Fork upgrade: RockSHox Recon or Suntour Raidon through upgrade program?
01-14-20, 05:26 PM
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Fork upgrade: RockShox Recon or Suntour Raidon through upgrade program?
Like the title says, I'm debating the two forks for my bike. It's an entry level Cannondale Trail model with a Suntour coil fork on it now. I realize some will say to just buy a new bike but that's probably not in the cards for me right now, and I'd rather invest in a decently priced air fork. Through their upgrade program I can get a Suntour Raidon for $100 off, coming in at $229 and having a remote lockout. For roughly the same cost I could get a RockShox Recon, which seems to be the higher regarded brand. Anybody out there have experience with either of these and can share your thoughts? Thanks!
01-14-20, 08:55 PM
#2
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I have both shocks
I like them both
one on a single speed and one on an Orbea hardtail
you can’t go wrong either way
I like them both
one on a single speed and one on an Orbea hardtail
you can’t go wrong either way
01-14-20, 09:48 PM
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I have a Recon on my mountain bike, my wife has one on hers too. 100mm of travel is the factory OEM setting. But, I like the ability to adjust the travel to 80-120 mm by swapping around the internal spacers. (Only able to do when disassembled for a rebuild.) Some times old mountain bikes came with ~60mm of travel, you might want to upgrade that bike to 80mm and can do so. Other bikes might do 120mm just fine & the Recon is still the fork for the job. The built in configurability of the Recon makes it a solid contender.
I haven't looked at the Suntour, but the factory lock-out, the rebound control (turtle/rabbit) and going air/oil is a definite step up from a coil spring in any case. Does the Suntour have all those options & the ability to configure different amounts of travel depending on what bike it is installed on?
If so, then how much is a rebuild kit & how available is it? We know RockShox has a good dealer supply & distribution network...The Suntour, I genuinely don't know.
Don't forget to add in a shock pump. ~$45 or so.
I haven't looked at the Suntour, but the factory lock-out, the rebound control (turtle/rabbit) and going air/oil is a definite step up from a coil spring in any case. Does the Suntour have all those options & the ability to configure different amounts of travel depending on what bike it is installed on?
If so, then how much is a rebuild kit & how available is it? We know RockShox has a good dealer supply & distribution network...The Suntour, I genuinely don't know.
Don't forget to add in a shock pump. ~$45 or so.
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01-14-20, 10:25 PM
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Thanks for the input. I've never really dealt with Suntour much, but they seem to have great service based on my experience with their upgrade program.
01-15-20, 02:02 PM
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01-15-20, 06:26 PM
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Make sure whatever you pick matches your front wheel
Last edited by Darth Lefty; 01-15-20 at 06:35 PM.
01-16-20, 09:41 AM
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Suntour is bottom of the barrel stuff. Recon is OK. I would spend a few extra $$$ and get a Rockshox Reba. You can usually find them for about $300-$400
01-16-20, 01:47 PM
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Raidon and Recon are both similar budget shocks in the less than 300 dollar range (shocks you will find on 1500 dollar bicycles)
but it it all depends on your budget and type of riding ( I have beat on the Suntour and have had no issues with it at all).
01-17-20, 05:30 PM
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I had a bike with a Suntour Aion a few years ago. Learned some things. Suntour's design and business model is to have replaceable cartridges rather than doing rebuilds. And it's easy to upgrade, too. Want to put a real oil damper on that XCM or XCT? Here you go, fifty bucks. The service is very simple and clean, just undo bolts, swap, reassemble. But it also means the dampers are smaller diameter and not as clever and there's no easy way to tune the shim stack (or whatever's in there). And the springs are lacking the nicer features, too. So I don't think they're ever going to take that and beat up on RS or Fox in the higher end or after market.
They also have a really nifty latching QR system for their front thru axles.
Edited 1/1/21: The XCT with a HLO cartridge is different from the XCT without. The right stanchion is different, and the sans-cartridge version has two softer springs while the cartridge version has the cartridge on the right and the spring on the left. If you have an HLO version then doing the MCD cartridge is just a swap, but if you have a no-cartridge version then there's too much to change and it's not really reasonable.
They also have a really nifty latching QR system for their front thru axles.
Edited 1/1/21: The XCT with a HLO cartridge is different from the XCT without. The right stanchion is different, and the sans-cartridge version has two softer springs while the cartridge version has the cartridge on the right and the spring on the left. If you have an HLO version then doing the MCD cartridge is just a swap, but if you have a no-cartridge version then there's too much to change and it's not really reasonable.
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01-17-20, 07:24 PM
#14
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I have a Suntour Aion and a Raidon on various bikes. They're quite nice forks, especially considering the Raidon was only $80 on ebay. I bought a spare 
01-17-20, 07:36 PM
#15
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I had a bike with a Suntour Aion a few years ago. Learned some things. Suntour's design and business model is to have replaceable cartridges rather than doing rebuilds. And it's easy to upgrade, too. Want to put a real oil damper on that XCM or XCT? Here you go, fifty bucks. The service is very simple and clean, just undo bolts, swap, reassemble. But it also means the dampers are smaller diameter and not as clever and there's no easy way to tune the shim stack (or whatever's in there). And the springs are lacking the nicer features, too. So I don't think they're ever going to take that and beat up on RS or Fox in the higher end or after market.
They also have a really nifty latching QR system for their front thru axles.
They also have a really nifty latching QR system for their front thru axles.
