Today and Yesterday, I've been riding with people with Really old bikes and totally Rigid, and well there doing just fine.

So the question is, a bike I'm going to real soon be building up ( Maxilight ) do I ditch the shock and put a Maxilight Rigid fork on it, or a RC31 ??

Remember I've still got my bike beefy Full Susser, I want VERY Light and Zero Maintenance on this bike ( not going SS though )


well ??? many out there ride a bike like this ???

Well I ride a rigid SS in addition to a FS so I'd say give it a go. I find I can do without gears and suspension just fine for shorter rides. Just put big tyres like Conti Verts on. One thing I will not compromise on is brakes (got to have them really) but then disks are lower maintenance than V's anyway. You'll not get close to zero maintenance with gears. Getting the SS showed me just how much time I spend fettling gears.

Could be a good move.
Easy maintenance in winter and will improve your skills too.
The FS will feel plush after!

It's got Formula B4's on it, which will do just fine.

Don't think I've ever got used to suspension moving around, so I might actually be better, we'll have to see :)

I've got a cheap hardtail here, with a crappy Judy TT shock, guess I should put the original Rigid fork on it, and go for a ride!!! it's not really a good frame though so maybe not a fair test.

hmmmmmmmmmm

I'm quite tempted to ditch my kacky fork and get an RC31 for my Alu Hardtail to make it fully rigid (as my fork offers practically 0mm travel anyway!).

Still not sure though. Used to ride a rigid steel bike when I was a teen and seemed to be okay (but maybe I went a lot slower).

I think there's an article on the RC31 on here somewhere.

Would be interesting to hear anyones experience of the fork though (i.e. what does micro suspension mean in the real world??)

I have RC31 forks and it has proved to be the best move I have made. I ride a fully rigid bike (or will do again very soon... changing frame to Orange P7, bike in bits at the mo, etc). I do think that a lot depends on your riding, where you go, what you prefer to do, etc. I really don't need suspension up front, and it didn't take me long to adapt to a rigid bike again.

The RC31s are a serious bit of kit, with a little flex to take out some of the sting of bumpy ground. Combine this with some tyres of your choice and you'll have a nippy, responsive ride... and a light bike too.

I chose to go rigid to save weight, to keep my bike simple and relatively maintenance free. This approach won't suit everyone, but i'd recommend it nonetheless.

Interesting - thanks Jon

Jon, does it creak annoyingly someone I met a few weeks back said it did, which didn't inspire confidence.

It'll give me 2 totally different riding experiences, very heavy and plush, to very light and nothing :)


Proberley get a 22lb build relatively cheap, going for this option 2, and it'll climb hills so much better than my 33lb ruckus!!! which does still climb okay!!

Thanks Mike for the Review, there proberley not going to like my 15stone+++ weight, so Might go for the cheaper abit heavier Kinensis Maxlite forks, which I think are disk ready.

Get carbon Fibre bars then, to absorb some of the vibrations, come to about the same price :(


sounds like a computer systems just sold, so fingers crossed I can pick up the Maxilight next week :)

Actually the Maxlight Fork is lighter than the RC31's amazing, with it's butting might offer some vibration damping and will look good on the same frame :)

Designed for MTB use
Butted 4130 cro-moly steerer
1 1/8 inch threadless steerer
Oversized and tapered 6061 T6 aluminium legs
437mm crown height to work with suspension ready geometry frames
640g


I'll sell the Marz Air's to a mate then, to fund this :)

I've never had any creaking with the RC31. I'm 13 stone, and it's stood up to some heavy use with no fuss at all. Not sure why the fork would creak (headset problem?)

If there is any way you can test ride a bike with the fork fitted, i'd obviously recommend it. This goes without saying, of course! I don't know of any production bike that has it fitted as standard though. The Kinesis fork does sound intriguing too...

Well, it's a Kinesis XC frame, so they'd go together from a girlies point of view, there lighter, not as fancy hmmm but only £80 area. 1/2 price.

Find out tommorow hopefully on this sale!! then new bike time!!

No problems with an RC31 after 800 miles and I'm not a skinny whippet. The fork does eat up some of the trail buzz, and is strong enough for XC use.

It's going to be a shock going back to the rigid bike as recently I have been mostly out one the FS bike, but it really does improve your riding as you have to read the trail, and not just plough over everything like you can with a FS bike.

The RC31 is disc ready, you only have to buy extra stuff for v brakes. If you look on the pace website they sometimes sell demo models off cheap, which is a good way of getting one cheaper as long as the steerer is long enough.

Thanks mr hayes, I'll see how rich I'm feeling at the time.

Big Carbon fibre things would look nicer for sure.

Guess you can't plow over roots like they aren't they hey!!!


Light Rigid bike should reduce my time climbing hills from 90% to 75%, if not quicker up hills, loads slower down :) My riding consists of ride up hill slowly, race down Single Track quick ( current bike is good for that part though )