Forks for heavy powerful street bike

[BDStew]

1) I need suggestions for a stronger front fork.

The bike is heavy and goes fast. It currently has a rockshox paragon fork and flexes a lot when i brake and 'chatters/vibrates' at the disc. Makes it feel like it can't handle the bike.

I'm told a solid cargo fork and suspension stem would be better but I haven't been able to find a fork that will work.

Any feedback would be appreciated.

[Retrorockit]

There aren't a lot of short travel 29" offroad forks out there. Fork travel started to get longer right about when 29ers started to show up. Marzocchi made some XC forks in 29" that can be set up fpr 65mm travel but they will all be 10 years old now. The brake chatter is usually caused by brake pad/rotor contamination. I would sand the rotors, and install new pads to see if that goes away.The photos show 2 different bikes with 2 different forks. Sorry to hear the Paragon isn't working for you. My 26" Rockshox Europs/Serra bikes are working just fine for me. But the 29er leverage is a lot different. You didn't say what brand the bike is. They may have sold that frame with a solid fork.
IDK if the headset is big enough for Cannondale stuff but there are Lefty forks out there that might work. But that would require a Lefty wheel also.

[BDStew]

Thank you for your reply!
The bike is a Luna Roam Fusion (Luna added the big battery & Bbshd Ludicrous motor to a stock Giant Roam bicycle).

Both pics are of the same bike. The one with colour and stickers was from when I originally purchased the bike, with the stock SR Suntour NEX HLO, lockout, 63mm travel forks.

The second matte black pic was how the bike currently looks, with the rockshox paragon fork. (And bodyfloat seatpost, selle anatomica saddle, stickers removed, matte black plastidip coat on the frame, bigger 2" tires etc).

I swapped to the paragon because I'd read the the stock forks are garbage, but perhaps they are stronger, to withstand that forward force without flexing.

* I also increased the front rotor from 160mm to 180mm
My current idea was to swap the rear rotor for a 180mm as well and to brake with both front and rear (to take some of the load off the front end.)

I realize thats kind of rookie braking to use both front and back, but so far when i do that the front fork barely flexes.
Using only the front brake makes the fork flex enough that i figure it must be causing some trauma to its innards.

[ncmired]

How about the Soma (Tange) Wolverine fork:

New they're $125-150 in various colors, and approx $100 off eBay. This fork is not suspension corrected of course, and is approx 400mm crown to axle - dunno what the loaded suspension fork length is on your bike.

[Retrorockit]

The thing about SR Suntour forks is that they seem to make a diferent fork for each bike they come on. If you ever went to their website you would see hundreds of different forks with no idea what does what. They're all built to some price point.Often as not very low, but not always. Generally entry level MTB will have SR forks, mid level Rockshox, and high end bikes Fox.The Giant Roam is at some level an off road bike. Also I suspect that Luna actually rides the bikes they build and would be aware of any issues.The Paragon on the other hand is intended for street Hybrid bikes. It may not be built with the extra load factor an offroad part will have. SR forks seem to have some" stiction" that RS and Fox have engineered out. At the same price point I'm not sure RS is much better than SR.
I run 185/185 brakes also. I use the rear to scrub off speed going downhill, and keep the front in reserve for stopping.

[BDStew]

Thanks gents! That soma fork looks cool and heavy duty.
Think I'll add the 180mm rear rotor too...
Have a good weekend!

[josh024]

I've got the same Roam Fusion, with 180s front and rear. One of my best upgrades so far.

What fork did you end up with? The stock fork doesn't feel adequate at the higher speeds this bike is comfortable running at (25+mph) and I'd like to upgrade, but at relatively low cost. Is the Luna Lander worth a close look?

[BDStew]

Hey sorry about the late reply. I’ve still got the rockshox paragon forks. Ive been braking with front & back equally to try ease the load put on the front fork.

Seems to be doing the trick; they still flex a bit but i dont think its wrecking them.

Still have a 160mm rear rotor - was thinking about 180. Bike mechanic thinks the change would be negligible on the rear tho.
U like your 180 rear?

I tweaked some other parts too. 52 tooth front ring - works perfect for my riding. Selle anatomica saddle, comfy. 2" tires, I'd like even wider if they fit - 2.25 maybe, but i have fenders. Its fairly snug as is. Also regreased the secondary gear with mobil 28 cause of some squeeking. Runs like a dream now.

Seriously love this bike

[Retrorockit]

I like my rear 185mm brake, but the 160 could probably lock up the rear tire. It's just the heat rejection is better. The 29" wheels have more leverage against the brakes than my 26" so based on that I would tend to go bigger. I see you have hydraulic brakes. I use Avid BB7 mechanicals with sintered metallic pads. But that's not always an option with hydraulics because they can boil the fluid. Keep an eye on your brake pad wear. Hydros self sdjust and you might run out of pads since you don't have to stick your face down there very often. Twice the speed equals 4x the power, and brakes convert speed to heat, so 4x the heat.
Even 50% speed increase is 2.25x the heat. While my brakes ar old school, they are Downhill rated parts which is a dicipline with heavy bikes at high speeds.That's what I useas an example for E bike brake parts.

[Retrorockit]

I found a fork that may be what you need. It's Sunrace which is Sturmey Archers brand. It was used on a Trek DS4.
https://www.trekbikes.com/us/en_US/b...ort-4/p/23176/
https://www.universalcycles.com/shop...s.php?id=62207
DS=Dual Sport, and was a Gary Fisher line of hybrids with offroad capabilty. The GF/DS line always had a heavier duty fork than similar Trek models. It looks like Trek is continuing that without the GF label. My guess is Gary owns the Dual Sport name, so DS is what it's called now.
At the same price point I'm not sure Rockshox is any better than Sunrace. But I have no firsthand experience with them. The RS Judy TT was low end crap.
The Rockshox Serra/Europa that my GF 26" bike came with has served me well in E bike use, and I upgraded my wifes Trek to one also, replacing the RST fork it came with. They were based on the Judy XC series of offroad forks.
Lots of tech info here.

https://www.srsuntour.com/products/fork/NRX-D-6266.html

Here's a black one. There are coupons to get the price lower.

https://www.srsuntour.us/collections/forks/products/nrx-d-lo-ds-700?variant=27528460931

[josh024]

a little late getting back to this; I appreciate this advice and went ahead and ordered this fork for my Roam Fusion ... on sale for $150-ish, it's worth a shot. Thanks!

[Robobiker]

I know suntour gets trashed a lot, but, I have 2 of their forks. 1 is a Raidon XC- LO-R x1. I was able to get it configured for my need by chatting with the Suntour NA guy I got on the phone. My needs were shortest travel - (ended up being 100mm) straight steerer 1.125". through axle lowers. They were able to configure this fork with parts they have on the floor. This is a good shock for my e- gravel bike . heavy, air spring, steel steerer, price, customer service. I was pleased with my interaction with suntour NA. I bought a second fork for a mtb and got their trade up discount to boot.

[BDStew]

Thanks very much for the info and your consideration!