F1RST Fork

30+ mm of stanchion sticking out even without air ???

showing the whole fork without air

120+mm of stanchion after pumping 90PSI of air

I bought this fork for 280SGD. There, I've said it. But that fact is in no way an apology for this fork's shortcomings. I just want you to keep this in mind when you read this review.

Ok, on to the review. This fork has been with my On-One Inbred since the beginning. At that time, my RockShox Recon was on my full-sus. So I went to a bikeshop that I frequent in Kallang and asked around for a cheap, 100mm air fork. So those are the three criteria for this fork : cheap, 100mm and air fork.

After having the fork fixed on my bike, I went home with it and 'parked' it beside my full-sus that has a 100mm Recon. Once side by side with a known 100mm fork, I realised this F1RST fork is 120mm!

I was very happy when I thought I got an unexpected windfall. I only paid for a 100mm fork but I got a 120mm fork. So I pumped this fork with 80PSI of air and started using it. I have been using this fork on rides at T15 setup like this and I was very satisfied. In all honesty, I can't find any difference between the F1RST and my Recon.

So, after a few weeks I thought to myself maybe I could make this fork more flush by decreasing the pressure to 50PSI since I have 120mm of travel anyway, right? WRONG! After decreasing the pressure, I find that there is something wrong with the way it rides. I just can't put my finger on it....

I then started looking closely at the fork. There was a sticker on the left, inner leg of the fork that says this fork is 100mm. So I decided to release all the air from the fork and start from an empty chamber.... To my surprise, when all the air has gone, there was still around 30mm of stanchion sticking out! I have released all air from my Recon before and there was no stanchion sticking out. I pumped 90PSI into the fork. I then measured the stanchion and got around 120mm or 123mm! So 123mm - 30mm = 93mm!

This brought back memories of the Exustar shoes that I bought :-( At first I was happy that I paid for a 100mm fork but got 120mm when in reality I only got a 93mm fork !!!

Ok, enough with the stanchions. This fork has a lock out at the top of the right leg which sees a lot of usage since this is the bike I use for trainings at Mt. Faber. Said lock out also serves as a pedal platform. In between fully open and full lock, you can set the amount of pedal platfrom. Using pedal platform (which also exists on my Recon) really works. This can not be said for my Recon which is double the price of the F1RST. It also has a rebound knob on the bottom of the right leg. Let's just say that the pedal platform knob works a lot better than the rebound bottom. Having said that, I am still able to find the right rebound setting (for me) without any problems.

Summary : the fork is cheap, it is light, it is reasonably stiff but I don't know what to say about the 120mm long stanchion that provides 93mm of travel.... at any rate, I ride simple trails and I don't think I will reach the limits of this fork. In fact, even with the funny stanchions, I would still recommend this fork to someone who is on a tight budget but wants an air fork for the adjustability it offers.