There’s a good chance that most veteran cyclists have ridden with one component or another made by SR Suntour. The current brand has been around since 1987 when Sakae Ringyo Company bought out Sun Tour to become SR Suntour. They’ve been making MTB suspension forks since 1995, with magnesium fork production beginning in 1997. Additionally, if you ride a DVO fork, it was made at the SR Suntour factory.
Today SR Suntour produces one of the widest ranges of forks and shocks on the market, with squishy bits for department store kids’ bikes produced alongside the massive dual crown pillars at the helm of Tracey Hannah’s Polygon. We recently received their top long-travel trail fork to test and promptly mounted it on a 160mm Santa Cruz Megatower.
With retail prices starting at $629.97, the Durolux36 is the most affordable fork on the market by a long shot, though it includes features comparable to squishers twice its price. Structurally, the fork has a hollow magnesium crown to cut weight, 36mm anodized aluminum stanchions, magnesium lowers, and a unique titanium axle system on top models. It also comes with one of the longest and most effective integrated fenders on the market, so save your zip-ties.
Apart from the Fox GRIP2 damper, the R2C2 PCS damper in the Durolux36 is the only one we’ve tested that offers both low and high-speed rebound damping, along with both knobs on the compression end. Folks who prefer fewer external adjustments on their suspension can go with the RC2 PCS or RC PCS damper options. After a couple of laps on the fork, the compression and rebound ranges feel broad enough to dial this thing in to any trail or riding style.
Hollow magnesium crown on the top two models The 70g Q-Loc skewer makes wheel changes faster
On the wind side, the fork’s air spring has a fairly standard twin chamber system with an air transfer port called The Equalizer to maintain proper pressure between the positive and negative chambers. Both chambers are filled via one Schrader valve, and volume spacers can be added to the positive chamber to prevent harsh bottom-outs.
The SR Suntour Durolux36 comes in a 29″ length with a choice of three different dampers, a 44 or 51mm offset, and internally adjustable travel between 150, 160, and 170mm. The 27.5″ model includes the same damper selection, though the lowers are only available with a 44mm offset and the travel bumps up to the 160, 170, and 180mm range.
If you have any questions about the Durolux36 that you would like us to address during our testing period please post them in the comments below. We will do our best to answer them, or we’ll ask SR Suntour for their technical input.
