RockShox's new Recon and Tora forks

RockShox's latest fork lines will be appearing in shops any time now. Starting at the inexpensive end, the new Tora replaces the budget Pilot fork. The Pilot wasn't anything to write home about, but the Tora looks pretty decent, on paper at least. It's considerably beefier than its predecessor, with 32mm chromoly stanchions, more material in the crown and stiffer lowers. There'll be four Tora models, with RockShox ditching its XC/SL/Race/etc designations in favour of numbers. The base Tora is the 302, featuring simple damping with external rebound control. The slightly posher one is the 318 which has the same Motion Control damping system as found on the popular Reba and Pike forks. No, we can't immediately discern any underlying logic to the choice of numbers - if anyone figures it out, please let us know.

There are two spring options for each fork. You can have either a coil spring with U-Turn travel adjustment (offering an impressive 80-130mm range) or the new Solo Air system. This is a development of the Dual Air spring that's been a feature on RockShox forks for several years - there's still a positive and negative air chamber, but rather than them having a valve each, there's just one that pressurises both chambers simultaneously. That should make setup a lot easier - obviously you lose a bit of tuning flexibility but in the section of the market that you'll find the Tora in that isn't really an issue. The Solo Air forks offer 80, 100 or 130mm of travel depending on the arrangement of the internal All-Travel spacers.

Claimed weights are 2207g (4.86lb) for the 302 U-Turn, 2217g (4.88lb) for the 318 U-Turn, 2071g (4.56lb) for the 318 Solo Air and the 302 Solo Air just sneaks under the 2kg mark at 1998g (4.4lb). Not staggeringly light, but then we're talking about a budget 130mm fork with steel stanchions...

If you're willing to spend a bit more money to save some weight, then the Recon forks may fit the bill. The Recon line replaces the venerable Duke in the RockShox range. They're essentially the same as the Tora models but with anodised aluminium stanchions rather than chromoly. The U-Turn models get travel graduations on the stanchions too. Damping, spring and travel options are the same as the Tora, with the 327 being the simpler fork and the 358 being the Motion Control one. Claimed weights are (starting with the heaviest) 2,066g (4.55lb) for the 351 U-Turn, 1,994g (4.39lb) for the 327 U-Turn, 1,862g (4.1lb) for the 351 Solo Air and 1,789g (3.94lb) for the 327 Solo Air. Not too shabby at all.

All the forks will be available with or without V-brake bosses and there'll be optional aluminium steerers, remote lockouts and stuff. And the money? Tora runs from £139.99 to £199.99, Recon starts at £199.99 and goes up to £269.99. Find out more at www.rockshox.com or from importers Fisher Outdoor.