Giant escape fork

[Piemaster]

Any reason I can't / shouldn't fit a suspension fork to my Giant Escape M0 for a bit more comfort. has a rigid (CroMo?) at the moment.
I find myself increasingly leisure cycling on disused rail tracks and farm type tracks.
Any suggestions for a fork? I thinking short travel and as light as possible as its main use will be still be city / communting

TIA

 

[barq]

There's no show-stopping problem that I can think of, but you are right to think in terms of short-travel: you don't want to mess with the fork length too much because it will wreck the handling of the bike. You'll want to check that you have a 1 1/8" diameter steerer on your existing fork (removed headset top cap and measure), other sizes are rare and will limit your choice of forks. Also be aware that sticking suspension forks on a frame will almost certainly void the warranty. One final word of caution is that thieves will be more attracted to a bike with suspension so keep that in mind. (That's all I can think of, phew!)

Do you have a price in mind for your suspension fork?

 

[Zoiders]

Suspension not needed IMHO

I blast down the towpaths on a rigid XC bike with 1.25 slicks on, grips ok and is more than comfortable enough, thats for me though, you may be looking for something a bit more sedate

 

[Piemaster]

Thanks for the replies. A little history might be in order..... I bought a Giant XTC last year (with semi-slicks) and loved it for the 3 - 4 months I owned it before some scrote stole it. So I'm very aware of the pitfall of theft, for want of a better phrase 'bling' that suspension brings. Thanks for the reminder anyway barq.
This was part the reason for the change to the Escape, as well as more road orientated gearing as I found myself running out of gears on the XTC regularly and still wanting more speed. I only do sedate if I've got wife/kids out with me. Escape takes full mudguards as well, hopefully making it a bit less desirable. 'grandaddy'
Budget? I'm thinking rockshox Dart2 (or that area) with lockout.

I've also got wiggle web page on another tab and am starting to think "those Focus bikes get decent reviews. Wouldn't be that much more over the price of a decent fork for a Fat Boy. Could do some more demanding trails then......"
No. Stop it. Now.

 

[simonali]

How about a carbon fork? Might be able to pick up an old Pace RC31 cheap, either in stores or on fleabay?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/PACE-RC31-Carbon-Rigid-MTB-Forks-Disc-V-Brake-AS-NEW_W0QQitemZ270214397938

 

[barq]

Budget? I'm thinking rockshox Dart2 (or that area) with lockout.

I can't comment specifically on the RS Dart 2, but Rockshox have seriously upped their game this last year or so. You aren't going to get anything particularly light for that price range, but the coil suspension should feel plush and the 80mm travel sounds wisely conservative. I'm sure you will notice a big difference compared to rigid (and IIRC alu forks). If the farm tracks you are planning to ride are anything like my local ones I'm sure a bit of suspension will be very welcome.

Personally I'm quite a fan of lockout (especially for hill climbing), but I know other people who end up not bothering.

Are you planning on swapping the forks yourself, or getting an LBS to do it?

PS Sorry to hear about your last bike being nicked - it is incredibly annoying when that happens.

 

[Piemaster]

It's not only the tracks that are poor around here. Some of the roads aren't much better. Contrator that resurfaced some roads last year got it wrong so the surface is now breaking up. They are going to redo it but not till it warms up for some technical reason.
I'll get the LBS to fit the fork. I got the bike (well both bikes - grrr.. ) from them. They were very sympathetic when first one was stolen and gave a discount on second one.