450 Miles on the SR Suntour Epicon 29"

I committed to switching to big wheels this season and it's been awesome. The 27.5" (650b) platform was easy to get the hang of but the 29" wheels eluded me. So I scrambled to together a Spark 900 (or 29'r) and thanks to SR Suntour I received an Epicon 29" 100mm fork to complete the bike. I've done a lot of fork testing in my time and I was excited to try something new but I have to admit I had my reservations about the brand. Those were short lived. The fork is absolutely worthy in the performance department and it's easy maintenance are a bonus.

Durability- After 450 miles of testing I am happy to report that it's been care free in regards to maintaining constant air pressure. I have never had to re-adjust the pressure once I had sag set. So the air system is bomber. The seals have never had a drop of oil weep past the wipers. Because the wiper seals have remained dry there has been no dust build up around the wiper, one of the most common reasons for contamination. The type of tolerances needed to have proper bushing and seal alignment to the point of no oil weeping past the wipers is very precision. It instills confidence in SR Suntour's Quality Control when I see that kind of performance in the field. The fork has been tested in the fine red dirt of Utah as well as sandy conditions in Idaho, the only conditions I've not experienced is the wet of the NW so I cannot speak for those.

Performance- I hate making brand comparisons, but this fork feels like a really good FOX Float. It has no real widgets to speak of except the rebound knob and the remote lock out so it's simple performance, but it's the simplicity that is so nice. No crazy platforms to overcome, or high and low speed compression to tune in, everything is already pre-tuned. And let's face it, on a 100mm fork who needs two compression knobs. I really never even used the lockout because the fork tune was good.

Comments- The QR axle made me crazy, mostly because all of my front hubs are DT Swiss. The floating spacer in a DT Swiss hub renders the axle system "not so quick". The end cap has to be depressed a second time upon removal of the axle to clear the second bearing and that requires a long stick or something to poke inside the hub. Luckily I'm using Tubeless tires and never suffered a front flat over the course of 450 miles so it never became an issue on the trail but in the shop or when using a roof rack it was a bummer. So... Don't use the fork with a DT hub.

Summary- I think SR Suntour has upped their game significantly with this product, they have some excellent riders racing the product so for sure they are worth taking a look at. They also happen to be the manufacturer of other brands forks so you may not know it but you might already be riding an SR Suntour fork. At $475 dollars it is one of the lowest price forks you can get with the performance of a higher end product.