Pinkbike Awards 2015: Best Value Product Winner
SR Suntour Aion Fork
If you've ever worked at a bike shop, then you've no doubt seen the look of disbelief that passes over the face of a potential customer when they're told the price of that shiny carbon fiber bike in the window. Once the initial shock subsides, the next line out of their mouth is almost always, “But it doesn't even have an engine...” or “I could buy a ---- for that much.” It's a completely understandable reaction – mountain biking is an expensive sport, and it's not uncommon for the highest end models in a company's line to hover around the five-figure mark. That doesn't mean there aren't good values to be had, though, and today's mid-level bikes are lighter and ride better than the top-of-the-line bikes from just a few seasons ago.
The same thing goes for components, and while there are multi-thousand dollar wheelsets and drivetrains, there are still plenty of good values worthy of recognition, which was how Pinkbike's Best Value award came into being. This year's finalists included a clever new water bottle from Fabric, a wide-range ten-speed cassette from Praxis, and SR Suntour's new Aion fork. All of them offer an excellent price-to-performance ratio, but it was the SR Suntour Aion and its $500 USD price that emerged victorious.
SR Suntour Aion Fork
With 34mm stanchions, externally adjustable low speed compression and rebound, plus the ability to adjust the amount of ramp up at the end of its stroke, the list of the Aion's features wouldn't be out of place on a fork that costs hundreds of dollars more. A lower price is all well and good, but it's the Aion's on trail manners that sweeten the deal.
Sure, it may be a little louder on the rebound stroke, and not quite as supple as more expensive competitors, but it's still a very effective fork that should provide multiple seasons worth of reliable performance, all while requiring minimal maintenance. Less maintenance means more time to ride, and that's always a good thing. For trail and all-mountain riders on a budget that don't want to be held back by their equipment, the Aion delivers, and for that it earns the title of Pinkbike's Best Value Product for 2015.
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Thanks for all the positive feedback on this. We are very happy to be awarded another PinkBike Award.
The Aion has proven to be a solid workhorse of a fork, and one that we think most would be happy to have as an upgrade to their stock 32mm chassis fork or have something that is simple and requires little maintenance throughout the year and just smiles for miles!
We have them in stock
emarket.srsuntourna.com/collections/enduro-all-mountain
Cheers.
I know myself and some others would appreciate an opportunity to upgrade their old run down forks.
Unfortunately the 27.5 and 29 platforms on all mid to high end bikes utilize a tapered steering column. These fork's were solely designed to accommodate bikes of the last few years and future designs.
We have continued to manufacture the Durolux in a straight steering column (and to boot a 20mm axle for all you non 15mm believers out there) and sales for it are relatively low to non-existent. This is why we continue to manufacture and design product for the future of mtbing.
Maybe if we funded a kick starter campaign people could actually put their money down instead of just talking about it and we could see where it would go but until then we have the data to back up what is currently selling in the market and what people are actually spending their hard earn green backs on!
Cheers.
Howzit from cape town!
I like that and the same could be done for 26" wheels/tires/frames.
Congrats Suntour!... BTW any chance to fit an Öhlins cartridge into your chassis? Alright, alright, just asking ok?!
The Sektor U-Turn is now full of Revelation parts.
@SSNA-WERX Does SunTour have a listed of trusted and recommended retailers that we could safely buy SunTour forks from?
Hmm. That's pretty weird. Maybe you were talking to another business.
You can buy SR SUNTOUR manufactured stuff right from us on our website.
emarket.srsuntourna.com
We even ship for free for orders over $450.00 world wide. Not sure why you would have been told to by from Asia....
Thank you for that link, I'll keep it bookmarked!
When I was going through this issue a few years back the URL you provided today had not yet been established.
I'm currently building an AM bike and now that I have found a safe place to order a SR.S fork(supplied URL), I just might. Prices are pretty good! I like the thought of having a fork with an HQ not to far from me; that's if SR.S is still in Vancouver, WA?
Also worth noting that today's mid-level bikes costabout as much as a top-of-the-line bike from just a few seasons ago.
Even if I had the money I would only spend €2000 on the bike and use the other €10,000 to travel around the world and shred the sickest trails ever on that bike. Good times are more important than good bikes (not that a €2000 bike isn't good)
www.srsuntour-cycling.com/contact/worldwide-distributors
Methinks maybe you people might wanna invest in an [experienced] sales person.
Prolly start with a manager, that way he can build a contact list of North American retailers.
Then you could have him hire some inside/outside sales personnel, which he can draw up territories for, then
have them start cold-calling said North American retailers in their individual area(s).
Might wanna also think about getting your product(s) in with the other wholesale distributors as well, as not every retailer uses QBP
Best value waterbottle
Best value cassette
Best value trail fork
Best value enduro fork
Best value downhil fork
Best value cable guide clips and/or zip ties
And on and on and on the list would go.
It is simply saying which 3 items represent the best value overall for what they provide. Pretty obvious.
You were stuck under a rock, or smoked too much dope as a kid if you don't get that
PB are collectively a group of MO-rons, or Suntour pays and Sram doesn't.
To not even list GX as a contender, and then list that worthless cassette that's not even a deal makes me think
'nominations' for this contest are paid for with cAshE
The aion is just such an incredible price point and makes sense for an xc bike. The durolux is extremely stout on the bike I use.
P.S. The updated graphics and looks are great!!!
Products like this does lower the cost of build kits for new bikes which is good for entry level builds. And I like seeing the suntour brand out there again.