Front Fork?

I just bought an new Marin DH frame with 10.5" of travel. My problem is that I'm not sure what to put on the front end. A friend has a FOEs which is nice but I'm leaning towards the Manitou Dorado. Any suggestions?

[CouchingTiger]

I suppose that it depends what kind of riding you plan to do. If you are planning to primarily race and can afford to maintain your parts, the Manitou or RockShox forks may be a good choice. The Boxxers are the lightest 7" travel going (of the big 3) but are not the workhorse that any of the Marzocchis are.

If weight is a concern the Marz. Super T is just a hair more then the Boxxer and has a hair less travel but is bombproof. It will just plain work with little or no fuss.

If you are planning to do more freeriding and lots of big drops or if reliability or cost if a concern, I'd stay towars the Marzocchi for sure. The Super T is an excellent fork and the Monster is the standand for big hits bar none as long as weight isn't an issue.

I.M.H.O. stay away from the small makers forks like Stratos, Hannebrink, White Brothers and all the others. They are simply constant work and have little or no inherent reliability.

-Couch

If your runing 10.5 inches of rear wheel travel, I would stay clear of the Super T and go with the Shiver DC. Yes, the Shiver is heavier, but it's also a much stiffer fork and it's a "real" DH fork. The Super is more of a long travel freeride fork and won't give the kind of performance a real DH will.

I've been running a Shiver DC on my DH bike and have had zero problems with it. I've spent a lot of time both freeriding and DH racing with it this season and I very happy with it. It's got 190mm of travel and would be a much better match with your 10.5 inch rear end than the 7inch Super.

Good luck!