What Fork Do I Want?

[Spokes]

Got no idea these days on where to ask questions like this.

So Ive come back to MTB, well EMTB after arthritis etc has had its way with me. I get a lot of hand/wrist pain on them oh so fun downhillish runs. My bike has a Rockshox 35 gold on it. Thinking a better fork could help me out.

Just fitted some Oneup cardboard fibre bars with some nice ODI grips which have helped.

So if I went out and bought some new forks, what do I want?

[Velocipedestrian]

Coil could help if comfort is required.
What are they going on? Travel?

[Spokes]

Coil could help if comfort is required.
What are they going on? Travel?

Merida EOne sixty. So 160mm.

[Velocipedestrian]

Cane Creek does the Helm in coil as a stock option. Or the Marzocchi Z1, MRP Ribbon...
Beyond those you're probably looking at a conversion kit for coil.

Dougal can no doubt tell you all about tuning the Manitou Mezzer spring for comfort.

[AgrAde]

The most comfortable fork I've ridden is the Mattoc. Combined with Dougal's support, a Manitou might be hard to look past if you're really trying to get the most comfort.

I really enjoyed the Helm, but I had a number of failures in both my air spring and damper. Would not buy again.

Having owned both the Helm coil and air forks, I wouldn't bother with coil. The air was better.

It's hard to overstate the importance of using a decent sized tire with a sidewall that suits your riding, and running it tubeless and at the right pressure. My bike is harsh with a light single ply tire in the front because I have to run a little too much pressure to keep it stable. It's harsh with a heavy dual ply because the sidewall is too stiff. It's smooth with an armoured mid-weight tire because it all balances out with the pressure I run and the terrain I ride. The heavy dual ply in the back is comfy for the same reason.