I
wish I knew. Let me give you a little perspective about where I'm coming
from and my background. I
wish I knew. Let me give you a little perspective about where I'm coming
from and my background.
My cycling career is heavily influeced by six years racing BMX bikes. I bought my first mountain bike around 1991 and soon lost interest in BMX racing. The summer of 1992 I started racing mountain bikes and competed in the Junior Beginner class. I found that my BMX experience transferred over into mountain biking and I quickly moved up into the Expert class. By 1997 racing came to a halt when overuse led to knee surgery on both of my knees (at the same time!). My knees have never been 100%, and they won't allow me to put in the kind of training that I'd need to be competitive at the Expert level, so today I just ride for fun.
From 1991 to 1999, I worked at several bike shops in Upstate, New York. I've had the opportunity to work in all positions including Salesperson, Mechanic, Bike Builder, and Assistant Manager. I've always been a tinkerer who is never fully satisfied with his bike set-up, so I'm always experimenting. Customers who frequented our bike shop loved me because I was always selling my 'brand-new' suspension fork, frame, or wheels for the 'latest and greatest' parts.
As you'll see in the list below, I've owned a lot of forks and bikes over the years. I have had the opportunity to own and tinker with each of these forks, and it's through this experience that I've come to form my opinions that you see on these pages.
In fact, to give you an idea of the equipment that I've owned over the years, I'll give you a full run-down of the forks and bikes:
Suspension Forks I've Owned (Chronological order; Yeah, I've had a few forks!):
Ritchey Prologic Steel Rigid fork - Scott Unishock - Manitou 1 ('92 or '93?) - 1994(?) Cannondale Headshock - 1995 Rock Shox Judy SL - 1996 Rock Shox Judy SL - 1997 Rock Shox Judy XC -1997 Rock Shox Judy SL - 1998 Noleen Expert Aluminum (Girvin Style) - 1999 White Brothers SC-70UL - 1999 Marzocchi Z-1 BAM - 1999 Manitou SX-Carbon -
2003 Marzocchi Marathon S - Well, up until this point I had worked at a bike shop so I was able to get the sweetest deals on equipment- hence a new fork (or two) every year! Now that I have to pay retail (it hurts), I wanted something that would not only perform well, but would last longer than a year. I decided that coil/oil was the most reliable and best performing, so I looked at Marzocchi and Fox. Ultimately, I found a deal on a used Turner XCE frame and Marzocchi Marathon S together. The Marathon S is heavier than most of the other forks that I've owned, but it works really well so I never notice it. The fork weighs about 4.4 pounds and has 105mm of travel.
Bikes I've Owned: (Chronological order)
GT Tequesta - Cannondale 3.0 Series Hardtail- Cannondale SuperV - Cannondale 3.0 Criterium Road Bike (In addition to mountain bikes) - Schwinn Factory Homegrown - Rocky Mountain Full-Suspension (Steel front & AMP rear-end) -Trek 9800 OCLV - Eddy Mercyx Corsa Road Bike (In addition to mountain bikes) - GT LTS - Litespeed Hiwassee Titanium Full-Suspension - Turner XCE
Standard Disclaimer: This site describes my experiences tuning and maintaining my suspension fork and this information is not an instruction manual. As always, use this information at your own risk. I am not in any way responsible for typos, misinformation, or any of your actions or results. Results may vary.