# RST Deuce vs Suntour



## 101Surge (Apr 18, 2012)

So most of the bikes in my price range have a suntour fork in them, and everyone seems to want to replace those, so i've been trying to find a bike with a better fork in the price range... I'm running into the cannondales with the RST Deuce 29 fork, however these are 80mm instead of the 100mm on the Suntours... does this make it actually a worse fork than the suntour?


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## mtnbiker72 (Jan 22, 2007)

Suntour makes a wide range of forks so it is impossible to say if the Deuce is a better or worse choice unless you provide the model of the Suntour fork you're comparing to. And you cannot judge the quality of a fork purely on travel either.


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## 101Surge (Apr 18, 2012)

Most of the bikes Im looking at have the suntour XCT29 with lockout. How does that compare to the RST? And I shouldn't be too concerned that the RST is only 80mm than?


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## mtnbiker72 (Jan 22, 2007)

The RST is a better fork than the XCT line from Suntour for several reasons. It uses larger 32mm alloy upper stanchions which will create a stiffer fork (flex wise, not travel). This combined with a 1.5" steerer will make this fork a rock. So while it has 20mm less travel, it will be better quality travel.

The Suntour XCT use smaller steel stanchions so there will be much more flex from this fork. Plus the XCT uses plastic bushings that do not hold up to heavy duty riding (and Suntour openly states that this is a "recreational use only" fork). So even though it has more travel, it is lower quality travel.


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## ghettocop (Jul 26, 2011)

The Deuce is not a bad fork. My wife had one on her last Cannondale.


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## Colo Springs E (Dec 20, 2009)

They both have the 'recreational use only' sticker on them don't they?


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## 101Surge (Apr 18, 2012)

Not sure, what does that even mean? Would they not hold up to the trails?


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## zebrahum (Jun 29, 2005)

101Surge said:


> Not sure, what does that even mean? Would they not hold up to the trails?


It's marketing speak for "this product is cheaply designed so we're putting in a caveat on its usage".

What he's trying to say is that the Deuce is a fork that will last longer and work better than the Suntour you are looking at. My wife is currently beating the hell out of her 120mm Deuce and it has been mostly trouble free throughout the last two and a half years. I don't think I would have felt comfortable with her riding that Suntour over the same period of time.


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## mtnbiker72 (Jan 22, 2007)

The recreational level Suntour forks use plastic bushings that simply will not hold up to heavy duty off-road riding. The RST Duece on the other hand uses good metal bushings that are designed to hold up to solid off-road use. While RST is mostly know for cheap forks (as is Suntour, whom also makes good forks) they do make some solid mid-level forks.


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