SR SUNTOUR DUROLUX38 R2C2 FORK

£799.20 www.greyville.co.uk

The DUROLUX38 R2C2 is SR Suntour’s burly all-mountain/enduro fork, offering features similar to those found on Fox and RockShox’s top offerings, at a much lower price. These include externally-adjustable high and low-speed compression (C2) and rebound (R2) damping, lower-leg bleed valves (which double up as oil injectors), a self-equalising air spring and burly 38mm stanchions, to help you tackle the roughest trails and biggest hits.

So, what’s the catch? It’s a little stocky, at 2,586g in 170mm-travel guise. Initially, our fork also felt incredibly sluggish, with very slow compression and rebound. After a couple of rides without improvement, we stripped it down to investigate, and discovered the fork had come supplied with no lower-leg oil. Its foam rings were lubed and its seals greased, though.

After a lower-leg service and the addition of some suspension oil for lubrication, the DUROLUX38 finally came to life and we found ourselves impressed. The fork initiates its travel smoothly and has good beginning-stroke sensitivity, so handles small stutter bumps and highfrequency vibrations well, minimising the amount of trail buzz felt through the grips. In this regard, performance is on par with many high-end forks. That smooth breakaway gives confidence in the corners, where it allows the front wheel to track well and keep the tyre biting into the dirt.

Mid-stroke support is well-balanced, providing enough ride height to inspire confidence when the trails get steep, without being so firm that the fork ramps up early and becomes harsh. However, to get this feel, we had to run the high- and low-speed rebound and compression circuits fully open, so there is room for improvement in damper performance. We recommend budgeting for a service and custom tune. The only harshness was over square-edged holes or dug-out roots, where there was more of a spike than with a Fox GRIP2 damper, for example.

End-stroke progression builds smoothly but was a little firm for our 76kg tester (running 62psi in the air spring and with the stock three volume spacers left in place). While we struggled to use the final 10mm of travel, we chose not to remove any spacers because we liked the mid-stroke support.

Handling is direct but not harsh, and we never felt the DUROLUX38 fatiguing us any more than other forks with 38mm stanchions. It holds a line well and never feels vague when trying to get your front wheel where you want it. We were confident charging on this fork, and it dealt with everything we could throw at it. While we definitely recommend a service and tune from new, that’ll still leave it cheaper than many forks with equal performance levels. Luke

A fork with impressive performance for the price that rivals far more expensive models, but factor in a service/tune