Rock Shox released information today on a new fork, which will be available in all wheel sizes, that should challenge the idea that lightweight and inexpensive are mutually exclusive in terms of suspension forks. The new model, dubbed the 30 Gold, is also claimed to be an easy to set up fork as well.
Rock Shox 30 Gold
Here is the lowdown on this fork from the Rock Shox press release:
AFTERMARKET PRODUCT SPECS
Wheel Sizes: 26”, 27.5”, 29”
Weight*: 26” – 1660g (3.66 lb); 27.5” – 1842g (4.06 lb); 29” – 1828g (4.03 lb)
Travel: 26” – 80mm/100mm; 27.5”/29” – 100mm/120mm (29” – 120mm travel tapered
steerer only)
Steerer: 1-1/8″ aluminum, 1.5″ to 1-1/8″ tapered aluminum
Crown: Forged 6061 T-6 externally pocketed aluminum
Upper Tube: 30mm straight wall anodized aluminum
Axle: 9mm QR
Lower legs: Magnesium, disc only
Spring: Solo Air*Weight based on 265mm 1-1/8” aluminum steerer, 9mm QR lower leg, Solo Air
The retails on the 30 Gold will start out at MSRP: $330.00 USD. This is a Model Year 2014 product, so we would expect to see heavy spec of this fork on new bikes debuting later this year. Aftermarket availability will happen, but as of this post, we have no time frame given for this to happen.
Note: The information and image in this post were provided by SRAM.
Big, huge, massive thumbs up to this. Entry level bike prices have gotten totally out of hand while at the same time they all come equipped with a junk 5+ pound fork. In my eyes if the bike you were buying didn’t come equipped with at least a Recon Gold/Reba RL, an open bath Fox or similar from Manitou or etc., you were going to have to upgrade to do real trail riding, whereas heck.. sub-Deore or X5 level components, although a bit chunky, work totally fine — but bikes with one of those “higher end” forks (I would call them “minimum spec”) are always priced at $2k+ for a hardtail! This looks to be a pass-able lower cost option.
Agree with Samuel, there needs to be a decent fork for bike in the lower prices. My thought is however, is that weight is less of an issue, damping and stiffness are the big problems with cheap forks.
With 30mm alloy stanchions(assuming that’s what the name means), open drop-outs, this doesn’t bode well. Let’s hope the damping is good.