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---[\) *]

"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:
<http://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