Avanti / Rock Shox fork upgrade

[factory]

Hi everyone, I have an Avanti barracuda approx. 2003 model which I have since new. It is in very good cond as just after I bought it I moved overseas and it was in storage until 2008. As I am mainly into to road cycling it has done very little work. It has a deore and deore XT gruppo and shimano hydraulic disc brakes. All in all in is perfectly adequate for the casual bit of mtb riding I would like to do....

BUT....recently the fork has packed it in. It is a Rock Shox Pilot C 100mm. It is leaking badly and seems overly stiff. When I went to adjust the preload the adjuster broke off! So it now needs repair.

Question is, should get the for repaired or buy a new / upgraded fork? If upgraded what sort of fork should I consider? Would like to keep costs under $200 or so - is this realistic?

thanks

[Mulger bill]

Methinks sourcing parts for the Pilot might cost more in time and effort than your budget.

Give ebay a shot for replacement possibilities, just keep the travel within a 80-120 mm range to avoid big handling changes.

[trailgumby]

What he said ^^^

Most decent forks these days seem to be air sprung, the coil ones are entry level and are either too stiffly sprung, too softly sprung, have poor rebound or flex like wet noodles and are horribly heavy.

The good news is they can often be had as New Old Stock (NOS) off fleaBay for not much more than you've indicated is your budget. Just watch the steerer length, if they've come off a bike that's being parted out they could be too short for your bike.

[silentbutdeadly]

One option is to replace it with an entry level fork like the Rockshox Dart 2 (now known as the XC 32) or a much better entry level fork like the X-Fusion Velour. The other option is to go rigid.

I chose the second option. It was much cheaper and significantly lighter to bin the RST Gila that came with my bike and install a Kinesis Maxlight rigid alloy fork - the result is perfect for the paths, trails and relatively short distances (~20km) that this bike does. Coupled with a pair of Ergon grips....my wrists still like me and the bike remains fun to ride.

[Jean]

Cruising Ebay would be wise. Otherwise you might get a coil RS Tora for your price. They're not light, but quite capable forks. If you went to about $250 you could get a Suntour Epicon air fork off Ebay, which has adjustable travel and a reputation for being a good budget XC/Trail fork.