014 SID Team!

thanks - sounds like a consensus so I can dismiss my fear of missing out and enjoy!

Modern dampers from the new forks fit in the 2007/2008 Rockshox 32mm models. When the damper eventually gave up on my 2008 revelations last year (after zero maintenance and about 20,000 off road miles on them) i got a 2015 RCT3 damper and put that in...it just fits and works a treat now and cost about £150 against the cost of a new fork which would have been £500+

TBH the latest and best forks are quite a bit better ime, even the basic motion control models have had upgrades and the RCT3 damper is a cut above. But it doesn't make the old one rubbish, it just means there's better.

Condition would play a part too mind.

I've just got a 2016 Reba of some description, it feels no different to the ones I had in the late noughties. Not as good as the higher end ones with 20mm axle.

"TBH the latest and best forks are quite a bit better ime, even the basic motion control models have had upgrades and the RCT3 damper is a cut above. But it doesn't make the old one rubbish, it just means there's better."

In what way are they 'better'? Just curious.

FWIW and with no agenda, I have a set of 2015 Pikes 150mm and a set of 2009 Fox 32 Talas 150mm everything about the Pike is betterer; stiffer, more controlled more confidence inspiring, that I can go quite hard and loose into things. With the Fox's I am more measured and canny, they have been well maintained over the years.

Don't worry too much about age. In my experience well maintained older posh forks will be better than newer less posh forks (2009 Durin Race Vs 2014 RS Recons) Just look after them, new or old can become terrible in a surprisingly short amount of time if neglected.

I still have a ten year old pike on a bike. its still good. Loco may well have a few affordable bits you can swap out on motion control to up its game a bit, but all said and done it's probably just a bit flexier, and maybe a bit heavier...

I have a set of 2015 Pikes 150mm and a set of 2009 Fox 32 Talas 150mm everything about the Pike is betterer.

That's probably more due to the 35mm chassis on the Pikes than the damper.

ride an old pike from 2005 on my commuter, in use since 11 years now and still fine..( oil change and cleaned every year )
not the performance of the current (more expensive) forks..but works for my intended use perfect..

I've still got a set of pikes from about 2008 ish, and they work great. They could probably do with a service really as they've not had one for about 4 years but it's a great fork.

I haven't ridden new pikes but do have a set of 2012 Lyriks as well, which are awesome.

Oops!

Eer, and again....

clodhopper - Member

In what way are they 'better'? Just curious.

Better control, essentially. They've upgraded motion control with a new rebound damper which (apparently) is based on the old blackbox damper, essentially it can cope with more stuff happening so if you rattle it through a load of rocks or roots, it doesn't choke up.

(OTOH, I'd rather have a previous-model Lyrik with the mission control, than a current model with the charger, mico was awesome)

BillOddie - Member

That's probably more due to the 35mm chassis on the Pikes than the damper.

Also, old TALAS was pretty rubbish.

Don't know but running old forks is a good excuse for being shit.

Both my bikes have 14 year old forks, 2002 Bomber Z1s. The QR ones on the hardtail are noticeably noodly due to the 30mm stanchions.

"Better control, essentially. They've upgraded motion control with a new rebound damper which (apparently) is based on the old blackbox damper, essentially it can cope with more stuff happening so if you rattle it through a load of rocks or roots, it doesn't choke up."

Is this a significantly noticeable 'benefit', or a theoretical one?

I'd say you'll notice a huge difference if you get the old forks fully serviced if they haven't had a service in a long time.

You'd have to compare like with like with new forks though. A new Pike will feel totally different but then a SID is (I believe) more of an XC fork for short travel. Pikes are more trail/AM and around 130 to 160 travel.

Northwind - Member 
(OTOH, I'd rather have a previous-model Lyrik with the mission control, than a current model with the charger, mico was awesome)

Yeah, that's the conclusion I'm coming to with my old Lyriks. I can "upgrade" the damper to the charger, but it looks more like a downgrade really as lose some of the tuneability. Pike's I've had so far are really nice though, but old Lyriks feel super plush and stiff enough for me. Okay, not quite 10 years old though.

my 2006 Fox 100RLT are still going strong and as good as anything else Ive got more recently

clodhopper - Member

Is this a significantly noticeable 'benefit', or a theoretical one?

When I went from my Rev 426swith the old motion control to the 2010 Teams with the upgraded dampers it was very obvious. (and both were in good nick, it wasn't a servicing thing).

What was interesting (er, or maybe not, depends how nerdy you are) was that I ended up blowing up the compression damper in those Teams, and for a while had a standard issue motion control in them instead from an RL model, and tbh it made very little difference, I couldn't say either was better or worse.

But the rebounderer, I think is very noticable- basically with the older fork, the bike handled the third decent sized hit in a row worse than the first, with the newer fork it works well throughout. Not that big a deal on, say, trailcentres or other relatively smooth surfaces where the fork gets recovery time, but when you're chattering down a constantly rough track it adds up fast.

I was recently forced to resurrect a 2006 Rock Shox Pike for my BFe, the only difference being that I updated the damper to and RCT3 and Dual Flow rebound after incontinence issues. Feels bang on, and a lot better than the 2011 Marzocchi 44s that they replaced.

Main difference for me is weight, the Pike is a lot heavier than a more modern fork, but I’m not all that bothered.

Rock Shox made some huge improvements to their forks when they introduced the original Reba / Revs / Pikes back in the mid noughties.

They worked great, were light and reliable.

I've got some 100mm 06 Rebas on one bike which are serviced every couple of years and work very well indeed.

Just anecdotal opinion FWIW.

weight is probably the biggest difference

Probably apples and oranges but had a day on my mates new Enduro with Pikes and the front end was way better than my Marzocchi 55s and my similar vintage revs. Not quite enough difference for me to put my hand in my pocket but enough to make me look on ebay. Handled the constant chatter on a big descent with ease rather than getting a bit too much and needing to slow down as it does on my bike

I agree with the general consensus; my experience and impressions are that the XC orientated 80-120mm forks from the mid to late noughties are pretty good and haven't been particularly improved on, whereas the longer travel 130mm + AM/Enduro/whatever forks have come on leaps and bounds. Which makes sense, in that the XC length suspension has been around longer and thus the rate of improvement plateaued out sooner.

Just had a quick check of some weights and the top of the line SID from 2008 was 1450g, with an alloy steerer, while the newest SID World Cup is 1370g, but with a carbon steerer, and the lightest new alloy steerer model is the SID Rl at 1520g. So pretty comparable, the new forks are 650b so a little bit of added weight there, but both the old and new are 32mm stanchions so there shouldn't be load in it for stiffness (ignoring tapered steerer/thru axle, which aren't anything to do with suspension per se).

the new motion control damper is much better at repeated hits that the old one, and bottomless tokens are nice for tuning the fork properly, but for smooth-ish trails or Trad woodland XC I'd don't think they older fork would be a significant disadvantage

Dual Air Rebas were/are still great.

Solo Air Rebas nowhere near as good.

New Pikes are far more sensitive than old Pikes, but old Pikes still good on big hits/rocks.

the age of mine vary from over a decade to about 12 months

Not as much variation and hard to tell if its age or model that is making most difference

At 80mm travel i dont think there will be enough for me to justify the outlay might be at 150mm with maxles and the like

Aristotle - Member

Dual Air Rebas were/are still great.

Dual air was good. And bring back u-turn while we're at it! I just sold my Rev Teams and I feel a bit like museum curators must, when they release an important artifact... "Look at its 20mm axle! Its perfectly adequate straight steerer that fitted everything! Its tunable air spring and usefully adjustable travel! We shall not see its like again"

My 2008 F120 RL foxes are lush. Slightly nicer feel to me than 2012 Revelation's and much, much nicer than 2016 Reba's that or household run.
Why? Maybe it's what I'm used too.

Well everybody's experience is different it seems. I thought my 2009 Revelations dual air forks were pretty bogging: Flexed really badly and would go blow right through their travel at the slightest whiff of any drop onto the flat. 2014 RCT3 Pikes are amazing: The same weight as the Revs; just better at everything and really easy to service.

While everyone's on the subject of resurrecting old forks, my 2007 Pikes are due for fresh seals & a service - while i'm at it I was going to change the seals on the moco unit to try & fix the oil drip that occurs when they're stored upside down, anyone done this? Had a search & Mojo used to supply a kit for it, but don't any more...
cheers!
J

basically with the older fork, the bike handled the [b][i]third[/b][/i] decent sized hit in a row worse than the first

Really.. the [i]third[/i] hit? Are you sure about that.

I'm not sure I can manage to count the number of repeated hits my forx take before they pack up. I am evidently just not nuanced enough as a rider 😆

Have a set of 2007 Rebas on my 2007 Anthem. They are ace.

I have a set of 2012 RL damped and FIT damped Fox Floats on other bikes - and TBH I really couldn't tell the blind difference between the damping performance on either while riding. >95% placebo, for 95% of riders, all this damping tech bollux I reckon.

Although, it's probably easy to convince yourself otherwise, if you've just spent £850 on a new pair of acronym-filled forx.

I must admit I haven't found the new Pike or Lyrik to cope quite as well with rocks as my old Marz 55 rc3 ti.

They're lighter and probably faster overall, but don't gobble up the gnar in that effortless way.

I've got similar era SID Team's on my Epic and they still work well enough that I doubt it'd be possible to do much better (either weight or performance wise) even if a lot of money were spent. There might be more of a difference with longer travel forks than with short travel XC ones - but even there I don't really have the skills to exploit them. All my bikes wear pre 2010 forks (mostly Fox) and I've yet to feel a need to replace them.

no_eyed_deer - Member

Really.. the third hit? Are you sure about that.

OK, if you didn't read the rest of the post, that could seem weirdly specific 😆 So for clarity, it's not [i]just[/i] the 3rd hit, that was just a random example greater than 1.

I was thinking about this yesterday, riding my Marzocchi 66 SLs from 2007. They were highly regarded at the time. Compared to 2010 revs though they are pretty sticky and the damper is quite crude. It seems to have the same compression/rebound force all the way through the travel.

When I look at modern forks in shops they are vastly more plush - not ridden a set though.

^ Yep I guessed that, I was only kinda kidding, really 😉

It's the bendiness I don't like on a lot of older forks - not just because you feel less in control when the bars are less firmly connected to the front axle but also that the fork binds on certain hits, particularly when cornering.

My 0.02

- SID Team 2007 is young enough to be equipped with quite decent motion control damping and old enough to still be dual air versus today's solo. That means adjustability on par with or even better than most of the modern designs. One has to read the adjustment manual though 😉

- 32mm sid was quite stiff for xc. As a fork. Especially the 26". As a system, the qr 9mm would show probably more flex, but that is not the matter of the fork's age.

Anyway, I would not expect significant change for the better upgrading to a 2016 fork (note:I am talking about 80-100mm xc fork range!). Personally, I would trade my SID WC Brain 29's stiffness for the adjustability of an old 2004 sid WC dual air I have on my other bike anytime.
But I am light&tiny (below 120lb).