This $130 MTB Air Fork works great until it doesn’t 

I"m so glad that you will be giving Suntour products a decent run in future videos instead of beating on their least expensive offerings. That seems important for educating new riders.

I put one of these forks on my 12 year old son's bike and it has worked flawlessly for his riding. Most spring forks are too stiff for light riders, this fits the bill perfectly for them.

Just like you mentioned, the suntours will bend bcoz they have steel steerer tubes which is also why they are heavy, they will bend but it will allow you to get home...those balony forks tho have been known to snap at the stanchions...i am not sure tho if they have addressed that issue with these new versions. The prices are also a lot different, the balony retails for around $80-90 here in Asia...the xcr air around $120 but i guess shipping them to the US is more expnsive than frpm Taiwan to us neighbor countries

As this is a budget build, I think it would be interesting to make a cost rundown at the end, to get a reference vs other entry bikes from major MTB companies. (Edit : typos)

When you settle on a 'this is good enough' upgraded build of this bike, you should total it all up and see what you can find on the new and used market around that price and see how they compare.

Those Bolany, ZTZ, Lutu, and Bucklos forks seem to use the same parts. I had a Bucklos air fork for my 90lb son. It was smooth out of the box, but it got lots of stiction after 1 trail ride. I tried regreasing the stantions but that only helped for a really short time. The stiction is even too much for little kids and exasperates the small bumps. If going budget fork, go for the Suntour air fork. My old Epixon is still working flawless and smooth as ever...I did regrease the stantions and oil the foam rings and put 5ml of oil in the air chamber. It feels smoother than my Rockshox 35 Gold.

Dude, your cinematography on this video was awesome. You could definitely make some cool short films in the future!😉

I just put that Microshift derailleur on one of my bikes, and it has been fantastic! If you are just a weekend warrior who does primarily intermediate riding, save some money over the Shimano/SRAM alternatives and look at Microshift.

Here in Philippines, the Bolany forks are cost around 2,000 Philippine pesos higher, ( almost like 34 US dollars higher ) but there is alot of rumours that it can break easily around the crown arch.

The Bolany fork might not be a good choice for extremely technical, tough downhill like you put it through. BUT, for the price, it's probably good upgrade for someone doing light XC and mostly green trail riding. I'm sure it soaks up the bumps a lot better than a spring fork.

I miss the trail building videos!! When are we gonna see more of that?

Seth, I threw one of these Balogna forks on the wife's Diamondback Lux and it stayed for less than 2 miles around the neighborhood. During normal light braking to slow down for a 4 way stop, the fork lower and upper juddered uncontrollably. I did a full tear down and rebuild thinking it was maybe just a loose top cap or seal somewhere. Nope. Just terribly fitted seals. Returned and threw on a $200 Manitou Markhor. Completely day and night difference for the better.

my canyon stoic came with one of the beefier xcr's and its handled everything I've thrown at it although it might be a bit heavy it definitely gives me more confidence than the cheap amazon fork i had on another bike

Today I covered over 8,000 km with this shock absorber. Go for it without servicing. I only cleaned the shavings with a cloth and sprayed some silicone from above onto the seals. After winter riding, the gold anode began to come off the leg where the fork works. But it's not the fork's fault, it's the snow and salt on the roads. I have it installed in a 500w electric bike. My weight is between 75 and 80 kg. The fork also survived many trips with panniers and luggage on the handlebar. For this price, if it falls apart, I will gladly buy another one just like it.

That final xcr 32 came with my bike, I thought I'd swap it straight away but 18 months later and I can't fault it, rock shox equivalent would be a little lighter but can't fault the performance!

Seth putting his life on the line to test a 130$ amazon fork for us 😂

Yeah you aren't the only one to say the fork has a lot more stiction after that ride. The fork doesn't have a foam ring under the dust wipers to keep it from moving smoothly. And honestly no matter how many times you service that fork even after every ride, the paint on the stanchions will wear off and show the bare metal. The dust wipers while they do work, they still let in dirt since it's not the tightest fit. I did everything to keep that Chinese fork running smooth and again it's not going to last. Im only 125lbs and don't ride that hard but I still wouldn't mind pushing the fork a bit beyond it's limit like we all gotta break the rules at some point to have a little extra fun. But anyways, glad to see you replaced the fork with something better🤙

I’m loving the b-roll with Oscar, such a cute French bulldogs

Love to see these budget builds. Not all of us can afford 5k bikes every 6 months like you see all of these people doing. I myself have done a VERY similar build on an old DB hardtail and I DO ride it on just about everything except large jumps. My budget air fork has held up at bike parks and everywhere else. Very impressed with the difference between it and the suntour coil that used to be on it. That coil fork was junk and failed almost immediately (or maybe I'm just too hard on it). If I have one complaint about the budget fork it is this, the amount of flex it has when doing extreme riding scares the hell outta me. Granted, I do not have some tremendous amount of experience with a bunch of different forks like Seth to know how much flex is considered "normal". If you are riding greens then a budget air fork is a great upgrade for you. But if you are doing more blues and blacks then I would strongly suggest getting something maybe a bit more expensive that HOPEFULLY will be stronger, even though I myself have done these with my budget air fork and it didn't kill me... yet... Pray for me boys 😆

4:10 I swear the beat and his words had me thinking he bout to spit some fire

1:24 dog thought: "I got nothin to do with this wonton destruction of perfectly good equipment"

Love the fact that Seth is using mm as a unit of measurement. Much more scientific and accurate, not to mention easier to understand.

The kent is dope with the amazon fork and all the other upgrades. You've made the best out of the "worst" parts. Cheapest dropper next?

Just went hiking in Pisgah for the first time this weekend! Was awesome to experience your neck of the woods, so pretty especially this time of year.

Good to see the xcr air. I've been running it for 2 years on an upgraded rockhopper and it's been fantastic

Very interesting series, been following since the beginning and def interested to see how that "upgraded" Suntour fork performs compared to the Balogna. Since I know this is a popular series, I think after the fork upgrade, you should put on a nice set of reasonably priced, wider rimmed wheels, something in the i30-35 range and maybe try fitting some 2.6" tyres in that thing, especially in the back,

Just in case nobody has meantioned this, the zoom hydraulic brakes, these are the same ones that come on many higher end electric scooters. When I was doing research and looking at options, these are the exact ones that came on most, and are on the one I ended up picking up. This is a scooter that can do 64km/h, front and rear suspension (though it's only basic coil suspension with no rebound) and duel motors.

The best episodes of Top Gear were with cheap cars and I feel that energy here Obviously support your local bike shop if you can but cost is the barrier of entry for new riders and an actual cheap bike being taken out and given real world usage/upgrades is hugely entertaining/inspiring for budget minded riders (like myself)

2:08 instantly reminded me of another youtuber... "Hi my name is Seth, welcome back to smarter every ride" 😉

My 6th grader started Nica this year so I built up his used trek Marlin with micro-advent 10 speed-buklos 1x cranks-zoom brakes Not a bad ride for under$500 all in

Ty for the video Seth n_n Love the Ken trouvaill videos lol

That was a great vid! My son rides my old ‘Trek 3500’ bike (the fork has had it’s day). I may look for a new fork for it. 👍

Love the content and some great trails. Might run into you one day on them!

To keep with the budget upgrades, I think you should buy some CST BFT 2.4’s on it. Should help a lot with grip 🤞

You can get an idea by the way the smeash weight jumps back up, as to wich one performed better. It is not a quantitative measurement, but the fork with less rebound had more plastic deformation going on.

Excellent vid Seth! I hope Walmart are watching this and put all these components together on a new bike for less than we can buy them all individually for 🙏🏼🙏🏼

Awesome video, stoked to see the Suntour installed too. One thing though, can you start selling hats? I'd totally rock a berm peak hat.

I think there is still a problem with the smasher rig. If you look closely at the slow motion you'll see the fork deflects enough to actually hit the base, which will stop the steering tube or the stanchion to bridge? connections from bending. If the clamps holding the fork where higher off the floor board I think both forks might come off a lot worse. The Bolany fork being much more flexible would likely hit the base sooner and spring back with equal force applied compared to the suntour, but if it was allowed to move freely, it would likely deflect to failure on the first hit.

Bennet's Gap is a excellent choice for fork testing!

Man, I do like product reviews, talking about parts and stuff. I'm retired with some big injuries from my youth and spend a lot of time building bikes now cause it hurts to ride with Gusto. Sometimes I think we all might be a little nuts cause it seems to be great fun to many of us to buy stuff and see if we can tear it up. I stand at the front of the line, so do not think I am talking down to ANYONE, I am just reflecting on past behavior. But if we use parts wisely and inside reasonable parameters, you can build great budget bikes. I bought a Schwinn Taff for the frame and for $1400 total, I got a great bike with parts I wanted. Underscore parts I wanted cause this is a big deal. Schwinn could do better and should build some damn good bikes instead of frames I'd like to build. If down the road you have trouble with a part, fine, there's new stuff all the time. Buy parts on your skill lever and use intent, use them up, break 'um, get the new stuff. Sorry, my brain runs over. Peaceout!!

I have one of these. Not a super gnarly rider, and keep my wheels on the ground. It performs great. I do use an oil to lube/clean the seals one-in-a-while.

Big props for riding Bennett Gap on a hardtail… from Walmart.

Loved the ending with Oscar. ASMR, Oscar eating grass.

its relatively normal for new(er) wheels to go a bit out of wack a few weeks after purchase because of the spokes not being set fully. after trueing wheels you can usualy hear some minor metalic clicks from a select few spokes during a testdrive because the spokes have to set again.

like the long sleeve camo Berm Peak jersey

lmfao idk why but the dog B roll is killin me

Technically, for the Suntour upgrade program you mentioned, you don't need to trade the fork in. You get a discount on a new fork just for having the serial number. They don't require you to send the fork back to them.

Oscar's definitely lovin' the grass😁

Hey Seth, on videos like this where you ride on a trail, would you consider putting the name of the trail and its general location in the video description? I live fairly close to you and would love to go on some of the trails I see in your videos. Thanks!

Two years ago, I bought a very similar fork from amazon to upgrade a KTM hardtail I've been riding for around six years or so. The Suntour coil fork that came with it was on its very last legs and no amount of cleaning and servicing I was doing was able to save it. I don't use the bike for trails quite as gnarly as in this video, but I ride it in all conditions, all troughout the year and have never noticed any degredation. Just kept it clean and lubed. But for trails like in this video or harder, I would always take my more higher end bike.

I would say that the fork stiffened up after the ride because there are no wiper seals to keep any of the crud out.

I have that derailuer on my mtb and it has treated me well

The XCR air is actually decent, but it is heavy. With a little more money you can get a Raidon (or even better Epixon), which is much lighter fork

Interesting to think about where they will have saved the cost on the bolany fork, it wouldn't surprise me if lots of the internal components had much rougher surface finishes compared to name brand forks because proper high quality finishing for sliding components can be pretty expensive. Would certainly explain the rapid wear on it from a single ride

I wish Amazon existed in my country. I'm on a very low budget looking for a new fork because I currently have a 80mm zoom coil fork, and that amazon one seems to be perfect.

Amazing videos, thank You for the detailed part reviews !

Love the channel, birthdays on the 12th!

Commenting on every video till we get it. "A little bit different, but kinda the same." I vote🖐 to make it into merch. I'd buy it

Unrelated bike note: Drama was being EXTRA cute this video he kept looking right at the camera! Such a little ham😍😍

900k soon 🤩👏🔥

One type of model of the Bolany forks is that the orange stanchions actually break from a foot jump. I think there is a video of it where it breaks. Kinda scarry

It is ridiculous how easy you made Bennett look with that bike!

This video could have been the dog eating grass the whole time and I still would have watched

the new background music is lit

That advent derailleur is amazing. 60 bucks for shimano deore quality of shifting and clutch is mint. but I can't attest to the strength of the material as I haven't smashed it on anything yet

2:06 is the kind of stuff I am here for lol

Suntour makes more than just low end suspension. My Aion and DVO Diamond(😋) performs pretty damn well!

0:54 Fanfare for the Common Man

Oscar at the end of the videos 😍😍😍

Yup Seth is about to be a Professional Cross Country Bike racer

Ahahaha, that Snake Pit shirt is epic. I love it.

i'm just gonna assume the suntour is a little bit safer over time. the balogna like you said might snap and cause the rider to get injured. and to be fair i don't know much about bikes but i know that i would not be riding one if i felt unsafe on it.

You should make rails on the side to keep the weight in place. Just like a gelatine

Gratuitous Oscar shots are 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

This is actually one of the more common budget fork here in the Philippines and also the Montainpeak X1 fork

Definitely want that shirt, probably going to buy an SR Suntour air fork for my Giant Talon it has a 100m coil fork rn.

Would be good to compare the total cost of the bike and upgrades vs buying a complete for the same money. A big name like Trek and maybe a direct sales brand like YT or canyon. Could compare at various points of the upgrade to see where it stops being economical to upgrade

Next we need a bend test on fox factory 40 kashima coat.

This is the Philippines National Downhill Freeride Fork!

Sr suntour got steel legs and that amazon fork got probly aluminium legs so after working and heating up legs changed diameter by little bit and thats why stiction is higher

I’m a little bit new to mountain biking, but wouldn’t it be a good idea to have a chain guide for the front sprocket? Seems like it would be good insurance to prevent you from smashing your nuts on the crossbar when the chain falls off.

Glad we didn't get the oscar throw-up from the grass eating... but loving the oscar asmr (dogs/cats eat grass to make themselves throw up, if got a sore tummy)

No post-ride tear down of the forks to see if there’s any obvious reasons for the performance degradation?

Your dog is awesome

If possible you should try these against the similar-ish Manitou Markhor

I know this video was really about the fork but the title “I rode Bennett Gap on a Walmart hard tail and survived.” would’ve been great.

You should review the cane creek suspension stem

From the nail clip. I thought it was a "Ball-O-Gina" fork haha

Hey Seth, When will we see the Epixon adjusted to 140mm travel shreding your trails?

Wiggle sells the octane one 29er frameset for 149 plus 40 shipping. That may be a better option , since you’re just replacing all the parts anyway.

I know what trails Seth is riding. I would be terrified to ride that bike at trail speed there!

I am a service manager at a bicycle shop, do not ever get ZOOM hydrologic brakes there are way better also cost effective options Shimano has a amazing front and rear set for $40

$130 fork? It's cheaper than my XTR pedals! Sounds like a great value to me.

I thought it had a tapered steerer tube? Was it just the frame that looks that way? Great video's though thankyou!

You need to do something with the weight, the second impact will have serious effect on the data, the test are inconsistent now, the weight can bounce up and hit the fork again, it can hit only one leg, it can jump out of the way and not hit it for the second time.

It's one thing to compare cheap fork with other cheap forks on the 'Smaesher' but you need to have a control measurement too. Like... a Fox 38 or RockShox Zeb or something as a control standard. If all the forks are bending at the steerer tube rather than the stanchions... What are you **really** measuring here?

Seth you should glue a piece of plywood or something to the bottom of the weight so it’s a bit more accurate

I took a stock kent trouvaile to berm park, had the chain drop 3 times, but other than that it held up!

I use bolany in my fat bike for xc use its good for xc riding

Any suggestions on a budget friendly, internally routed, dropper post? The one that came on my bike is starting to wear out.