Review: Suntour Auron RC fork

The Auron is Suntour’s 34mm stanchioned entry in the enduro market, a 27.5 fork in a few damper configurations and travel lengths, topping out at 160mm. This is a basic RC damper with low speed rebound and compression clickers, a slick QR thru-axle, forged hollow crown, and magnesium lowers, adding up to 4.1 pounds with a cut steerer.

Competition is stiff in this segment, with the Fox 34 and darn near perfect RockShox Pike owning most of the market. I’m happy to report this fork plays in the same league on all levels: steering stiffness, damping adjustments and ride quality.

Note: This review originally appeared in Issue #175. To make sure you read all the latest product reviews, order a subscription.

The air spring is easy to set up and the compression and rebound only took a few tries to get just right. Though it could feel a bit harsh in the beginning and into the mid-stoke (where the Pike has spoiled me), it always felt well controlled, and invited more speed and bigger hits. The easily swappable cartridge damper handled repeated hits, stutter bumps and drops without a blink.

The Q-Loc-2 axle uses an expanding collet instead of threads to secure the wheel to the fork, and a quick push and twist locks the collet down for wheel removal with no unthreading. Installation can be a little more finicky, but once I got the hang of it, it is far faster than anything else out there. My only complaint? A very loud squish from the rebound circuit, which could be distracting when really working the fork over repeated hits at high speed. Yes, it really is loud enough to complain about.

The $700 Suntour Auron is a serious performer more than capable of going head to head with the big boys, at a lower price point. Its controlled ride is well suited to the high speeds of racing but a little more plushness would make it a killer trail bike fork as well.