[UltimateTherapy offline]

I have a 2011 GF Marlin. My bracket broke on the fork that holds the disc brake. I cannot find any forks that match the G2 offset in local shops or online. My LBS can order a RockSHox Reba RL on the 28th of this month. That means I am out 3 weeks of riding. UNTHINKABLE! Does anybody have any suggestions? I would take spring or air if it gets me riding. I was not really prepared to spend the $500 plus dollars right now so would consider other options.

I have even thought of using an epoxy to hold the broken piece in place until the new shocks are available. Anybody had any experience with that?

[UltimateTherapy offline]

Good news. Won a bid on a Suntour from ebay from an identical bike for $58 bucks. That will hold me over until the new ones are in stock.

[ollysj offline]

You could have used any other fork too. I replaced the G2 Dart2 with a standart Recon on my 26" Marlin and there was no difference in handling

[jmitch offline]

You could have used any other fork too. I replaced the G2 Dart2 with a standart Recon on my 26" Marlin and there was no difference in handling

Me too. In fact I've got a G2 on my "non" G2 Fisher now.

[UltimateTherapy offline]

That is interesting. I wonder if it is more crucitical on a 29er? I spoke with several different shops who all said I had to have the specific G2. If that is not the case, it wil open up my options.

Thanks

[fatlip11 offline]

You may also want to consider one of the Manitou Tower options. I believe it has a 48mm offset which is very close to the 51mm that G2 uses. I have a Tower expert and have been very pleased... much, much better than that Suntour.

[dgaddis offline]

That is interesting. I wonder if it is more crucitical on a 29er? I spoke with several different shops who all said I had to have the specific G2. If that is not the case, it wil open up my options.

Thanks

Well the shop wants to sell you a G2 fork....

It's a few mm of difference. Can you tell riding? Yeah I think so, if all other factors are equal. But you'll adjust really really quickly. The whole rest of the mtn bike world uses non-G2 forks on a range of headtube angles = you'll be fine.

[ollysj offline]

You could have used any other fork too. I replaced the G2 Dart2 with a standart Recon on my 26" Marlin and there was no difference in handling

Me too. In fact I've got a G2 on my "non" G2 Fisher now.

My G2 is now doing it's job in my daughters non-G2 bike

[jtorlando25 offline]

One thing nobody has mentioned here: The G2 offset is in the crown of the fork. You can swap out a non-G2 fork's crown with a G2 crown and vice versa. This opens a whole new realm of fork possibilities for the Fisher bikes.

The LBS can order G2 (and non-G2) crowns for Rock Shox and Fox forks and rebuilt the fork with the new crown (maybe other fork brands as well, I just don't have experience with them.)

With a large discount, I paid $45 for parts and labor to convert my Fox Float to G2...not sure what it would regularly cost.

Forgot to add: if you ride every day, you will notice the difference between the g2 and non-g2 suspension. When I installed the non-g2 fork, I felt like I was going OTB every time I rode. I did not want to adjust my cockpit and I'm not the type of person who can easily adapt to change so I swapped the crown.

[UltimateTherapy offline]

This is great info. The Suntour will be here on Saturday. That should get me back to riding and then I can figure out all the options and not feel so rushed!

Thanks for everybody's comments. Very helpful.

[jmitch offline]

Forgot to mention, my Fisher is a 29er and I've only been MTB'n for 1 year. Maybe that's why I couldn't tell a difference in the forks?? Hmm...

[bsheidler offline]

A fork with more or less offset will change the trail at least slightly, and I suspect that any bike shop might be concerned about liability if you were to make a change -- basically it will make the bike either slightly "twitchier" or else slightly more stable, but harder to turn, depending on which way you go. Whether you notice the difference at all is hard to say.

My experience re changing offset is more with motorcycles than with bicycles, but I don't really see where 29s would be particularly more sensitive to offset changes than would 26ers.

Note that changing offset also will change wheelbase -- so if you are reducing offset (and thus reducing wheelbase, you want to be sure you will have sufficient clearance -- wouldn't want the front tire to contact the down tube on full compression! Though I doubt this would be an issue.