I currently have a suntour xcr of my bike with 100mm of travel. If I want to replace this does the new fork have to have the same travel? i am currently looking at one that has 80mm of travel, would it be ok or would it make life difficult?
A fork with the same travel with ensure that the handling stays pretty much as it is now.
A shorter travel fork will steepen the head angle and make the steering quicker and more responsive, but more twitchy when the going gets steep and fast.
A longer travel fork will slacken the head angle and make it more stable on the downhills, but it will steer slower and be slightly less responsive.
So long as you don't go too far either way you should be fine. For what it's worth I'd either stay with 100mm travel or bump it up to 120mm - The extra travel just means you can have that little bit more fun
Stick with 100mm - there are loads to choose from. If you can afford it the Fox F100 is about the best there is. Rockshox Darts are at the other end but still work.
Marz MZ comp or RS Tora (coil version) would both be good choices at your budget. Also some versions of the Tora come with travel adjust so you could play around with different head angles. Sorry cant remember the actual model number, could be the Tora 302????
My first ever so can't really comment on how good it is, going to ride some off road with it tomorrow for the first time. What I can say is, other people seem to rate them fairly highly for their price, and £144 is significantly cheaper than they normally go for: Wiggle and CRC are selling them at £180. Only problem is they are only available in white, and just checking the page, there is a 2-7 day wait on them. Anyway, looking forward to tomorrow, just hope I don't get mugged for my bike as it's a dodgy area... fingers crossed.
