SR Suntour says that their Aion fork is all abut big performance for a not so big price, and with a $550 retail price it comes in at $150 less than their top tier Auron fork. In order to achieve this cost savings the Aion's chassis doesn't get all of the special treatment that the Auron receives, but the two forks do share the same sealed damper cartridge.
There are six different versions of the Aion available, three that fit 29'' wheels and three that fit 27.5'' wheels, along with different levels of damper adjustment throughout the range. The model tested here has their RC damper inside of it that offers external low-speed compression and rebound adjustment, and can be run anywhere between 130mm and 160mm of travel in 10mm steps.
Aion RC Details
• Intended use: trail / all-mountain
• Travel: 150mm (adj. between 130 - 160mm)
• Wheel size: 27.5"
• Stanchion size: 34mm
• Steerer: tapered
• Spring: air
• Damper: sealed cartridge
• Adjustments: low-speed compression, rebound
• Tuneable air volume via trimmable spacer
• Weight: 4lb 9oz (w/ 7.5'' steerer)
• MSRP: $550 USD
ConstructionSR Suntour was able to save a big chunk of money by going with a solid fork crown that has material machined away from its underside, whereas the more expensive Auron sports a hollow crown that likely saves some grams. For the same reason, the stanchions are straight gauge tubes rather than being butted, and the fork is also only available with a tapered steerer tube. The arch is flat, wide, and with none of the honeycomb lattice work to its backside that is seen on pricier options, although there is loads of tire clearance for anyone who likes to run the big meat. The disc brake caliper bolts on via a post mount that will accept 160mm rotors, and SR Suntour says that you can use adaptors to go all the way up to a 200mm rotor if you feel the need.
There are all sorts of clever quick-release thru-axle setups out there, but SR Suntour's is the only one that doesn't require threads on one side of the fork. Their patented Q-Loc 2 thru-axle quick-release system employs a small split wedged section on the opposite side of the lever that expands once it's through the dropout, after which the quick release lever is closed to secure the wheel. Wheel removal requires opening the QR lever just as you would with any other axle, but then you push in the nut on opposite side, which forces the wedges to contract to allow the axle to slide through and out. No spinning of the axle is required as there are no threads.
What's Inside?Our Aion test fork came equipped with SR Suntour's RC damper that, as you probably deduced from its name, allows the rider to adjust low-speed compression and rebound. The former can be tuned via an aluminum knob on the top of the right-side fork leg, and there twenty clicks of adjustment. Rebound can be adjusted with the red dial at the bottom of the same leg, and there are twenty-four clicks of range. The cartridge itself is a sealed unit that SR Suntour does not want users to open, but the idea is that if there is a problem, they will send out a replacement that can be installed in only a few minutes. And while SR Suntour doesn't encourage you to disassemble the damper,
there are countless service videos on their website that cover pretty much everything else you'd ever need to do.
The opposite fork leg is home to the Aion's air spring and a simple coil negative spring that helps to ease the fork into its stroke. Air is adjusted via a schrader valve at the top of the leg, which is simple enough, but volume adjustments on our early 2015 test fork required trimming an elastomer spacer that's located on the underside of the fork cap - easy to do, but not as slick as thread-in spacers. SR Suntour knew that had to change, though, so all Aions now come with a much nicer puck-style system that sees the spacers snap into place on top of each other. Travel is altered 10mm at a time between 130 and 160mm by way of a spacer system that is much more streamlined than SR Suntour's older push-pin setup.
Riding the AionAir Spring Performance - The Aion's stroke isn't quite as supple and smooth as much pricier forks, but it's hard to fault the Suntour slider for its action relative to its $550 USD price tag. Sure, it doesn't have the special coatings and friction reducing efforts employed inside of forks that cost twice as much, but it's as active as any more expensive fork from just a few years ago, which is to say that I doubt any rider but the most perceptive would notice the difference if you were to aim them into a swatch of roots with a blindfold on. Side-by-side, yes, you might note that the Aion just isn't quite as eager to slip into its travel as a brand new FOX or RockShox fork that costs nearly a thousand dollars, but the difference in the real world, where so many people don't even wipe the grime away from their fork's dust wipers, let alone perform a rebuild on a semi-regular basis, is negligible.
It is that sort of real world setting where the Aion surprised most, though, as the fork felt as slippery and smooth after months of use as it did when new. The Aion's general lack of neediness has to be one of its greatest strengths. It just works, day in and day out, without a change in its abilities. No stickiness, no loss in damping capacity, and no creaky noises from the fork crown and stanchion tube junction.
The fork's air spring is also well-tuned for most riders, providing neither too much nor too little ramp-up through the later stages of its stroke. You do have the ability to alter this by way of snap-in spacers, and the Aion comes with two installed and another in the box if you need more progression. However, our early production test fork featured a trimmable volume spacer that was meant to do the same job, but anyone considering an Aion will find the new spacer system used instead. This is a very good thing as the trimmable spacer is a pretty rudimentary way to go about it.
Chassis Performance - The Aion's 34mm stanchions and 15mm thru-axle make for a fork chassis that's going to be more than torsionally rigid enough for pretty much any rider. A FOX 36, with its burlier chassis and added heft, has it beat, but that's to be expected. It does compare well with the FOX 34 that is more in line with the Aion's intentions, though, and anyone looking for a fork in this travel bracket won't find the SR Suntour slider to be a noodle in the slightest. Unless the scale is telling you that you're deep into the 200lb range, I doubt that you'll have anything to complain about when it comes to flex.
Suntour came up with their own 15mm thru-axle design that they've christened Q-Loc 2, which is a pretty slick setup as long as you know how to use it. We struggled for awhile because the expanding wedges would get caught on lips inside of the hub and keep it from sliding out, but it turned out that we weren't locking the wedges into place before trying to remove the axle. To do this, you simply push the nut in to contract the wedges as per normal, but the missing step was to rotate the nut 1/4 turn to hold them down. That step wasn't obvious at first, but SR Suntour will be applying a sticker to aftermarket forks that explain how the Q Loc 2 axle works.
Damper Performance - You don't need to go to an expensive restaurant to find great tasting food, and, as it turns out, you also don't need to spend a thousand dollars to get yourself a fork with respectable damping abilities. Sure, the Aion's sealed damper isn't a RockShox Charger or FOX FIT unit, and discerning riders who are coming off either of those might note that the SR Suntour fork doesn't quite offer the same ground-tracking performance, but it is bloody close. Close enough, in fact, that I'd argue that the large majority of average riders wouldn't feel the difference between the two if they weren't allowed to know what they had on the front of their bike. They might have to wear earplugs with their blindfold, though, as the wheezing sound of the damper is going to be a dead giveaway.
There's plenty of low-speed compression to keep the fork under control, and the useable range from full-open to full-closed is wide enough to keep any rider happy, no matter how aggro you think you are. The non-adjustable high-speed circuit didn't feel like it would need to be adjusted anyway, so it'd be grasping to say that this tuning feature was missed. Fade isn't an issue, and the Aion's damper offers 8/10ths of the performance of forks costing twice as much, which is a pretty darn good price-to-performance ratio. The noise, which is the oil passing through the damping circuits, is a little annoying, but I've also said the same thing about FOX's best in the past.
Pinkbike's Take: | It's not quite as polished as more expensive forks, but it's hard to fault the Aion when talking strictly about its on-trail manners. The damper performs well and its air spring doesn't do anything it shouldn't, but, more importantly, it proved to be extremely reliable. Those that play the name game will be missing out if they only consider the more well-known competition at this price point.- Mike Levy |
Visit the high-res gallery for more images from this review
Thanks for all the great comments everyone. Yes the Aion is a pretty great fork even without talking about the price and comparisons to all the other great product that's available now. What a great time to be into MTB.
We are offering these forks and others at a discount currently and for this weekend we have an additional 10% off for the Black Friday Madness.
Just use promo code BFDEAL at the time of checkout.
emarket.srsuntourna.com/collections/enduro-all-mountain
Cheers, SR SUNTOUR NORTH AMERICA
Bangin' fork, though. Sure, everyone'd like to have top-notch gear, but 80% of the performance for half the price doesn't sound... ahem... half bad.
I actually think it would make sense for them the release a 26" version as well and this doesn't have anything to do with trying to be cool. People telling you this probably are on bigger wheels and keep their minds busy about what's cool and what's not. More so than those just riding 26" as that's what they have. See, if you're getting a new bike or frame now it will probably be designed for 27.5" or 29". And with all these new standards, chances are people just get a complete bike. Bikes nowadays come with pretty good suspension. No need to swap it out unless you're really particular about your suspension and still bought that complete bike. But then if your are, are you actually going to replace the OEM fork for a Suntour fork? On the other hand, someone riding an older bike and willing to upgrade (or simply destroyed the fork beyond repair) is going to need a 26" fork. Those are more likely to go for a Suntour rather than a more expensive Fox fork.
That said, does it make such a huge difference in fork length (axle to crown and offset) to get a 27.5" fork instead of 26"?
Fox do their 36 in straight steerer and 26, I got my son a RS SID RCT3 straight steerer 26 brand new.
Manitou Mattoc Expert
Marzocchi 350 R (assuming it isn't being discontinued under the new bosses)
Rock Shox Yari
Fox 34 Performance line
etc.
It would be cool if Pinkbike did a mtbr.com shootout type article with value oriented forks, possible multiple riders riding the same set of bikes mounted with a selection of forks over a weekend in Whistler.
I've ridden RS, Fox, Marzo and Manitou. SR Suntour is right there with them, especially if you consider the value of the forks as a whole.Those who write off Suntour based on name alone are fools, frankly.
See the places to put on a wrench? It looks like a threaded two piece damper. Probably with a compression shim stack and a rebound shim stack. So it can be tuned to ones riding style. Comes with spacers so you can change how the air spring ramps up. Bonus.
I have to Live with the fact that most modern forks will be tapered and not fit my old frame. Personally i bloody hate tapered head tubes. I have never seen a fork rip off a head tube. Remember gusset ? Did the job just fine .
You can't say this fork performs looks ke a thousand dollar fork nope. But you did say that blindfolded you probably would not notice the difference.
I have a Durolux rear shock. It works awesome on my vintage spesh enduro.
I quote: "...solid fork crown that has material machined away from its underside..."
No it ain't... that is a stamped crown, no material was machined off. And in case you might be thinkin' that they were referring to their own stuff: they have to fabricate / weld / install a boss to make that shape that would would also not be machined away... I'm jussayin...
It's a pain in the *ss find these forks to sell online. Here in Brazil, almost impossible.
But.. deals are out there all the time on the "big" name brands too. I just bought a 15' fox 36 float rc2 brand new from backcountry for 499$ shipped. I think they are selling pikes right now for 550.. I was seeing the x fusion sweep for 3/400 bucks a while ago.