Suntour Suspension - My Experience

[@jap7856]

I been using Suntour forks for around 5 years now, Durolux on my eDuro and a Zeron on my eTrail eMTBs. Both forks work great, plush, small & big hit support and easy to maintain. But fresh out of the box after the 1st ride I pulled the lowers and applied grease (Slickoleum Friction Reducing Grease) to the lower bushings and fork seals, for some reason the Suntour factory doesn't like to apply much grease to their forks Night & Day different once you grease the Suntour forks Durolux, Auron, & Zeron forks

[@Spindatt]

I'll have to try the same! they work really well in the warm weather

[@Mike_Rogge]

That is the same experience I have had. I bought an AION off a friend, when he had it out of the box it would lock up entirely below 40-50 degrees. He regreased it and did something else (air can or foam rings, idk but definitely didn't touch the damper), and now it starts to feel overdamped around freezing and has not gotten unrideable above ~20-25 degrees. No proper compression adjustment but the stock tune is perfect for my style and the coil negative spring means it takes up small bumps very well. *update he only greased it and changed the foam rings

[@BMXPete]

Yeah, you would have to have it serviced by srsuntour. The nicer forks are available with custom tunes. You should totally reach out to them and see if they could build you a custom Canadian model. My 34 Radion was awesome after I added some tokens.

[@PuffinPass]

I have been running the Durolux 36 at a 150mm travel on my hardtail, set it up about 25% +/-sag for the last few months and so far for me it has been great. Odd you are getting the freezing issue, I have been out several times in temps similar to what you describe and it has performed as expected. Probably going to follow me for a couple of builds and decide from there if I want to go with something else but as of now I have no reason not to recommend it to others especially at the price they offer them at. I know their lower end forks leave a lot to be desired, but their top end ones are a great bang for buck option.

[@petedog9581]

Check to see if the fork will take any more volume spacers. I put in all 3 spacers that came with my 2023 Pike 150 Select.. 1 in the fork and 2 extras. The Fork never dives and is firm off the top and more progressive through the mid-stroke. The O ring at the crown is way too deep.

[@jimbo4203]

Wow Cool trails, having only had rock shox or Fox i was skeptical about the Suntours on my Giant but I was able to tune them in pretty quick and have had no problems

[@Spindatt]

Yeah this stuff works so good when it’s working! The cold really kills it

[@brianjoyce2731]

Thanks, Eric, you inspired me to get out and get some exercise around Burnside and Shubie Park.

[@Spindatt]

Amazing! Hope the trails weren’t too soupy haha

[@arden0]

💯 a thing with SR Suntour forks. I have a XCR 34 air that is pretty great, especially for the price, as long as it’s t-shirt weather, but literally a rigid fork as soon as it gets chilly.

[@BrentBehringer]

What smith Helmet is that?

[@ChrisLoew]

The cold insight is great you shared.

[@Spindatt]

It’s such a shame that it goes so rock solid in my climate

[@lauritzen2]

I have a suntour Raidon 120mm, not to different from yours I think, the same thing happens to mine in the cold, and the issue as far as I know, is that these forks don't use oil, but grease instead, and this grease gets thicker in the cold

[@LaurentiusTriarius]

Iirc they also use Teflon coated plastic bushings, these things become hard as a rock in the cold.

[@janeblogs324]

5:53 the damper must use oil, just replace it who fully synthetic oil that doesn't freeze

[@coletrick8748]

My SR Raidon 100 fork seal started leaking profusely with less than 3 hours ride time.. Riding on the street and maybe down a few curbs but nothing even off-road. Only my left seal.

[@bigshnitzeljesse]

Just now tested a dab of same fork grease they use(Slickoleum/Slick Honey) in deep freezer and it's still very lightweight. Didn't thicken up at 0°f. This grease is only supposed to be lightly wiped on the moving parts anyway. Plastic/teflon bushings probably have less friction in the cold too. Damper shim stacks are known to get sticky with thicker oil. I'd guess a better and maybe thinner damper oil could fix this.

[@petererbse6253]

I think it could be because sr suntour uses sealed units for the damper with grease instead of oil. I used te sr suntour suspension grease on my old rockshox tora and it feels different in the cold. Not locked out but I didn't have the phenomenon before on it that it felt stiff for a coil fork. Maybe it has to do with that.

[@bigshnitzeljesse]

What grease is that? Like most fork brands, they say you can use Slickoleum or Slick Honey, so that's what I use, and other parts like cables and bolt threads. Doesn't get thick in freezing temps.

[@petererbse6253]

@@bigshnitzeljesse it says high Performance synthetic grease on the can. Black can with some fache like elvis on there

[@gregschramm8180]

How much heavier is it ? That could be the reason it needs more travel.

[@GeekonaBike]

I bet the cold weather fork performance is down the the viscosity of the oil. I'm thinking that until someone makes a multi viscosity like auto motor oil, run thinner oil in the cold weather months.

[@komoonkh]

There is no oil at all in some models. They use grease instead

[@bigshnitzeljesse]

​@komoonkh there's oil dampers in all suntour air forks

[@EriebyCycle]

Safe travels.

[@ROBinJVILLE]

I heard Suntour makes high end stuff for other companies that rhyme with box

[@Spindatt]

I never heard tell of that before! Definitely looking into it

[@dwcanker]

They manufacture DVO's stuff

[@CoolDRMONEY2002]

Surprised you haven’t done a video about jumping a drop bars bike…. Especially with all the people jumping doing content on it. Buuuut sick video.

[@Spindatt]

I made one years and years ago! I’m just not good enough for anyone to care haha Appreciate the super thanks!!

[@DontWorryImAPilot]

Dude, it's solar-powered. It's in the name.

[@Spindatt]

🤦‍♂️ I didnt even frigging think of this

[@zacharyord8618]

We tried them at the shop. I wanted to like them soooooooo bad but they are just reallt really noisy

[@qualm43]

I ONLY buy FOX.

[@Spindatt]

Interesting, even if a bike is spec’d without?

[@qualm43]

@@Spindatt Well, the last complete bike I bought was back in 2016, and actually used up the ROCKSHOX on that until it failed. Then I bought a Bronson frame, and put a rockshox on that and it quickly failed. Then, in 2018, I bought a fox 36 and it had one failed FIT4 damper that I replaced, and since then it has been PERFECT. The reliability of it has me sold on FOX for life.

[@jered2177]

Move to Florida, problem solved.Your welcome

[@Speedy.V]

Except for the late afternoon thunderstorms 😢.

[@Speedy.V]

@@UserUser-zc6fx in the south Florida region we have 10 MTB trails. The trails are very cardio intensive. Some are more technical than others. It's a big selection all year round.

[@petedog9581]

1 problem solved and 1 million problems gained in a move to FLA.

[@miniac60]

​@Speedy.V a whole 10 trails in south Florida? Wow, we have 20+ in our town. Lol and they actually have elevation lmao

[@Speedy.V]

@@miniac60 wow that's awesome. 20 trails 👍. We have to create our own elevation usually by having very punchy climbs that consist of elevation gains of 20-30ft in a horizontal distance of 120ft. Where are you located? Here in the south Florida region we're lucky to even have trails to ride.

[@bassw1758]

First question you have to ask yourself is why?, second question you need to ask yourself is, is this smart ? You're putting your life in the hands of Walmart Forks.

[@Spindatt]

Well, they make many levels of suspension.. these ones are the much more top end ones