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White Bros. Groove Race Fork
September 12, 2007Published by kakahHow much do you really need? If you didn't have 40mm stanctions or 8" of travel would you be able to go just as fast or send it just as big? What if I said you could loose a minimum of a full pound of weight off the front of your bike?
Enter the White Brothers Groove Race fork. 7" of travel, 32mm stanction tubes and weighing in at 5.2lbs! Can it compete with other bigger and badder forks out there and is it the right fork for you? Read On.... Just like most things in our sport, there are three or four big names pumping out large quantities of (good working) suspension. Those guys have a huge range of forks to cover everything you would want to do on your bike. But just like most things in the bike world, there are a host of smaller companies manufacturing their own goods and coming up with some great original parts. White Brothers is one of those companies that are doing it themselves. While being a small fish in a big pond has its drawbacks, it also has some benefits. White Bros. is able to produce some unique forks, that while they may not be perfect for everyone, it may be exactly what you are looking for. How about a 4" travel dual crown fork specifically made for tandem bikes, a large selection of forks for 29" wheeled bikes including a 5" travel version, a recumbent fork and xc forks that use a Intelligent Magnetic Valve (IMV) to control suspension action. More importantly for most of our readers here on Pinkbike they also make three different DH forks. The Groove 200 and Groove 180 are both inverted forks with seven and eight inches of travel but the fork that really caught my eye is the Groove Race.  How much do we really need? Is more of everything always better? What ever happened to those huge 12" long padded seats we all wanted for our bikes back in 1998? I ponder the first two questions whenever I'm on my bike and was thinking the same thing when I opened the box that held the White Bros. Groove Race DH fork. First things first....This thing is really light. I was lucky enough to get my hands on a 2008 Race that is even lighter than the '07 version. Would you believe 5.2lbs for this 7" travel fork? Believe it because it's true. Weight is not everything but just for the record, that is nearly a pound lighter than RockShox's top offering and more then a pound lighter then the big M's air sprung fork. Counting grams will make one crazy but if I am going to shed a full pound off my bike I would especially like it to come off the front of my bike. Grams were obviously near the top of the list for the boys at White Bros. when designing this fork and they have made quite the effort. There is no excess material anywhere of the diminutive black fork. The lowers have been pared down to only what is needed to get the job done and the two sides are joined by an equally compact fork arch. The anodized black flat crowns are deceiving until you peer from underneath to see the large machined recess's on each side. They have even gone as far as to equip it stock with hollow stainless steel pinch bolts in all places except the 20mm axle pinch bolts. That is attention to detail folks. Another nice touch is the laser etched logos on the lower legs as we all know that is one place where decals don't last. One thing I couldn't find in my box though was some fork bumpers. It's easy enough to make something up, but I found it odd considering it's a mandatory item with dual crown forks.  When you look at the specs you can see the Groove Race is not following any trends in suspension. The norm is 8" of travel for most DH forks but the Groove Race comes to the ring with 7" of action. In the past I've felt more comfortable on slightly shorter forks and the Race doesn't disappoint with a axle-to-crown measurement of only 554mm. The 32mm 2000 series aluminum stanctions are of comparable size to other forks on the market but it is the stance of the Groove Race that gives it its undersized stature. In an effort to keeps things light and stiff they have actually reduced the total width of the fork to keep it from flexing torsionally. At first I thought this doesn't make sense but if you think about it there is a point where the farther the legs are apart the more they will flex. Despite the narrow lines there is still plenty of mud clearance with large DH tires and the offset built into the crowns gives you a super tight turning radius.  Those aren't stickers, kids I've been told it's what's inside that counts and I think that the only place that applies is with suspension! The left leg is the sprung side of the fork while the right does the damping duties. While the fork is air sprung and easily filled using the schrader valve on top of the left leg, there is a negative spring deep down inside to help it into its travel. The right leg does the damping duties and the Race is controlled by way of an open-bath damper that uses a sprung check-valve to regulate both rebound and compression. White Bros. have used a novel Derlin piston head that they say better isolates the rebound reservoir in the lower section of the aluminum damper. All big words aside, once I had everything stripped and cleaned it looked to be a very simple and well thought out system. Looking at the inner workings of the Race I couldn't picture anything malfunctioning, something I can't say of todays uber-adjustable and sometimes overly complicated forks. Speaking of adjustments, you only have a few. First, dial in your spring rate with a shock pump at the top of the left leg. Next step is to choose the amount of rebound damping you'll want using the removable aluminum adjuster at the base of the right leg. You only have 2 3/4 turns so start with small adjustments and end with even smaller ones to dial it in. There is also a schrader valve under the anodized red cap on top of the damping (right) leg. Pumping a small amount of air into the damping leg will affect the damper and increase both compression damping and overall spring rate. If you feel you need more compression damping add a few psi to the right leg and then readjust (release some psi) the pressure in the left leg to keep a similar spring rate.
I was super excited to get this thing on my bike and give it a good thrashing. Actually I was too excited for my own good and managed to run into two road blocks before I even got out onto the dirt. The first problem looks to be a small tolerance control issue. Once I had installed my front wheel into the fork I discovered that there was no way in hell my rotor bolts were going to clear the inside of the lower leg. There is a small channel machined into the foot of the fork that is presumably there for this very issue but it just didn't look like enough material was removed. I am blessed to be doing this at a shop with a grinder so within 10 minutes I had some *cough* custom *cough* rotor bolts done up with lower profile heads. The problem was solved quickly but I can see it being a bigger issue for someone without access to a grinder. I should also mention that despite "industry standards", there are also small differances from hub to hub regarding the disc flange. I tried two differant hubs with no luck but that may have also played a part. The second issue was entirely caused by me being too tired and too eager to ride. The rebound adjust uses a removable insert (similar to a Boxxer) that is aluminum. When rushing to turn the bit I managed to snap the light aluminum adjustment knob. Not the end of the world as the dial uses a regular 4mm allen key at the end so I could still do what I needed while the polite folks at White Bros. mailed me a replacement that I received very quickly. What I did learn though is this fork is not for the ham fisted (like me...) or for those who may be really rough on their gear. At 5.2lbs, obviously things have been paired down and you need to remember that. It is built to serve a purpose and that purpose is not hucking, chucking or letting your 13 year old nephew fiddle with the dials.  The offending area. Most of what you see was already machined into the leg. I had to remove about the thickness of a business cards worth of aluminum Once I got past those initial issues and had a chance to step back and see how it looked I was pretty pumped. Instead of what I think is an overbearing and comical look of some of today's forks, the Race looked like it was perfect for the job. Not too much and not too little. Before leaving the shop I settled on 85 psi in the left leg, 0 psi in the damper side and 3/4 of a turn from ret (fully closed/clockwise) for rebound damping. 85psi seemed a touch stiff but I'd rather start there than too soft. My rebound settings on most setups are notoriously slow but I had a hard time getting the fork to return at the speed I wanted it to. With only 2 and 3/4 turns to play with and nearly all of the usable range only at the last full turn I found it tricky. The fork also felt quite sticky at first, which is usually the case with brand new forks, but it seemed a touch worse then I would have expected. Most of the people I ride with were convinced that the smaller then average size of the Groove Race would hold the fork back when ridden aggressively. Actually, the opposite was true. I removed just over two pounds by bolting up the Race and made a noticeable difference on the hill. Not only did the bike feel more playful, the low weight of my front end pretty much let me put my front tire wherever I felt it needed to be. And listen up, it was just as stiff as anything else I've been on. The 32mm stanctin tubes are the same size as a Boxxer and it felt just as rigid. I'm not a big guy but I can get myself into situations where a flexy fork would be felt and at no point during the test did I feel any deflection. There are some of you larger (or more aggressive) folks out there that swear by bigger forks and if that's you then you may be able to squeeze some give out of the Groove Race. At 178.5lbs I couldn't. With fork length being so critical to a bike's handling, the 554mm axle-crown length was a huge plus and no doubt aided by the Race being one 1" shorter in the travel department. I am a firm believer of having 7" of travel on a DH fork for most situations. I think we would all be surprised to find that many big name World Cup riders run with 7" travel set ups for many races. I loved the lower bar height that comes with running the Groove Race. I was able to get just that little bit more weight over the front which felt a lot more confidence inspiring when corning with conviction.  Small but strong. Like a midget weight lifter I loved the light weight and low bar height of the Groove Race. Throw in the anodized graphics and super tight turning radius and the chassis of this fork is a winner. Unfortunately, I never really came to terms with both the air spring and White Bros. novel damping system. I started off with 85psi pumped into the spring side and zero air in the damping side. At first I was convinced this was far to much air for me as I was only getting a few millimeters of sag while seated on the bike. After a few runs I let off the binders and started to ride at my usual pace. Despite having nearly zero sag I found I was bottoming more than I was used to. It took a few minutes of figuring but what I discovered was there was enough stiction from the fork itself that it did not want to enter into its travel unless I passed over a medium size obstacle. Back at the shop, with the fork empty of any air, things still did not want to move smoothly. This tells me it is both a seal and bushing issue. It's not necessary to have suspension that activates over the smallest pebble, but the stiction on the Groove Race was enough to transfer all of the smaller bumps straight up to my bars. While I can't say for sure, I imagine that it also did not help front end traction. It also makes dialing in the proper sag difficult. After a few weeks of riding there was an improvement but I would never call it smooth at any point during the test.
So what I needed was the Race to have an easier entry into its travel and at the same time be slightly more progressive. The first step I took was to pump an extra 5 psi into the spring side.....Which didn't help anything at all. Now it was far too harsh and at the same time it never really helped with the bottoming which was a surprise. In order to get a more active fork I ended up with 75 psi in the spring side and I pumped 5 psi into the damping leg, up from zero. The top of the stroke was improved greatly and I was not blowing straight through the travel anymore. But now I had a new problem. As soon as I got halfway into the travel the spring rate seemed to double very quickly. The change in spring rate was abrupt enough that it just didn't feel right on the trail. Things never felt right again until I had zero air in the damping leg. After everything was said and done I ended up back where I started with 80psi back in the spring side again, zero air in the damping leg and the rebound adj. 3/4 of a turn from fully closed. While I was still using full travel too often, the bottom was always soft and never a harsh metal on metal sound as on some forks. On more aggressive runs I would either adjust my lines accordingly or prepare to bottom more often.  I am always pumped to be on gear that you won't see everyday and I love to be on the stuff that the little guys are pumping out. Having said that, a lot of times things work out but sometimes they don't go quite as smooth as I had hoped. I asked some questions at the beginning of the review and I think I've answered them. In its current form the Groove Race can't compete with some of the other long travel forks available. The basic chassis is a winner. Super light and despite what people would have you think, it is more than stiff enough. I would like to see the guys at White Brothers integrate a more sophisticated damper (as in the Groove 180 and 200) and sort out the stiction issues. Price also will play a part as dropping in a higher end damper will obviously raise the retail price, as well as the weight, of the Groove Race. It is always a tricky balance between these factors that produce good suspension for the consumers. As it sits now, at about $1000 American, the Groove Race is hundreds of dollars less then some of the top tier forks that you can buy today. White Bros. is on to something with the Groove Race though. Since the basic chassis of this fork is so light and rigid I would be willing to spend a few extra bills in order to update the internals. I am sure there would be a new player in the super competitive world of sophisticated and light wieght DH suspension. |
Comments
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madisonracing1
(September 13, 2007 at 5:56)
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it sounds pretty cool but its really ugly.
i think Cori's Mom Like to get her picture taken
She likes the young Guys Couger Power (ROWWWER ) She Can hold my stantions anytime shes a good girl for helping the Boys out I like Dirty GIRLS thanks Cori's Moms your a Sweet heart you put the fun it Looking at pinkbike keep it up your HOT
Cheers
She likes the young Guys Couger Power (ROWWWER ) She Can hold my stantions anytime shes a good girl for helping the Boys out I like Dirty GIRLS thanks Cori's Moms your a Sweet heart you put the fun it Looking at pinkbike keep it up your HOT
Cheers
this fork looks ugly as hell, if u want to shave off a pound and still have fork thats bombproof and a half, i got one word->66rc2x weighing in at a feathery 5.93 lbs., this fork is the best for lightweight huckability. good review tho, rock on
at 1.5 more pounds u can get a boxxer thats 1 more inch travle and feels so amazing.
1.5 lbs is alot for just 1" of trav
who gives a shit about anything in this review other than the fact the fork doesn't absorb small bumps.
real weight : 2.44kg
^^*)
^^*)
a real fork, 888RC2X or 66RC2X, a good rider gets used to the wheight and rides the hell out of it
He said uber.. Anywho. Awesome review I think. Lets hope we can pick up some used ones soon for a massively reduced price 
I want one on my coiler.
I want one on my coiler. 
Did you think to drop the spring rate a little, and add more to the damping leg. Sounds like most of the adjustments you made were the wrong way.
How can the rest of you be so quick to pass it off as a crap fork. It's a lighter, smaller, less adjustable, cheaper alternative to the others.
I had an older white brothers inverted fork which was fantastic. It was also very light.
How can the rest of you be so quick to pass it off as a crap fork. It's a lighter, smaller, less adjustable, cheaper alternative to the others.
I had an older white brothers inverted fork which was fantastic. It was also very light.
Actually, I did. Believe me, I really wanted to be stoked with this fork for all the reasons you stated. I'm all for lighter, smaller, less adj, and cheaper.....But I could not come to terms with the Groove Race. I also had a White Bros. DH3 (inverted w/ anodized blue legs, sweet) years back and the thing was amazing. I remember rebuilding that DH3 and the internals and the bits inside the small piggyback would still be more advanced than whats in most forks today, it worked great. I knew the Groove Race was not the same, obvioulsy. But at the same time I had high hopes and it is in a light and stiffer package.
White Bros forks always have a long break in period, hence the stiction. Once broken in I would expect it to have better small bump sensitivity. A little triflow on the stanctions helps sometimes too. How long did you ride the fork for? I think it has a lot of potential if tune-ability is there.
ide almost like to put one on my 125, how wide of a tire can you put on it ??
U do realize that a 125 is made 4 a 100mm fork( 4 inches) and this fork as 7? U do that and every Djer will make fun of you!
Hello,
My name is lesy I came across your,{Groove Race Fork}
which i am interested in buying it , I would like to know its presents
status if its still ready for sale thats after when you've agreed to
make the transactios proceeds all i need now is just for you to let me
know the last offer and your mode of the payment you prefare cause i,ve
planned to make the payment through account wire if this is also through with
you ,you can send the details needed to have the payment.
hope to hear from you soonest. regards,lesy
My name is lesy I came across your,{Groove Race Fork}
which i am interested in buying it , I would like to know its presents
status if its still ready for sale thats after when you've agreed to
make the transactios proceeds all i need now is just for you to let me
know the last offer and your mode of the payment you prefare cause i,ve
planned to make the payment through account wire if this is also through with
you ,you can send the details needed to have the payment.
hope to hear from you soonest. regards,lesy
there on sell now go to www.white brothers cycling.com
hahahah, look at lesy's post, what a scam, that's hilarious. Part because he can't speak english, and also because his account name is Lerry and he called himself lesy, and an account wire? lol.
with you there b-miscreant! lol
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