One of the selling features of the Suntour Epicon X2 is the fact that it can be set to one of four different travel lengths. This is useful if you want to replace your fork but are not sure whether to replace with the same travel or whether to try something longer (or shorter).

SR Suntour Epicon X2 Fork @ 140 mm
SR Suntour Epicon X2 Fork @ 140 mm

The travel adjustment isn’t a simple switch on the outside of the fork though so you will need to get your tools out and take your fork to pieces to do it. Don’t let this put you off though as with the right tools, a bit of patience and care you should be able to sort it fairly easily.

My Epicon was delivered set to 140 mm which considering my old fork supplied with the bike was 100 mm, is significantly longer. I decided that moving up to 140 mm would change the geometry of the bike a bit too much. Potentially it could even put too much additional strain on the frame’s headtube too, but I did fancy slackening the head angle a little by fitting a longer travel fork so I decided to set my Epicon X2 to 120 mm.

Of course I still have the option to change back to 140 mm if I fancy trying even more travel or even dropping down to 100 mm matching the XCR fork that I’ve taken off. I believe that having the option is a good thing, even if you don’t end up needing/using it.

If your fork is already fitted to your bike then fortunately there’s no need to remove it to make this adjustment. If you prefer to then feel free to remove the fork and also if you are adjusting it before first fitting like I am then it’s sensible to do this before fitting it to the bike. You will however need to remove your front wheel so let start there, if you can’t do that without instruction then maybe you should leave the fork for now

The air valve - go on push in that pin!
The air valve – go on push in that pin!

You will also need to let all the air out if the fork, so twist off the cap labelled air and let the air out of the fork by depressing the central pin of the valve located under the cap. The cap should simply unscrew in the usual anti-clockwise manner. You can let the air out before or after you take off the wheel, it shouldn’t make any difference.

Rebound on the left, hex bolt on the right
Rebound on the left, hex bolt on the right

Now you need to access the bottom of the fork so a work stand or turning the bike over will help. On the bottom of the fork legs you will have a rebound dial on one side and an Allen head bolt on the other. Pull off the red rebound adjuster and carefully remove the little o-ring on the shaft beneath. Put these safely in a pot or tray so that you can’t loose them.

Then unscrew the bolt on the other side so that there’s a few mm of exposed thread. Next take a soft headed hammer (plastic, rubber or soft wood – Wooden Mallet) and tap the head of the bolt firmly. This is to gently loosen the lower legs of the fork so that they will slide off with a minimal effort. You can now remove the bolt completely and place it in the safe keeping pot. There should be no need to tap the rebound adjuster side with the hammer.

Unscrewing the travel adjustment shaft
Unscrewing the travel adjustment shaft

On one side of the fork you will see a cap with flats for a spanner, from my picture it looks like a 23 or 24 mm spanner will fit although I just used a large adjustable. Unscrew this cap from the stantion and you will be able to withdraw a shaft from inside that has a spring around it. You can take this shaft out completely from the stantion.

Shaft with travel adjustment collar and pin holes
Shaft with travel adjustment collar and pin holes

You can now pull back the spring to revel a set of holes that go through the shaft a black plastic collar attached to the shaft. There is a pin that goes through the collar and locates the collar on the shaft. These holes represent 80 mm, 100 mm, 120 mm, and 140 mm, with 140 mm being at the end of the shaft and where my collar is fitted in the picture above. To change the travel you just remove the pin and slide the collar to a new hole on the shaft.

Removing the pin can be difficult though and it’s very important not to use something sharp or with a point. Preferably use a pin punch/driver like one of these – Faithfull Pin Punch Set as this will make a firm even contact with the pin to push it out without damage. You place the punch onto the pin and hit the butt of the punch with a suitable mallet – Wooden Mallet. If you damage the pin then your £200 fork is rendered useless by the lack of a relatively tiny piece of metal. You can probably get a replacement pin from SR Suntour but it’s best not to need to!

Once you’ve moved the collar to your required travel position then you just need to rebuild the fork in the reverse of how you took it to bits. Hopefully you used a pot to keep all the screws and o-ring etc together like I suggested and you should have it back together in no time. Make sure to put some light grease on the shaft before you put it back and also on all screw threads to help keep out moisture. And like all nuts and screws, don’t over-tighten, there is no need.

Finally, fit your fork back onto your bike if you need to, pop the wheel back on and then pump up with some air. I’m only running around 70 psi in my fork, but then I am quite lightweight. The maximum pressure is 180 psi according to the user guide. Once you’ve got all this done it’s time to get out and ride and of course enjoy yourself.