# Coil or Air Front Suspension?



## Scorol (Jul 21, 2017)

Hello,

In need of advice, i'm looking for upgrading my salsa with new fork.
and i'm still not sure about which is better coil or air for long distance/all terrain traveling bike. 

cheers
S


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## bsieb (Aug 23, 2003)

Coil will have a more buttery ride, air will weigh less.


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## Scorol (Jul 21, 2017)

thanks 

but what about carrying weight up front?, and maintenance?


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## bsieb (Aug 23, 2003)

Air is more tuneable, coil is lower maintenance. 

I use a rigid steel fork because it's more convenient for bikepacking, run softish 2.4 x 29er tires in place of a mechanical fork. Mostly a matter of choices, it all works.


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## Swissam (Apr 8, 2008)

Scorol said:


> thanks
> 
> but what about carrying weight up front?, and maintenance?


I am currently looking into this as well as I am looking into the build for my next bike. 
The problem at the moment is the lack of coil forks on the market. But thats all changing thanks to EWS riders prefering coil so now every manufacturer is coming out with coil forks, MRP, Cane Creek, DVO, etc. 
The second problem is the spring weight. Going from your normal rides to bikepacking rides means you will have to change out the spring to match rider weight plus gear. So you will need two different springs. At the moment air would be better as you can just add a few more PSI. The only coil option thats not yet available would be whatever DVO comes out with. I've already talked to them and even though they didnt give me all the details they did say their coil fork will be similar to the iconic Marzocchi 55 rc3 evo. They wouldnt say if its open bath or not but they did say it will come with air preload which will help with the different weight issues, like starting out on a fully loaded bike full of food and water and then getting lighter as you consume your load weight. 
ATM coil is not a good option IMHO unless this fork will only be used for bikepacking or you dont mind having multiple springs and changing them out depending on needs/weight.


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## mikeetheviking (Jan 27, 2015)

I have used a Rock Shox basic 29er fork “coil type” on my Krampus. I filed the arch to fit 29+
I installed the “heavy duty spring” 
It is SLIGHTLY heavier than an air shock.
But has performed flawlessly for every day use including VERY loaded down bikepacking with 200oz of water on board and a 230 lb rider.
I think either option is fine.
The air shock will require more maintenance and is not as bulletproof as a coil type or a lauf in the backcountry.


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## leeboh (Aug 5, 2011)

Scorol said:


> Hello,
> 
> In need of advice, i'm looking for upgrading my salsa with new fork.
> and i'm still not sure about which is better coil or air for long distance/all terrain traveling bike.
> ...


 Which bike? Current fork, intended usage/terrain? Got rid of my wet noodle reba and put the rigid steel fork back on the Karate Monkey. That with a 35 mm rim/ 3" tire will work great for my uses.


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## kpdemello (May 3, 2010)

^^ Reba is a great fork. It's pretty easy to maintain, too.

Coil is better than air in every way, except for two things: 1) it weighs more, and 2) it is a bit more difficult to change the setup because it involves physically swapping springs rather than changing air pressure.

Coil will be easier to maintain, more reliable, more robust, and provide a better ride. You will likely pay about a 500g (1lb) weight penalty, which on the front of the bike, kind of feels like a lot. That's the main reason you see them mostly on bigger DH or enduro bikes.

I run air forks on all my bikes except my DH bike, which weighs close to 40 lbs. I prefer less weight up front on my all mountain/xc setups and I like having the ability to easily and more precisely tune them to my wants for those long rides. But nothing rides like the coil fork on my DH bike in big gnar.

TL, DR - get a Reba and be done with it.


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## leeboh (Aug 5, 2011)

^^^ MY Reba was bought used, spindly fork legs. at least 10 years old. I'm 235 lbs, plus full gear and say 20 lbs on the bar bag. With a 180 mm disc and some bumpy double track, was flexing back enough so the fender was hitting the under downtube bottle. YIKES. Way too much weight for that xc set up.


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## kpdemello (May 3, 2010)

I've only had experience with the newer ones, like '15-'17. That's a lot of weight though, and I imagine the older rebas were built lighter.


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## evdog (Mar 18, 2007)

If you are loading your bike up with all kinds of gear an extra half pound weight for a coil fork isn't going to be very noticeable. 

Personally I have air forks on all my bikes now. They work fine for bikepacking, and as mentioned you just add a bit more air pressure to deal with the extra load. Air forks are reliable enough now you don't need to worry about them much.


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