travbikeman

I've had a few people ask how I like this new shock. So I am posting my thoughts and comparing this to my older Suntour NEX.

First, I purchased the Paragon from WorldWide Cycles at $259. Also had to purchase a RockShox fork pump at $30. Since I don't have good enough cutting tools, I decided to let the Specialized LBS in Winchester VA install this for me for $35. Total cost for the fork $324, so is this fork worth nearly half the cost of my bike?

Since I've only ridden the bike today for 15 miles, I cannot fully say yet if it's worth this amount of money.

What I have found is:

1. Before the steer tube was cut, the Paragon fork was 4.1lbs, assuming it's now 3.9 or 4lbs. Where as the Suntour NEX came at exactly 6lbs on my scale. I can feel a noticeable difference in the ride steering and lifting the bike on and off my car bike rack. Score Paragon!

2. It's much easier to pump up the air into the Paragon over the attempt at tuning on the NEX. I'm going to be playing with the pressure throughout the riding season to get different feel of the fork. Today I had it at 155lbs pressure, I'm still a clyde so I am not going under 136lbs of pressure until I lose enough weight.

3. The switch for using the fork or turning off the fork felt much better than the switch on the NEX. My NEX was starting to become very loose and flimsy, which I took as a sign that it was wearing out and soon need to be replaced.

4. Ride quality definitely goes to the Paragon. I purposely hit as many tree roots and small rocks as I could on the C&O today riding from Sheperdstown WV through Antietam. The part near the Antietam campground is full of roots an rocks. What I have found is the Paragon does keep this bike stable and easily goes over those obstacles with an interesting swooshing noise. Where as the NEX did do the job, but made the bike bounce more or even wobble a bit over these roots and rocks and noisily at that. Last year the NEX was just getting uncomfortable going through this area that I started trying to avoid all forms of bumps. It's very possible I just needed to take the NEX apart and grease certain areas.

So that's my initial impression, I just had the fork installed yesterday. Had to go out for a ride in the great 60 degree weather today.

But there are some maybe negative aspects of the Paragon.

Maintenance, It's an airfork, maintenance is required to keep the fork useful for a long time. It did come with one maintenance kits, but depending on how much I get to ride on it, I may have to work on this annually.

Cost, this fork is not cheap. The fork is better than my NEX, but is it $324 better? I can't answer this yet, I need to do much more riding this year before I say yes or no. But my initial impressions are going towards yes, it's worth it for the type of riding that I enjoy. But I admit, I would have enjoyed it much more if it was $100 lighter on my wallet.

Might even be trying this out on single track trails with my son since I'm now holding off buying a new mountain bike.

BeachBunny

hokiefyd 

Trav, sounds like a nice fork. Blue Ridge Bicycles charged only $35 to cut and install the fork? Great deal. Logan is my go-to there during the week. They're a terrific bike shop.

prj71

The lowest level Rockshox fork is better than anything Suntour offers.

It's more tuneable and made of higher quality materials which is why you paid $324 for it.

travbikeman

They are a nice LBS. Nearly bought my Cannondale from them. Hoping to maybe later this year instead.

The actual cut and install of the fork was only $20, but they also overhauled my headset and that's the extra $15. I just rounded it up. So they have really good prices on their services.

We had talked a while and they were telling me about the trails south of Winchester as well. I'll have to check it out one of the upcoming weekends.

Really felt comfortable on buying things from them like my new helmet and other supply's. So for the time being, they are now my go to shop.

macpolski

Thank you much for your initial review of the Paragon shock. I will wait until you have more ride time and can offer further observations and critique.

Darth Lefty 

hokiefyd 

I live across the road from those trails (Sherando Park, if you look it up on the map). MTB trail map. The trails are not extensive nor all that technically challenging, but I'm grateful that they're within a mile of my house and I can ride over there and do them at any time. Some bits stay a little muddy (and I'm not into mud), so I generally stay off them except for during dry spells.

Edit: there's a new loop in the meadow on the east side of Landgrant Lane that doesn't show up on that map. It's a pretty fun flowy type trail that sort of resembles a large pump track.

prj71

travbikeman

Hmm, my son would love that. He misses the pump track I used to take he and his friends to in Germantown MD. We might be taking a visit the next few weeks.

travbikeman

Just wanted to chime in to say that the NEX HLO that I had on my Crosstrail wasn't that bad, especially when new. For the price, it's actually a decent fork for $100, but it's not as nice as the more expensive Paragon, which would be a good thing since there is such a big price difference. I've ridden much much worse and sloppier forks. I used to have a duotrack 8000 on my Trek Mountain Bike. That was a pogo stick!

Since I kept my NEX fork, I'm planning on experimenting how to take it apart and grease it properly. Watching youtube video's, it doesn't appear that the lesser expensive Suntour forks have much grease or either they lose it quickly.

But Suntour does have some high end air shocks, for mountain bikes (XCR, Epixon and Auron). Not so sure if they still make air forks for hybrids, think they used to.

badger1

Suntour does indeed make such forks. The problem isn't Suntour; the problem is the North American market. We -- and especially you down in the U.S. -- don't see these bikes/forks because 'high end' "hybrids" are not popular here. Folks won't pay for them. In Europe, different story.

That said, the 2019 Roam 1 (U.S. and Canada) has an air fork. The 2019 Roam 0 (Canada only) has an even better Suntour fork: NCX E Air LO -- 30mm aluminum uppers; aluminum crown and steerer; hydraulic damping/lock-out. A very, very nice "trekking" fork, sub-1800 grams.

DorkDisk

Suntour offers a trade in program, it may be worth it for some readers.

https://www.srsuntour.us/pages/upgrade

Maybe some forks in that list will fit a hybrid.

FWIW Ive been riding a Sid XX dual air on my MTB since '13 and have had no major issues with it so far

travbikeman

It's a real shame that we don't have the higher levels of hybrids like these. Not blaming the manufacturers but that people don't see how nice and the value these bikes bring. I was one of them for buying the mid level hybrid rather than spending more initially.

Especially with the way our country has been developing our rails to trails system, hybrids are a great way to ride these trails. It's too bad that Specialized (using as a reference) stopped selling their upper level Crosstrails here in the U.S. because the sales were so low. Those were nice bikes.

badger1

Agree. You (in the U.S.) actually do have access to one, very reasonably-priced: https://www.canyon.com/en-us/fitness...athlite-sl-7-0

I would have ordered this in a heartbeat when it became available, but the price up here (exchange, shipping, stupid customs levy [on complete bikes, to protect a non-existent bicycle manufacturing industry in this country], + sales tax) works out to 'ridiculous'. I know people do work-arounds, but I'm not one to circumvent regulations.

Oh well!

travbikeman

Wow, that is a nice bike. Didn't realize Canyon made a hybrid like this.

Edit: By the way, I really like how Canyon classify's hybrid bikes, quoted below:

"BIKE CLASSIFICATION: Category 2 bikes are designated for maintained gravel tracks and dirt roads, where the tyres may come out of contact with the ground. This includes urban and city bikes as well as cyclocross bikes fitted with dropped handlebars and either cantilever or disc brakes."

I like this much better than "Fitness" bikes.

badger1

Agree again; Canyon's description is at least 'descriptive'! Both terms common here -- 'hybrid' and 'fitness' -- are pretty much useless.

The Canyon I linked is what in Germany, e.g., is most often referred to as a 'cross' bike: 'cross' as in 'cross terrain', not 'cyclocross'. Very similar bikes with rigid forks are often called 'trekking' bikes.

hokiefyd 

More information on bicycle use classification can be found in ASTM F2043-13. The basic info can be found at this site. Most of my biking is at category 2...maybe just barely into 3. But mostly 2.

travbikeman

I just rode a single track in Brunswick MD today. In the past I was able to ride on very light single track with my prior NEX (did bottom out a few times), so I thought the new suspension could handle something more than what I've ridden before. Plus, this was a first for both my son and I to ride this single track with Rivers Edge in Brunswick.

Well, the Paragon while a good suspension fork, is not a mountain bike fork I found out the hard way today. The single track I rode on today was more technical than I've been on before and the Paragon got a really good workout. It did good, but some of the rocks, bricks, drop offs and large roots, were maybe too much for this rider to handle on a hybrid. I wiped out once, had to get off to go walk up some of the hills and some of the turns, rocks and obstacles, I was not comfortable at all on this bike to go over. Over all, once I got home, I got out of the car to find that I must have twisted my ankle on this ride. Time for a break.....

Looking at the dirt line on the Paragon, it looks like I had bottomed it out while riding this single track today. So I won't be coming back to this single track with this bike. I most likely should have stuck with a lower level track.

Over all, it is a good suspension fork for it's intended purposes, but it's not going to give a rider the ability's to ride on single tracks like a mountain bike can.

Next few weeks, I'm most likely going to put a mountain bike on layaway and just use my Crosstrail for Rails to Trails and Canal Rides.

prj71

Not only is the fork not suited for real off-road use, the geometry of the cross trail didn't help you either. Head tube angle is too steep for that kind of stuff.