Budget Fork differences

CramCycle

So getting a budget MTB and the two forks are these:

Rock Shox Judy Gold, Boost,
Suntour Raidon 32 LOR-DS,

I know nothing about them, other than the top one is more expensive. Is there much of a difference that makes the top better or considering I won't be doing to much, should I go cheap and upgrade to decent forks in a year or two when I may be looking at more technical stuff?

CramCycle

Last one:

RockShox XC 30 TK Coil

Lemming

CramCycle wrote: »

So getting a budget MTB and the two forks are these:

Rock Shox Judy Gold, Boost,
Suntour Raidon 32 LOR-DS,

I know nothing about them, other than the top one is more expensive. Is there much of a difference that makes the top better or considering I won't be doing to much, should I go cheap and upgrade to decent forks in a year or two when I may be looking at more technical stuff?

Both the Judy and the Raidon are air-sprung options which would give better performance than the Rockshox XC TK 30 Coil.

What sort of price difference is there between the two offerings? Is the price difference solely to do with the forks or are other components changed too? Is the Suntour fork a bolt-thru axle or QR version (as there are both from what little I've found). If it's the QR version, I'd be leaning towards the Judy for the additional benefit of both a bolt-thru axle and boost spacing for a stronger wheel & steering feedback.

CramCycle

Looking at the pics, the Suntour looks like it is QR, the difference in price is actually minimal, only 30euro (I thought it was 100). Only difference between the bikes other than the paintwork, although the one with the RockShox is apparently on sale so RRP difference is closer to 250euro

The other fork is on a far cheaper bike by about 200euro but I can rule that out now.

Lemming

CramCycle wrote: »

Looking at the pics, the Suntour looks like it is QR, the difference in price is actually minimal, only 30euro (I thought it was 100). Only difference between the bikes other than the paintwork, although the one with the RockShox is apparently on sale so RRP difference is closer to 250euro

For €30 of a difference due to a sale price rather than €250, and what appears to be Q/R vs. Bolt-Thru (and Boost on top of that), I'd be leaning a lot closer to the Judy tbh.

Out of curiosity; do the specs mention anything about the rear wheel being Q/R or Axle and whether it's Boost or non-boost (148mm vs 142mm) for either version?

rizzodun

There could be differences other than the fork that are reflected in the price.

My Trek has a XC32 which like the XC 30 is coil sprung, but it also offers great performance without the need for more regular servicing an air sprung fork requires.

Maybe post up the 3 bikes?

Mr. Grieves

Air fork every time, allows you to easily set it up for your weight.

emeraldmtb

Agree with Mr Grieves. You can only adjust so much on a coil fork before you need to change the actual spring, which on a budget fork is not really worth the expense.