RST forks

[jerry uk]

I'm interested in getting an RST 29er fork, what with the dollar being worth didley squat and still falling.
From the specs that it seems to have grease nipples which worries me. Manitou forks didn't last more than half a day over here even regularly greased, though the first Pace were fine, once they changed to double lip seals.
Anybody been using this fork in consistantly muddy claggy conditions? [the UK norm ].
Fox need a bit more maintenance than other makes over here due to seal/stanchion wear. Are the RST forks 'open bath'?

[north20]

I don't know much about the fork other than the riding impression I got while doing a 2 hour or so mixed single/doubletrack a few weeks ago. Weather was by turns raining buckets or just drizzle; fair bit of mud and one mile long section of doubletrack was nothing but water really.

To sum up I had a very hard time believing the fork was an RST -- it worked that well. I was riding my friend's 96er while he rode my Curtlo. At that time he had had the fork for about 2 months and related that after the initial ride he had added some grease through the ports and it had been trouble free from that point on. He lives in Bellingham, WA which is nothing if not muddy the bulk of the year.

Admittedly, I didn't get to use it long term, but it rode better than the Rebas I have had the chance to putz around on. And the mud and water didn't cause any problems on my ride -- long term could be a different story. Here are a couple of links about this fork that might interest you:

http://twentynineinches.com/2007/08/06/rst-m-29-fork-update/

http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=361937

I'm in somewhat the same boat as you; likely building up a new 29er next month and forks are a real sticking point. Not overly impressed by the Reba, know jack squat about the Marz 29er forks, $700 for the new Fox, and the White Bros. and Maverick forks have limited appeal for me. And as nice as these forks were ... well, they are RSTs; and like many folks I've never looked to them for quality suspension offerings.

[jerry uk]

Manitou make 29er forks. A bewildering array in fact, that their own website does little to disentangle. In the UK Chain Reaction are selling several models with apparently different amounts of offset. When contacted they thought they had the shorter offset on all models though that's not what their website claims.
Interbike's website and reports had two platforms with different axle crown heights and different offsets and weights for the same travel options. I've seen the two fork types as Absolutes and 29ers respectively with the 29ers having 48mm of offset. The Absolutes also come in 26" wheel flavours and the 29er has been reported as having absolute damping although the internals appear different.
Confused? Well not half as confused as Manitou themselves appear to be. The British importer has been waiting for over 3 weeks for a clarification from Manitou and not a peep.
This magazine tested a pre production example and it's not the slightest bit clear which one they tested. Jenson seem to have both types in most if not all options and they haven't answered my queries either, although to be fair their own website probably carries the most info on these models.
I'm not convinced that different text sheets at Interbike were not stuck on the same platform, ie Manitou themselves got it wrong there
I was talking to a suspnsion engineer here about it and he just giggled " What manufacturers not knowing their product" apparently not at all unusual.

[jerry uk]

Manitou make 29er forks. A bewildering array in fact, that their own website does little to disentangle. In the UK Chain Reaction are selling several models with apparently different amounts of offset. When contacted they thought they had the shorter offset on all models though that's not what their website claims.
Interbike's website and reports had two platforms with different axle crown heights and different offsets and weights for the same travel options. I've seen the two fork types as Absolutes and 29ers respectively with the 29ers having 48mm of offset. The Absolutes also come in 26" wheel flavours and the 29er has been reported as having absolute damping although the internals appear different.
Confused? Well not half as confused as Manitou themselves appear to be. The British importer has been waiting for over 3 weeks for a clarification from Manitou and not a peep.
This magazine tested a pre production example and it's not the slightest bit clear which one they tested. Jenson seem to have both types in most if not all options and they haven't answered my queries either, although to be fair their own website probably carries the most info on these models.
I'm not convinced that different text sheets at Interbike were not stuck on the same platform, ie Manitou themselves got it wrong there
I was talking to a suspnsion engineer here about it and he just giggled " What manufacturers not knowing their product" apparently not at all unusual.

[jerry uk]

My exasperated Manitou rant aside, thanks north, even though you hadn't ridden them over a period your mate has and that's worth knowing. People who've ridden both the RST and Fox, which share 44mm offset but not much else, appear to be wondering just what all the extra money gets you, as they seem to be about the same stiffness and both ride well, albeit the RST is a simpler fork.

[jerry uk]

Jenson just got back to me
They have seen 41mm offset quoted, which is what Chain Reaction have emailed me for their "Absolute" range. Jenson too have seen various reports of differing offsets but have had no luck making sense of Manitou's own publicity material, either paper or web based. Interestingly Jenson's own blurb has the non absolute 29er fork quoted as having big wheel specific offset, a quote that isn't in their Absolute range 29 wheeled specific blurb

[north20]

Yeah, I haven't been giving Manitou a very serious look as they have had some issues since being acquired by Hayes. One guy I know locally had a warranty issue with a 2006 model pop up back in June, and he and the shop are still trying to get anywhere with it. Rumors abound that it's just one guy entering notes into a computer until there's actually a warranty dept. once again.

Maybe some of the shop folks who frequent the forums have a clearer line on what's going on, however.

[Hand/of/Midas]

im not a fan of the manitou, rode it in vegas.

im not a fan of fox either, im actually wanting to get rid of all my fox stuff, they ride decent,
but from talking to them a dozen or so times working at the bike shop and everytime(exept once) they have been total pricks to both me and another employee. and i dont like to put money in pricks pockets.

[Johan]

i rode an rst. i think it was the T-9 model, with springs/elastomers. it was the worst hunk of crap i ever spent money on for a bike. the rebound was like a catapult, and i am over 210 lbs. that was the suckiest suck that ever sucked.

despite what others have said, i like the reba fork. easy to set up, low maintence. just takes a few rides to figure out what your ideal settings are with it. i typically run 10lbs air less in the chambers than the sticker's guidelines say i should run.

[north20]

i rode an rst. i think it was the T-9 model, with springs/elastomers. it was the worst hunk of crap i ever spent money on for a bike. the rebound was like a catapult, and i am over 210 lbs. that was the suckiest suck that ever sucked.

despite what others have said, i like the reba fork. easy to set up, low maintence. just takes a few rides to figure out what your ideal settings are with it. i typically run 10lbs air less in the chambers than the sticker's guidelines say i should run.


That's pretty much how I've always felt about RST forks ... but the M-29 is seriously nothing like the other crap they produce. Not to say it's going to be the fork I run when I build, but I'm certainly giving it consideration.

As to the Reba, it's good and dependable from everything I know. Only issue for me was that it seemed to waver a bit on technical lines; I just didn't feel as confident of the front end in those situations. Could have just been the couple I've had a chance to ride. Didn't feel like the tire, but I suppose that could have been part of the problem as well -- somewhat sloppy out that day. Anyhow, I haven't ruled a Reba out; but I'd need another go one before I chose it.