First Look: Suntour Rux DH Fork Prototype

 And don't forget the XC market, the Suntour Axon Werx fork has spent a lot of time on the World Cup XC Podium.

 Lets hope they keep making great forks and remove themselves from the "halfords bike" image. They are doing the right thing that's for sure.

 genuinely hope this is actually good, be refreshing to see another contender on the market

 Durolux is real good for something so inexpensive and simple. I have one.

 Im really loving how suntour have just turned their game around! its like a rags to riches story unfolding in front of you.

 Price range will be high enough to think about adding a bit and get fox or boxxer instead. But partnership with famous dh names could make these popular too.

 Halford's = Wal-Mart (or something like that...)

For the Ameereecans that don't know! ;-)

I CAN'T WAIT to see this thrashed, btw. This is a new year for MTBing, for sure!

 I've been waiting to see a Suntour Fork for a while, and they own marzocchi which still make amazing forks so im looking forward to testing some!!

 Their cranksets are still quite bad but their forks are picking up nicely!

 @joemtbftw Tenneco own Marzocchi

 That arch looks way too thin... And I am not really keen on Suntour, like people said before, they used to be shit, but that doesn't mean they are great...

 Suntour have been making entry level products... someones gotta make these and it doesn't mean they are shit. Just a different market.

 @pperini Tenneco sold the bicycle division of Marzocchi to Suntour fairly recently.

 Am I the only one who has a sort of mental block against Suntour and would probably go with another brand regardless of which pros are being paid to use it? I know it's completely ridiculous though, this looks like a sweet fork and their other offerings have got a lot of positive feedback.

 I understand where that block comes from, but everyone needs to get over it. Suntour has been making world class suspension for more than a few years now, and their new AM/Freeride forks are definitely top quality. They've also produced many top of the line forks for other companies, and their Axon Werx XC fork has something like 14 or 15 World Cup wins. That's not the kind of thing you need to block. Yes they do make entry level products, but so do every other suspension manufacturer as well, that's got nothing to do with how their high end stuff works...

 Could you cite your sources of Marzocchi being sold? The Marzocchi website still has Tenneco logo in the corner. And my googling came up with nothing.

 The Axon Werx has not just a dozen plus World Cup event wins but also World Championship wins.

 Xfusion best get their double crown out, or at least start teasing us with it because it looks like there is going to be some competition on the affordable side.

 You guys understand also the Garret Buehler is riding with these. I think they probably take a beating.

 @fraserbritton hm..weird..cuz if u open the 2012 marzocchi website the Tenneco logo is still there, and yes the website is new for 2012...

 I rate Suntour really highly now, they've really stepped up their game. Need to work on the bump-stops though haha!

 I'm excited for this fork! And I did a little research about SR Suntour owning Marzocchi. From what I read on an mtbr.com forum Tenneco owns Marzocchi but the forks are made in a Suntour factory hence the forks being "designed" but no longer made in Italy.

 biker buddy of mine took an older 888 completely apart one day when he was trying to modify it... "SUNTOUR" labels were on some of the bigger internal items on that 888.

 This arguement is as dumb as trying to get kony to take the infant out of infantry . suntour is getting alot better. looks like a pretty solid price. knowing suntour it probaly wont cost a arm and a leg either .

 Remember Suntour SUPERBE Pro? that stuff was the bomb..... where it's made, how it's made, l don't care... if it's good stuff, l'll ride it.

 I still have lots of suntour xc-pro thumbshifters and several derailleurs. Bike parts from back in the late 80s/early 90s simply lasted better than things made more recently. Same goes for Deore DX, Deore XT and XTR components from back then.

 does marz or suntour sell just the top crown only? hoping these guys do so I can get a 38mm standard mount top crown for my 888

 They almost remind me of a mixture between Marzoochi 888's and RockShox Boxxer's which, are two excellent forks in my opinion. I would love to run this fork, just looks amazing.. and does anyone know if any of there other forks are heavy?

 Fraser Britton, you are so wrong man, I'll tell the true story of what is happening with Marzocchi and Suntour.
Yes, sin Marzocchi moved their production to Taiwan, they outsourced the production on Suntour hands, that's not new and everybody with some knowledge on the biz knows it.
What happenned is that Suntour this year wanted to buy Marzocchi. People from Tenneco said No, then Suntour did a move almost from mafia story, they said to Tenneco: "Or you sell us Marzocchi or we stop producing them for you"
On this situation Tenneco did not sell Marzocchi, they just burnt bridges with Suntour and they outsourced the manufacturing with another company in Taiwan, with the difference that Marzocchi Technic staff is controlling the production all the time now, and as one of the managers of Marzocchi explained me, the idea is in a near future to stablish an own Marzocchi factory in Taiwan, then no more Outsourced Manufacturing, and as in the begginning, fork 100% made by Marzocchi, but this time just in another location, there in Taiwan.
Cheers!

 So then why did most of the head people leave Marzoochi and make DVO?

 Who left Marzocchi?
As far as I know, Pablo Perez is still the General Director, at least the last time I called him about 1 month ago

 Everyone talking here has a different idea about what has happened with Marzocchi, and some of you are close, but none of you really know for certain. Once it's been announced officially we'll report on it, but for now I'll just say that Marzocchi is still Marzocchi with different production and factory, and Marzocchi USA has changed almost completely. It's all politics and business, we'll see if the quality of their forks change for next year, this year they've been awesome.

@Brandoncoughlin and @annimaxdh, as far as I know Marzocchi head office hasn't changed much, most of the change has been at Marzocchi USA, which has been a huge integral part of their bicycle division, as I said above we'll see what happens...

 The people that have left and started DVO can all be seen here

 US is not the center of the world this time, even owned by the prestigious Tenneco, Marzocchi main hq are in Italia, and the most important decisions are taken there.
I started conversations with higher position crew of Marzocchi since last Eurobike, including the General Director and the OEM International Sales Manager, who explained me the whole story.
By the moment they did not disclosed who will handle the production for the 2014 line, but yet they let me know the north they are following, that is to stablish their own Marzocchi factory and production in Taiwan, to not depend or lay functions in anyone external of the company.
The Changes in Marzocchi USA, even if are very important cuz is a lot of R&D and close cooperation with riders, is not something vital for the company, as far as the experience show me, and shown in many cases through the history, nobody is indispensable, in a business, anyone can be replaced, and I guess this shaking of the tree in Marzocchi US, will give space for new talents to show up.
Cheers!

 Just as good as a Boxxer? If it comes from the fork with ovalized lowers and no lubricating oil and requires new seals after 3 days in Whistler, is over damped and sticky like honey, leaks constantly and wears out the coating on the stanchions while generally feeling like shit after a factory rebuild it will be as good as the 2010 Boxxer was when it came out. That's a hard act to follow.

 boxxers are messy heap of shit in general, but all the problems you mention stem from the fact you rode it with the ovalized lowers, that's your own fault. and everyone quit bitching about the damping range of the r2c2 damper, if you don't like it there are shimz inside to tinker with, it is also your own fault you don't know how to set it up. having said all this, i still think that the boxxer chassis i total crap . 10cc of oil and shitty seals in proprietary dimensions killed it.

 So what you're saying is because my lowers were ovalized from the factory, it's my fault for riding my brand new fork without sending it in for warranty first? It's probably my fault as well that I didn't do a full tear down to add oil, replace the seals, modify the tolerances on the rebound assembly, ovehaul the compression assembly and order new lowers before I mounted it on my bike.

How the hell do you figure it's my fault that the fork was such a piece of shit. Oh, hang on, I think I figured it out on my own. The Boxxer I had before it was a piece of shit, as were the 2 before that, so you're right, it's my fault for buying another one thinking it would have quality control this time.

If there was nothing to bitch about the 'damping range' (which was mostly poor tolerance in the rebound assembly causing a lot of stiction) then why did they issue new parts to replace the 'obsolete' ones? I had that thing apart to do more maintenance than any other bike part in the history of my riding, so don't point the finger at me.

In 20 years of mountain biking the biggest pile of shit I ever owned was a Boxxer 2010. My 2007 was not far behind and I can't say much good about my 2000 and 2002 Boxxer either. Although Marz has a dark period in 2008/9, I've had many of their forks including a Z1, Mr T, Shiver DC, two Shiver SC's, a 888 and now a new 888, 55 and 44. I've replaced seals exactly once and replaced oil twice. A single crown shiver went 4 years (including 2 season of DH racing/riding) with no seal or oil change and still felt better than any RS product ever did. Not one single RS I've owned has been without serious flaws.

 yeah man, if you realized it worked like shit and there was something wrong with it, you should have sent it in, not ride it to the point the stanchion coating wears off but it's definitely not your fault that it came that way. rs's are generally big steaming piles of shit but people seem to either not care that boxxers are crappy or don't know how the suspension should work so rs is selling a shitload of them...

 yes yes i am feeling this one they suck big piles of poo! i bought mine from a very well known tuning company and they had already been "tuned" rode them till i could put all my weight over the front of the bike and they would not move in! no matter how many lower lubes i done still shit! took em back and i got told I twisted the lowers! took them away after paying another 110 pounds to have them re serviced they still took all my weight and would not budge! had them professionally checked and they were not twisted so back i went and guess what? the hole in the cartridge side has been drilled off centre! so new lowers and happy days right? NO CHANCE! after three rides getting sticky again so back i go and after three days i get them back as supple as any fork i have ever had! turns out the holes are drilled out wrong on every single pair of boxxers! you can feel it worse on the r2c2 because the lower rod inside the leg is thicker and does not bend so easily! that is why they ramp up so much! dont believe me? next time you do a lower lube insert the cartridge leg with the lower rod pushed three quarters in and shove it down to the bottom of the lowers and i bet its out of line with the location hole in the lower!

 So you have owned many Boxxers before and they all were junk so you keep buying more ? GENIUS

 i am done here. if you like buying 100$ worth of junk for 1-2K$, you're welcome.

 Amen.

 what about campagnolo?

 Don't believe they ever entered the MTB market. any road bike innovations all came from mountain biking as well.

 Campy was in the mtb market for a little while in the late 80's and early 90's. Road bikes also existed long before mountain bikes did, so your last statement seems a bit off.

 Didn't know that about Campy, they mustn't have made much of an impression in the MTB world. Yes road bikes were way before, but most all recent innovations on the road came from subsequent mountain bike development. Threadless head sets, bottom brackets, frame material to name a few. It's all good my friend!

 boron fiber? eh no not really, carbon fiber? i doubt that mtb was even around when it came out in like the 80's, I'm saying you cant ignore campy who came out with the derailleur, QR, and then making the derailleur spring push down instead of up

 They're 38mm.... Close enough. They look nice and big though.

 Its not all about how big your stuff is

 Its all about how you use it yeahh yeahhh

 Its not about the size. Its how you use it. But in all seriousness this fork is looking like it could be a winner, and also could be what the industry needs. More companies like x-fusion, and now SR-suntour to be putting out quality suspension product for a good competitive price. Hopefully companies catch on and take the same steps! Companies like fox and rock shox have built such a name for themselfs that people are willing to pay a huge mark up for their product, where as companies like SR-suntour and X-fusion are pumping out suspension products equally as good for a fraction of the cost.. I will definetely try to get my hands on one to try out!

 Yeah, with the rumours of a x-fusion dual crown fork and marzo that seems to be releasing good products once again, the customer would have 5 top dh fork to choose from instead of just 2. Hopefully the quality will go up and/or prices will go down.

 i wouldnt go as far as to say that it would be as good as a 40 or 888 rc3 or even a boxxer for the forseeable future they will allways be the best three for performance but it prob wouldnt be a million miles off.. especially when you concider how much cheaper it will be and with its adjustable volume and progression stroke you should be able to set it up to feel pretty smooth

 Actually if you splash the cash, nothing competes with BOSS apparently....

 Here in BC it's just a shootout between 40/Dorado/Boxxer if you go to whistler or the races but the 888 seems to be coming back since the explody years, at the races anyways. Marz has a good service center in BC which helps. Lets recap tho... Fox40-40mm/888-38mm/RUX-38mm/Dorado-36mm/Boxxer-35mm ... I wonder what xfusion will choose. plus from what i know it isnt stanchion width its wall thickness added to crown and axle configuration. remember that crazy ass foes hub on the f1 how big was that thing.

 @alazamanza you never know. They already do internals for other companies, it's not like it's their first shot at this. They've been into the suspension market for a while so they have the expertise too. I also heard a lot of positive reviews on the durolux. A lot of people talked shit about x-fusion on here and now that the reviews are coming out it seems like the vengeance and their rear shock they reviewed here is actually better than some of the products fox has been releasing and at a better price on top of it. I'm not saying they're the best, but I wouldn't be surprised if they could compete with the current top forks. Only time will tell...

 Looks awesome but they should come up with some more creative graphics

 I had a Suntour drivetrain on my roadie - gold rings and cassette. Nice.

 no not in the same factory,

 Zocchi internals are made by SR-suntour if that gives any hints to how this fork may ride.

 sidermang i beg to differ marzo has a open cartridge while the SR has a closed one i probbably feels like a boxxer

 The 2008-2009 Marz 66/888 RC3 cartridge was sealed, no home tuning. The 2010 and on isn't sealed, has a removable shim stack you can adjust compression.

 SR-suntour probably took some design ques from marzocchi on the Cartridge. But for now one can only speculate how it will ride untill we can actually get our hands on it and try it for our selfs.

 Its going to be smooth! I have the Durolux and the internal damper is very well designed. Its only has low speed and rebound so with the added highspeed compression its going to be fun. This fork shares a similar air spring which I run very progressive like explained in the article and it takes big hits great. I have no doubt this fork is going to rock! RideOn!

 while suntour and zocchi are owned by the same company its only zocchis budget forks that borrow suntour internals, but it wouldnt surprise me if theres a little zocchi dna inside the dampers on this thing

 Yes, you totally true. The dampers on the lower end Marzocchi's are gas charged units that work well but you cant adjust them. The damper here on this new fork and the Durolux or any of Suntor's line are very easy to take apart change the oil and adjust to your personal needs, just as Marz's open bath system. This is indeed a top contender! RideOn!

 cycletaiwan.com

 I think it's just the camera angle, it's actually pretty solid looking in real life.

 If it works for garrett buehler,who happens to go massive. Im sure its fine for the average joe.

 Or at least that is was they are hoping you will believe.

 In the one shot it looks a lot thinner than it is just from the angle, it's actually pretty solid looking in real life, but only time will tell.

 Well, at least a thumbs-up for an arch that won't collect crud.

 I agree, thats the first thing i noticed. The lower crown looks stronger than the upper which seems backwards in my eyes

 Me too !! I was expecting them to break then I'd just bin them, but they keep on rocking.

 Well...no.

The left leg contains the spring and pre-load unit. The right leg contains the nitrogen damper and the lock-out gubbins.

So....no.....you're totally mis-informed actualy.

www.pinkbike.com/photo/6338217

and I paid £30 for mine, used off ebay.

 lol im not going to deny that the durolux isnt actually a bad fork but my mate had something like that i think it was an xcr and as he rode through rough section his lockout turned itself on!!!! those cheap ones are not good forks... the end!!!

 The XCRs are cheaper still... I had a Suntour X100 (a GT tuned variant of the one Boo86 linked to) on my old GT avalanche that withstood 5 years of battering with zero maintenance, and still feels decent. It was never buttery, but for such a cheap fork I was impressed.

 To add, there's this major test for the new RUX: Rampage. Perfect timing.

 Oh ya, I want to see them go huge at rampage. I too love the air spring the Durolux has, its plush and keeps me happy by never bottoming out! RideOn buddy!

 My dream for them has been realized!! Awww yeeeeeaaa!

 Someone makes Rockshox forks but (SRAM doesn't actually make hardly anything themselves... they have no actual factories they own, everything is made under contract, they have some facilities for making prototypes to do R&D but that's it) it wasn't Suntour before... it was Spinner. X-Fusion makes forks for Specialized (among others). The problem with suspension fork manufacturing, is how you define "making" the product... The internals are usually machined at one place, the crown's being in almost always forged aluminium come from someplace else, the cast magnesium lowers another place, the stanchions another, and then someplace else assembles it all together.

 Hmm, that was meant to be a reply. Iphone fail.

 *Breaking News*
Blah blah blah.
Police have not released any details .

 LOL. Yeah thats what I am saying?

 Perfect match for Knolly's website .... " TBA'S..... "

 True true!

 Yup! to shut the haters..

 hmm maybe 40's are 40mm and 38mm stanchion tubes are these. So close yet so far away.

 Me too.. They're really stepping up..

 not a stock item, Buehler custom made those ones....

 So that must be a signature series item, complete custom

 Thats CUSTOM!

 ha ha funny stuff!