# SR Suntour XCR 24" coil fork - lighter springs or upgrade to XCR air?



## zuuds (Jan 30, 2004)

I have a Diamondback Sync'R 24 on the way for my son. I was considering the Spawn Yama Jama, but out the door the Spawn would be $1,250, and with the corporate discount the Sync'R was $610 out the door. 

The Sync'R It comes with the SR Suntour XCR 24" coil fork. In browsing some threads, I read that the coil spring is way too heavy duty and kids can't compress it all the way. Has anyone found a lighter duty coil spring to swap into this fork in order to get full travel out of it? 

I'm aware of the Suntour upgrade program, I could get an XCR air, but that's another $150 down the rabbit hole. Curious to hear people's experiences have with the coil fork, if you have upgraded to the air fork, and whether the performance upgrade was worth the cost.


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## the.vault (Oct 11, 2006)

Has the bike shown up yet? Do you have different feelings about the fork now that you have it?


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## svinyard (Aug 14, 2017)

Get rid of the coil. I've played with nearly all of them and they aren't great. Pretty much the same fork as the Walmart forks. They only work a little and are heavy as all get.


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## SactoGeoff (Aug 11, 2017)

The XCR Air is just okay. Huge leap better than a coil spring jobber. It's a step in the right direction. But an RST F1rst would be ideal. It will function much much better. The XFusion fork on the YamaJama is a good portion of why I purchased the bike. That fork is solid.


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## zuuds (Jan 30, 2004)

the.vault said:


> Has the bike shown up yet? Do you have different feelings about the fork now that you have it?


It showed up, and as I suspected the coil spring is waaaaaaaaaay to stiff. With the preload backed all the way out, the most I can make it compress (by pushing down as hard as I can) is 50mm. I doubt a kid would get more than 20mm travel out of it on the trail. On Suntour's website, they sell lighter springs for some other forks, I emailed them to see if they would fit, or if they have lighter springs for this particular fork, and they never responded to me.



svinyard said:


> Get rid of the coil. I've played with nearly all of them and they aren't great. Pretty much the same fork as the Walmart forks. They only work a little and are heavy as all get.


You hit the nail on the head!



SactoGeoff said:


> The XCR Air is just okay. Huge leap better than a coil spring jobber. It's a step in the right direction. But an RST F1rst would be ideal. It will function much much better. The XFusion fork on the YamaJama is a good portion of why I purchased the bike. That fork is solid.


I think you're right. I'm actually returning my Sync'R and getting a YamaJama. Although the YamaJama is 2X the cost, it's a better investment because it will be handed down to my two other kids once my oldest outgrows it.


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## SactoGeoff (Aug 11, 2017)

Good call. For what it's worth, the YamaJama is durable enough to survive 3 kids too.


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## svinyard (Aug 14, 2017)

zuuds said:


> It showed up, and as I suspected the coil spring is waaaaaaaaaay to stiff. With the preload backed all the way out, the most I can make it compress (by pushing down as hard as I can) is 50mm. I doubt a kid would get more than 20mm travel out of it on the trail. On Suntour's website, they sell lighter springs for some other forks, I emailed them to see if they would fit, or if they have lighter springs for this particular fork, and they never responded to me.
> 
> You hit the nail on the head!
> 
> I think you're right. I'm actually returning my Sync'R and getting a YamaJama. Although the YamaJama is 2X the cost, it's a better investment because it will be handed down to my two other kids once my oldest outgrows it.


Ha, yeah man. You only cry once and then it's all downhill from there (the good kind of downhill)!


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## Spectre (Jan 23, 2004)

For kids, the XCR Air works pretty well. It's just too much work to get a coil fork to actually work as just about all of them seem to be built only to provide the appearance of having a suspension fork without really doing much.

The damping of the XCR Air is not so sophisticated but at kids' lighter weight, the fork seems to provide sufficient rebound damping. Compared to the RST F1rst, the benefit of the XCR Air is that you can get service from SR Suntour in the US (They are based in Vancouver, WA).


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