# Fork replacement question (Gary Fisher Tass)



## shatterpulse (Sep 5, 2011)

I recently bought a Gary Fisher Tassajara model year 2006 (Tassajara | Gary Fisher Bicycles). The fork is a pretty low end Manitou which continually depressurizes and is essentially useless.

Is this fork a good replacement? Amazon.com: RockShox Tora Coil 302 U-Turn Fork (Black Pl Rim/Disc, 85-130): Sports & Outdoors

I believe my bike has 1 1/8" steerer which matches the fork; I have V brakes and so does this fork. Is there anything I'm forgetting that might make the fork not fit? Any fork suggestions (I mostly ride XC and would like to spend around $200)? Thanks!


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## mtnbiker72 (Jan 22, 2007)

That fork will work and is a decent fork, but for just a few dollars more this fork will blow it out of the water.

Speedgoat Bicycles / Catalog

It has a coil spring (no air spring issues), v-brake posts, 100mm travel like the stock fork, and a FAR SUPERIOR damper than the Tora 302.


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## shatterpulse (Sep 5, 2011)

Thanks for the advice. I'm pretty new to mountain biking - could you explain why a coil spring is better than an air spring? And what makes a damper "better" or "worse?"


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## shatterpulse (Sep 5, 2011)

I know these are noob questions, but could anyone answer them?


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## JonathanGennick (Sep 15, 2006)

@shatter, I don't see the issue of coil versus air as cut-and-dried. Air springs are easily adjustable for rider weight. With coil-spring forks, one must switch out the springs to adjust for different rider weight ranges. OTOH, coil springs are durable and a lot of design work on air-spring forks seems to go towards replicating the feel of a coil spring.

With damping, there is rebound damping and compression damping. Rebound damping controls how fast and hard the fork bounces back after a hit. Good rebound damping helps avoid the pogo-stick feel, and helps you maintain control. Compression damping (there is low- and high-speed compression damping, but I will limit myself to low) helps avoid problems like brake dive. One wants the fork to activate over a bump, but not so much in response to the brakes, but the fork doesn't really know the difference. Low-speed compression damping prevents the fork from suddenly and catastrophically pitching you forward when you tap the brakes. The movement forward is slower and more controlled.


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## mtnbiker72 (Jan 22, 2007)

shatterpulse said:


> Thanks for the advice. I'm pretty new to mountain biking - could you explain why a coil spring is better than an air spring? And what makes a damper "better" or "worse?"


Coil is not better but is less maintenance. With a coil spring your set to go when you hop on the bike. Air springs work very well these days but they do need to be checked on a regular basis for air pressure, and the seals do need regular additional maintenance beyond normal fork maintenance. You will need a special shock pump for an air fork, some new forks come with the shock, some you have to purchase yourself. Of course air forks are lighter than coil forks with all other things being equal. It just depends on how involved in the maintenance of your fork you want to be.

Damping wise, most lower cost forks that have dampers use a ported damper that has little to no adjustment. A ported damper has a hole that oil flows through, when the fork moves to fast (a quick, hard hit) for the oil to move through this hole then the fork "spikes" or locks out. This is a common issue with ported dampers. The Tora 302 for instance uses a ported damper with no compression adjustment. So the port is set to deal with a certain speed of compression, and anything outside this speed is reduced performance. The better type of damper is a shim stack. This uses washers that the oil flows inbetween at a adjusted rate. The advantage of the shims is that they flex. So if you hit that quick, hard hit the oil can still flow through and the fork still absorbs the hit. The Manitou uses one of the best shimmed dampers on the market, and even the entry level Match uses this damper.

So the Match gives you the easier to maintain Coil Spring design with a damper that is found on forks costing over twice as much. The only comprimise is weight, which pretty much all lower end forks use heavier (not weaker per say) materials than their more expensive models.


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## jpeaslee (Jul 12, 2005)

My trail bike is an 05 GF Wahoo. I recently upgraded the old fork (crappy Judy TT) to a RockShox Recon 351 SoloAir w/ the maxle. Especially being a 250lb clyde, this made a night and day difference in my bike. I also upgraded to disc brakes, but thats another story altogether. That should be everything you need to swap the two out.


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## tpm7 (May 14, 2007)

mtnbiker72 said:


> That fork will work and is a decent fork, but for just a few dollars more this fork will blow it out of the water.
> 
> Speedgoat Bicycles / Catalog
> 
> It has a coil spring (no air spring issues), v-brake posts, 100mm travel like the stock fork, and a FAR SUPERIOR damper than the Tora 302.


I have to completely agree, I love my Match. It has high-end performance for a much lower price. You can't go wrong with it. (Also the damper explanation was very good). The compression and rebound damping on the Match is very good.


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## shatterpulse (Sep 5, 2011)

Thanks for the explanations, they are really helpful. I am probably going to get the match because of the shim stack damper and less maintenance because of the coil. I am curious if I am going to have to replace the springs - I weight 190lbs which seems like it would be a good weight for the "medium" springs it ships with but I wanted to ask anyway.

I know that most forks have a lockout knob on the top (and sometimes the ability to hook up a remote system like poploc), but do forks usually have any other adjustments on them? It seems to me that they would have some sort of dampening control on the top, but I haven't been able to find that out.


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## tpm7 (May 14, 2007)

shatterpulse said:


> Thanks for the explanations, they are really helpful. I am probably going to get the match because of the shim stack damper and less maintenance because of the coil. I am curious if I am going to have to replace the springs - I weight 190lbs which seems like it would be a good weight for the "medium" springs it ships with but I wanted to ask anyway.
> 
> I know that most forks have a lockout knob on the top (and sometimes the ability to hook up a remote system like poploc), but do forks usually have any other adjustments on them? It seems to me that they would have some sort of dampening control on the top, but I haven't been able to find that out.


Preload:









Lockout/Compression Damper (with MILO remote lockout installed):









Rebound Damper (blue knob at bottom of right-hand fork leg - hard to see buried in carpet...):


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