LUTU 26/27.5/29 Air MTB Suspension Fork, Rebound Adjust Straight Tube 28.6mm QR 9mm Travel 120mm Manual/Crown Lockout Mountain Bike Forks, Ultralight Gas Shock XC Bicycle

This is a one year review since installing this Lutu Fork for my daughter's Trek Marlin 6 mountain bike. Bottom Line Up Front: I cannot complain. Great purchase, good product for the money. _____________________________________________________________________ My son and I own high-end mountain bikes and we use them on rough terrain. I do all the maintenance myself for both bicycles and motorcycles in our garage. My daughter is only mildly interested in mountain biking. Therefore, the Trek Marlin 6 suited her needs. However, bikes in this "entry level" category come with cheap suspension forks. In this case, the ubiquitous Suntour XCT spring forks. This OEM fork sucked. It had 100mm of suspension travel, but it moved only 25 - 30mm. It also leaked black oil constantly. The worst aspect was its heavy weight. My daughter was unable to jump or lift the front end over obstacles. My son and I tried riding her bike, and we confirmed that the bike was too "front-heavy" with this Suntour fork. Enter the Lutu Fork. I ordered the Lutu fork with 27.5" tire clearance with gold/orange anodized fork finish. The fork arrived fast, in a typical Amazon manner. The product appeared really nice. The overall design was a direct copy of a 2015 Fox Evolution 32 fork. The fork sliders had anodized markers and numbers a la RockShox so that you could adjust and set the sag. Installation: Everything fit just fine. I had a minor difficulty with adjusting the disc brake caliper onto the fork. You just have to have patience. Make sure that the disc rotor and brake pads have enough clearance. I torqued the brake caliper mounting bolts to Fox Fork and Shimano torque data. The ride: What a significant improvement of the ride and handling! The Suntour fork was very heavy. It could be used as a boat anchor. The Lutu fork was just as light as Fox or RockShox fork. Therefore, lifting the front end over obstacles became easier (safer). I was skeptical about the long term ownership of this rather cheaply priced Lutu fork. Therefore, I waited over one year for this review. My son and I "borrowed" my daughter's bike for some thrashing sessions. So far, so good. The air has not leaked to date. There is a minor oil leak every once in a while. However, this is too minor to degrade my rating. Overall, this was an excellent purchase. In the future, if this fork does wear out, I will not rebuild it. I will simply purchase another Lutu fork if necessary. ____________________________________________________________ Caution: Remember that this is a straight steer tube (not tapered), with QR drop outs (not thru-axle). You must purchase a "star nut" separately - this is cheap. You must re-use the "headset crown race" off of the original fork. The steer tube is full length; you might want to cut the steer tube. (my daughter preferred the higher handlebar height, so we did not cut the steer tube) If you do not understand these words of caution, I recommend that you seek help from a professional bike mechanic. Otherwise, you can research on YouTube for 'how to' videos. Again, overall, this fork replacement was very easy. You CAN do it.

Compared to the heavy coil-spring, ginormous Zoom shock that came with the bike, this Lutu shock is fantastic! It shaved about 3 pounds off of the total weight of the bike, and the ride quality is so much better that it is like riding a totally different (and better) bike. It is fully adjustable, including recoil adjustment which is not usually found at this price range. The lockout works just right, just enough movement to eat up tiny bumps. I don't have a scale to weigh it, but it is very light. About 3 pounds less than the shock it replaced. I can't speak for longevity. I have only put about 100 miles on it, on easy turf. This might be an issue too, as air shock do need some maintenance at certain intervals, and that maintenance often calls for replacement seals which might not be available for these shocks The 'brand name' brands like Rockshox, Manitou and Fox have parts available for service...but that service goes for $100 to $200...which could be more than the price of this shock. If this shock blows up, I will probably buy a Fox, and by that time I will probably have upgraded the whole bike to something that better suits a $500+ fork. I consider this fork a great interim solution, to learn why an expensive fork is useful and to get better at riding MTB.

For a little over $100 I can’t complain. I’m 230 lbs and mostly ride my DIY E-bike on walking paths and road. So there’s no big jumps or anything. This fork is REALLY lightweight, especially compared to the fork that came in my Hyper 29er. It hasn’t exploded or anything. I’ve hit some really big potholes and bumps and it’s saved me from going over the bars. For the cost it’s more than adequate. Remember it’s no $500 RockShock. So don’t expect to use it on downhill racing. It’s does what it’s intended to do, make your ride smoother. It may have a bit more play than expensive forks, but tolerable. Over 2 years, 6000 miles and still going strong.

The stanchions on my Fox Talas RL fork finally wore out on my 2010 26” Specialized Stumpjumper Expert. A comparable replacement fork was more than the bike is worth. The Talas RL is a 140-120-100 and most of the less expensive 26” forks are 100. I didn’t want to compromise the geometry of the bike so I wanted at least a 120. The other challenge was would another fork work on the bike. The existing crown race and bearings were in good shape and fit perfectly on the Lutu fork. The Avid Elixir brake caliper bolted on without any modification and the rotor and brake pads lined up perfectly. The fork is solid and has plenty of adjustments to dial it in to my liking. The yellow warning stickers were a little unnerving, but the shock performs well when riding technical trails. The ride feel is comparable to the Talas although the Talas is a little more responsive on the bumps. Not sure how I will service the fork, but I will cross that trail when I get there. My only complaint is the compression adjustment dial is different than what was pictured. I would prefer a dial that says Compression rather than ABS, but the dial works fine. Overall a great fork for the money if you want to upgrade to an air shock or keep an older bike going.

Installed on my old bike replacing an old steel suntour fork. I immediately noticed the messy cut/finish of the mounts for the brake caliper. It looked like someone cut it with a hacksaw. My old fork looked like it was milled flat. After mounting the old shimano hydraulic brake calipers on I discovered that the shimano brake rotor was bottoming out and touching the top of the caliper housing. I replaced the rotor with a no brand name one that was a bit smaller and I was able to get it to work.

My bike had a Suntour coil fork that was as basic as they come. It was mainly for small bumps and road riding. I'm into riding XC trails (the reason you get a mountain bike) more than on the road so I was looking for a better front fork. Upgrading to air suspension was the only way to go. Trusting your front suspension/steering to something cheap is usually not the way to go. The Bucklos air fork may be cheap in price, but it is not cheap in quality. Once installed, the difference could be felt immediately. I had so much more control over my bike and the ride was more comfortable. With rebound and damper control I was able to adjust this fork to my riding. Installation is not the easiest, so if you aren't familiar with things like this, take it to a bike shop or someone who knows what they are doing. You do need to cut the tube to length to fit your riding. Sometimes upgrading a bike is much more financially responsible than purchasing a new bike. Converting to an air fork is a must in my opinion. If you are worried about the cost reflecting the quality, have no fear. This fork definately holds up to the tests the trail will give.

I was skeptical when ordering, but for the cheap price, I figured it was worth a try... I was wrong. Not worth the try. Out of the box, everything looked great! Parts look sturdy and ready for some good rides. The problems started after install. I used the weight and psi matrix to determine the ideal pressure, but I was never able to achieve psi greater than 40. This is a problem, as the forks were never able to sustain my weight. Shortly after this, I found a puddle of oil under my bike. Any time I try to add pressure, more oil comes out of the seals.

Good very hard to find 26 inch fork! Also use on 24 inch trike.