# Saso Rigid MTB fork



## kennethkavanagh (Feb 17, 2008)

Greetings,

Does anyone have experience with a rigid carbon fork by a brand called Saso? They are available 'cheepish' on ebay and claim/appear to be identical to the White Bros. Rock Solid, I would have shelled out the extra $$ to go with the peace of mind (imaginary or not) of a brand name, BUT White Bros. Etc didn’t seem to offer a canti/v-brake boss option and I wanted to keep running my non-disc set up. The fork looks identical to the White Bros. But I realise looks can be deceiving. I wonder if indeed White Bros/Pace/One+One etc. come out of the same factory and are just rebranded?
And most importantly, generally speaking how reliable are these new fangled carbon MTB forks? Has anyone (and I know this is a very relative question) beaten the proverbial !#%$ out of one? Put a lot of rocky and rooty fast, technical miles on one of these suckers? Ridden the likes of Porcupine Rim, Galen’s Surprise, Monarch Crest? Ringwood and so on. Will I live to tell the tale? Should I invest in additional medical insurance to accompany my new light and nimble front end? Why does Keith Bontrager's old adage 'Light, cheep strong pick two' echo in my head when I descend on this thing?

Mucho Gusto


----------



## stevereeneo (Jul 16, 2007)

Interesting you just posted that - I just picked up a rigid AL fork for $15 from a guy who had one off a Mongoose ... started searching and found this thread

I hope that helps.

S


----------



## woodenpaddler (Aug 2, 2004)

I set up a bike with a Pace carbon fork last year, have ridden some rocky rooty stuff, no real crazy places, but no problems yet. I'm only 150 lb and don't do jumps. You can get canti/v-brake boss adapters for the Pace forks; I'm going to do that setup on another bike. Sorry, no experience with Saso.


----------



## kennethkavanagh (Feb 17, 2008)

Thanks for this feedback,
Following that eloborate tread it does appear that Saso is the manufacturer of the white Bro Rock Solid, what would you guess your aprox. milage on that Pace is so far? Now if I can just hear from someone who is 250 lbs and had put a couple of thousand miles on the 'Rock Solid' or even better the Saso I'll surrender my 'retro paranoia'!


----------



## rockhound (Dec 19, 2005)

Search here on MTBR for SASO, there are other threads.

SASO is the same as White Bros and Origin 8 and Fetish Cycles.

The Mongoose fork has an offset of 31mm, so I'm not certain it is ideal for off-road abuse due to its geometry.


----------



## stevereeneo (Jul 16, 2007)

While it states in the Mongoose stats that the fork has a 31mm offset - I made an attempt to measure it (not exact - but I used a lazer level and digital calipers...) and it was closer to 40mm. Measuring offset is tough (if someone knows a system for this I'd be intersted to hear it) so I may have been off. If the fork crown and dropouts are the same (they look identical on the Fetish website) and the only difference is the AL legs v. Cabon legs I wonder about that 31mm stat... It would be great to chatwith someone at Mongooseto learn more about that fork

I've been using that Mongoose fork on a mtb frame that has was designed with a slack headtube (too slack in my opinion) and it has been great on that frame and improved the sluggish handling I had with a Reba.. 

Steve


----------



## rockhound (Dec 19, 2005)

stevereeneo said:


> If the fork crown and dropouts are the same (they look identical on the Fetish website) and the only difference is the AL legs v. Cabon legs I wonder about that 31mm stat...


They do look identical to the Fetish AL forks. I can't see them making a different crown for the Mongoose Sabrosa.



stevereeneo said:


> It would be great to chatwith someone at Mongooseto learn more about that fork


I emailed Mongoose and was told their Sabrosa fork is similar in design to the White Bros, etc., but the crown was not identical. I emailed them asking abuot the offset specifically and never heard back. Again, I can't see them making a different crown for this bike.


----------



## stevereeneo (Jul 16, 2007)

I thought the same thing and just talked to someone at Mongoose - he was just reading out of a book and he said that they had 31mm of setback. He also said that Mongoose had the fork built specifically for that bike (the Sabrosa)... I still have my doubts. I asked him if he could check into it with the individual who had actually designed the bike and then ordered the forks... he said he'd email me back sometime next week as the guy was in China. We'll see if that happens.

All I know is that the fork (spec'd for a 700c wheel) has improved the handling of my Pipedream...

S


----------



## rockhound (Dec 19, 2005)

Keep us posted.

I am currently running my 435mm SASO fork on a 26" bike designed for a 100mm suspension fork (465mm, to be exact) along with a 29" front wheel and tire. That combo should give me the equivalent of having a 466mm front fork.

That would be perfect, but I wonder about how the 31mm offset affects the handling, especially given that most 26" bikes have 38mm of offset and 29ers are now going to 40+ (and possibly more).


----------



## stevereeneo (Jul 16, 2007)

I just got the following reply from Mark at Mongoose regarding the Sabrosa Fork:

"The offset of the fork is 43mm not the 31mm that was listed on the site. We’ll get that updated."

So it is pretty standard fork offset which explains why when I put it on my Pipedream the lower a2c meansurement (than a Reba) increased the HT angle and improved the handling. It may be heavy but it sure weighs a lot...

I just learned that my Monocog Flight 29er has 47mm of fork offset w/ a 71 HT angle!

S


----------



## rockhound (Dec 19, 2005)

Cool, thanks for the info.


----------

