# SASO carbon fork micro-review



## fatdave (May 10, 2007)

Found a SASO fork on ebay, and since I've read that they are made in the same factory as White Bros. and others, I figured I'd give it a try. The price was $175, which is a lot cheaper than the WB. My bike is a Raleigh XXIX -- I wanted to see how it would feel with carbon instead of steel fork. 

So, I rode my usual after work loop (china camp, if you are familiar with the sf bay area trails), on Monday with the steel fork, and yesterday with the carbon. Holy crap! I really did notice a difference. It is sort of like having some suspension -- the bumps are much more rounded. When climbing, I notice things felt a bit softer. But, when going downhill is when I really felt the difference. I almost high-sided several turns before figuring out I was actually going faster than it felt. Even on those braking-bumps, that tend to make it hard to control coming into the faster turns, the carbon seems to eat up some of the harshness. 

Ok, now I have no idea how durable it will be. And, it was only my first ride, but this has to be the best $175 I could have spent. Oh -- I didn't weigh the stock fork, but the bike must be at least 1 pound lighter. Probably more.

Anyone else running one of these? How are they for durability?


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## disease (Nov 27, 2007)

If you look carefully at the dropouts on almost every carbon rigid fork, you will fnd that they are identical. Do a search on Ebay, and compare the results. I suspect that they are all produced in the same Taiwanese factory. I like the look of the Exotic Carbon forks, and have considered buying one. Since your fork is virtually identical, I appreciate the review. Please post a follow up review.


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## fatdave (May 10, 2007)

They do all look pretty much the same. I agree -- from what I've read they are all made in the same factory. One thing I don't like is that my fork had canti bosses on it, in addition to the disk mount. But, the canti mounts seem to be glued on, so they have to stay. That is a very small complaint, but I'd have preferred them to be removable. 

I weighed the XXIX steel fork, and it weighed a respectable 1.3 Kg. The SASO claimed weight is about 800, so it does shave a solid pound off the bike's weight.


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## Ryan G. (Aug 13, 2004)

dave how long did it take to get shipped from overseas?

been running rigid on my bike, taking it out to CC on Saturday for some of the backside to see how it does. At Tamrancho enjoyed it, until Wagon Wheel.


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## fatdave (May 10, 2007)

I found it on ebay -- Neil who posts on MTBR (not sure what his nick is -- maybe mtbykerniel?) had some. He lives here in the US, and I got it in just a couple days. Very nice! I'm not sure if he had more of them, but I'll ask him.

I've not done the backside at CC before, but the climb on the paved road up to the Nike site is a bit too steep for me, even with my sissy 32x22 gearing on the SS  I save that for my geared bike. But, on the rest of CC, the rigid is fine. The carbon makes it pretty nice -- I honestly felt the little rocky sections on the bay view and echo trails were noticeably smoother.


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## firefighterdirt (Dec 15, 2007)

I have 3 of those forks from mtbyker's Ebay store. 1 on my XXIX, 1 on my Rocky Mountain Blizzard converted to a SS 69er, and my son is running one on his Niner EMD.
It makes my XXIX ride so much smoother. 
They look just like my White Bros Rock Solid that I used on my MCR9.
I'm 225 lbs and my son is 210 lbs and the forks are holding up great.
http://stores.ebay.com/mtbyker-bikes-and-parts


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