New FRM 29er forks from NoTubes.com
May 17th, 2006 by Tim GrahlUPDATED: Now for sale!
NoTubes.com is already established in the 29er market with their 29 inch rims and tires. However they also distribute some FRM parts to the US.
The guys at NoTubes worked with FRM to make some one-off 29er forks. The catch… there’s only five sets made as a market test and three of them are supposed to be going on sale tomorrow at their site.
From Mike…
It is based on the FRM Airway 125 fork but has longer lowers of course. You can see the weight in the pic with a full length alloy steerer tube. Air/open oil bath system in a low air pressure design. Has the FRM D.L.O (Dynamic Lockout), 30mm stanchions, 45mm of rake, and approximately 93mm of travel. The 100mm stickers were used since these are one-offs and they are fairly close. The picture showing the clearance in the arch is a 2.1 Nanoraptor on an Olympic 29er rim.
Keep an eye on their site if you want a set of these…
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30mm stanctions, will that be marz-like stiffness? Also, not familiar with this brand…do the 26″ versions of this fork have good performance/reliability reputations?
Naw, should be more stiff than the Marzocchi’s. All Marzocchi did was change the lowers and had that stupid “need 2 bolts” to keep your fork together BS.
I’ve heard of the Airway forks, but don’t have any history or personal knowledge of them.
Just went to the notubes site, and the forks are up for sale $650 each. Ouch!
Probably that steep since there’s only five of them made. Hopefully if they go into production that price will drop.
I dunno, if you look at the other FRM forks they are just as spendy…
And feedback on the net is all over the place as to how these things last and perform. Hopefully these are not going to end up like the WinWood DeeDee…
$650 IMO is a bargain. For a rare product like that.
Even if stiffness is a bit less than a Reba, it DOES have the no-bob thing apparently. And it’s pretty light. And you can put it on a Small sized 29″er, enjoy more toe clearance and get quicker handling than from the stock 80mm Reba.
The 45mm rake part really is the main thing about this fork for me. I’d love to try it. I’d love to try a 45 rake Reba too. White Brothers knows all this, but is not yet jumping on it. While I think the undersized offset on 29″ forks is what’s limiting development of the market most right now. Cramped bike design, toe overlap, slow handling, etc, etc.