Prong > Lauf

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sean_iow
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Re: Prong > Lauf

Post by sean_iow »

At £700 they are comparable in cost to a medium level Rockshox SID. There is also no onward servicing costs? A basic service will cost £100 including postage if you send it off to TF Tuned or similar.

A SID RL is about £500 on special offer at the moment so after 5 years that will be £1000 investment.

A genuine question as I don't know about the technical side of the Lauf, are they un-damped? Or does the spring have some inbuilt damping qualities? if the OP is fitting them to a 29+ bike how does the un-damped tyre and un-damped fork work together?
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ScotRoutes
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Re: Prong > Lauf

Post by ScotRoutes »

sean_iow wrote: Wed Feb 19, 2020 12:13 pm At £700 they are comparable in cost to a medium level Rockshox SID. There is also no onward servicing costs? A basic service will cost £100 including postage if you send it off to TF Tuned or similar.
I've never paid anything like £700 for a set of suspension forks and you can do a basic service at home. I'd also bet a SID can cope with much more extreme terrain. I appreciate I might just be being a bit stingy but the cost is way more than I'd be prepared to pay.

Aye - undamped rebound is already an issue with Plus/fat tyres. I'm still playing around with air pressure and rebound on my fatbike since I fitted the Blutos. Seems there's no "perfect" answer.

Edit: I've long argued that there is a market for decent-quality, low-travel suspension forks. 60mm or so would be just fine.
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sean_iow
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Re: Prong > Lauf

Post by sean_iow »

A quick google has found the Fox AX gravel fork

https://off.road.cc/content/review/fork ... n-fork-833

But it's £959 :roll:

I've always manged to buy my forks cheaply, either second hand when people are upgrading the OE fork on a new bike or reduced in the sales at the end of the year. My SIDs were reduced from £800 ish to under £400 as Wiggle had listed them wrong and no one wanted a 140mm travel SID, not surprising as they don't make one :lol:
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Lazarus
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Re: Prong > Lauf

Post by Lazarus »

Those who can't afford to spunk that sort of cash on a set of forks regardless of where they stand on 1. or 2.
Says man with multiple bikes including titanium framed ones :wink:

To be fair i am in that group as well
For £300 new i am sure I would have tried but i dont buy second hand forks for £700 new its too steep to see if I like them.
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In Reverse
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Re: Prong > Lauf

Post by In Reverse »

sean_iow wrote: Wed Feb 19, 2020 12:13 pm A genuine question as I don't know about the technical side of the Lauf, are they un-damped? Or does the spring have some inbuilt damping qualities? if the OP is fitting them to a 29+ bike how does the un-damped tyre and un-damped fork work together?
The spring's completely undamped. In theory it should work OK with a plus tyre as, for the most part, one will smooth out the biggest amplitude of the other. If the two ever resonated though then things could get very interesting :lol:
ScotRoutes
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Re: Prong > Lauf

Post by ScotRoutes »

Lazarus wrote: Wed Feb 19, 2020 12:50 pm
Those who can't afford to spunk that sort of cash on a set of forks regardless of where they stand on 1. or 2.
Says man with multiple bikes including titanium framed ones :wink:
Yeah, I know, I know. In fairness, one of those frames cost half the price of a set of Laufs!
wriggles
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Re: Prong > Lauf

Post by wriggles »

ScotRoutes wrote: Wed Feb 19, 2020 12:19 pm
sean_iow wrote: Wed Feb 19, 2020 12:13 pm At £700 they are comparable in cost to a medium level Rockshox SID. There is also no onward servicing costs? A basic service will cost £100 including postage if you send it off to TF Tuned or similar.
I've never paid anything like £700 for a set of suspension forks and you can do a basic service at home. I'd also bet a SID can cope with much more extreme terrain. I appreciate I might just be being a bit stingy but the cost is way more than I'd be prepared to pay.

...
This. My Fox 34 Perf elites were £300 new last year. Quite easy to learn how to do basic home service on a suspension fork
wriggles
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Re: Prong > Lauf

Post by wriggles »

sean_iow wrote: Wed Feb 19, 2020 12:36 pm A quick google has found the Fox AX gravel fork

https://off.road.cc/content/review/fork ... n-fork-833

But it's £959 :roll:

I've always manged to buy my forks cheaply, either second hand when people are upgrading the OE fork on a new bike or reduced in the sales at the end of the year. My SIDs were reduced from £800 ish to under £400 as Wiggle had listed them wrong and no one wanted a 140mm travel SID, not surprising as they don't make one :lol:
That Fox AX is apparantly a modified Fox 32 650b. I did wonder how easy it would be to buy a 2nd hand Fox 32 650b and hack the fork to reduce travel?
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Escape Goat
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Re: Prong > Lauf

Post by Escape Goat »

Just as well I have no money yet anyway, saves a rash decision 😂
ScotRoutes
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Re: Prong > Lauf

Post by ScotRoutes »

wriggles wrote: Wed Feb 19, 2020 3:04 pm
That Fox AX is apparantly a modified Fox 32 650b.
Yep - massively over-specced for what I want it for, and priced accordingly.
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Escape Goat
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Re: Prong > Lauf

Post by Escape Goat »

I may just look at Rockshox 35s - they're pretty cheap online - cheaper than second hand lauf forks, then I can have a nice healthy length steerer tube!
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ZeroDarkBivi
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Re: Prong > Lauf

Post by ZeroDarkBivi »

sean_iow wrote: Wed Feb 19, 2020 12:13 pm At £700 they are comparable in cost to a medium level Rockshox SID. There is also no onward servicing costs? A basic service will cost £100 including postage if you send it off to TF Tuned or similar.

A SID RL is about £500 on special offer at the moment so after 5 years that will be £1000 investment.
Given the recommended service intervals on most conventional suspension forks, I expect that would be closer to £1500, if it lasted 5 years.
Also, I’ve never met anybody who has paid RRP for a Lauf; always bargains to be had with a bit of research.
Im not an ‘ambassador’ for Lauf, and I wouldn’t recommend it for ‘proper’ mountain biking, but the financial argument against it (Vs a decent sus fork) is not that strong.
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