Sherman Firefly thru axle vs. Fox Vanilla 125

[Dave]

I'm thinking of either one of these 2 forks for my new
Heckler.

The bike will be used for aggro XC, epic rides, and light-
duty freeriding. I'm 185 lbs and won't be getting lighter
anytime soon. Which of these 2 forks would you choose if
you were me ?

I'm leaning towards the Firefly 'cause I like the thru axle.
My friend thinks I'm nuts for not getting the Fox.

Thanks...Dave

 

[Bruce Edge]

Dave wrote:
> I'm thinking of either one of these 2 forks for my new
> Heckler.
>
> The bike will be used for aggro XC, epic rides, and light-
> duty freeriding. I'm 185 lbs and won't be getting lighter
> anytime soon. Which of these 2 forks would you choose if
> you were me ?
>
> I'm leaning towards the Firefly 'cause I like the thru
> axle. My friend thinks I'm nuts for not getting the Fox.
>
> Thanks...Dave
>

Never owned a fox.

I have the 04 SPV 20mm firefly. It's great out of the box,
but after only 6 months of pounding on it 12+ hrs a week it
has developed stiction (sp?) issues and as a result lost
some small bump compliance.

Fortunately, I cracked my swingarm, and had a chance to send
everything that was even remotely in need of service in.

Aside from that, the SPV and progressive dampening are
great. I rarely ever use the travel adjust, only for
_extremely_ tecchie climbs where I need to hop a lot. You
can stand and sprint and the thing stays put, maybe a 1/4
inch if bounce under full stand `n mash load.

I can't really tell if I've ever bottomed it, as it just
gets stiffer at the end of the travel, so the actual bottom
is hard to detect.

It's excellent for hitting things. Really forgiving fork,
kinda makes you a worse rider though as it lets you go over
a lot of stuff that should have thrown you. High speed rock
gardens don't even get my pulse up anymore.

Stay tuned, I'll let you know how it comes back.

-Bruce

 

[Zeeexsixare]

> Aside from that, the SPV and progressive dampening are
> great. I rarely

"Damping"

--
Phil, Squid-in-Training

 

[Slacker]

ZeeExSixAre wrote:

>>Aside from that, the SPV and progressive dampening are
>>great. I rarely
>
>
> "Damping"
>

Free yourself. Educate yourself.

<http://www.m-w.com/cgi-
bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=dampen&x=0&y=0>

<http://www.m-w.com/cgi-
bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=damping&x=0&y=0>

--
Slacker

 

[Spademan O----L]

"Dave" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:1081275573.142079@yasure...
> I'm thinking of either one of these 2 forks for my new
> Heckler.
>
> The bike will be used for aggro XC, epic rides, and light-
> duty freeriding. I'm 185 lbs and won't be getting lighter
> anytime soon. Which of these 2 forks would you choose if
> you were me ?
>
> I'm leaning towards the Firefly 'cause I like the thru
> axle. My friend thinks I'm nuts for not getting the Fox.
>
> Thanks...Dave

I like thru axles. Some of the Magura range have thru axles
on their single crown forks and are well worth a look: <htt-
p://www.magura.com/english/frameset/default.htm?http://www.-
magura.com/en glish/gabeln/04_gabeln_ronin.htm~Hauptframe>

Steve.

 

[Dave]

Just a follow up post here.

I checked the forks out at a local shop and decided the
Firefly thru axle was a bit overkill for this bike. The shop
employees had good things to say about the Fox Vanilla so I
went with it. I already have a "freeride" bike and plan on
doing a lot of climbing with this bike, so I didn't need the
front end to be so burly. The Firefly sure does look like a
sweet freeride single crown fork though.

Have a good ride......... Dave