Hi – new member

Welcome Ron,

Nice to have you in the family!

As the owner of an A2L that has seen many different builds, let me just come right out and say that your A2E is a far superior bike and deserves your attention. The A2E frame double butted Tange Prestige, the same as a Specialized Stumpjumper or a Nishiki Alien, easily twice the tube set of double butted Tange MTB. As far as your Cudas go, the A2E should be your trail bike. There is a reason why that frame cost an additional $500.00 more than the A2L when new. Just something to consider.

Again welcome and congrats on the win!

-D-

For the money you might find a nicer vintage fork than the RST or Suntour, plus these frames were made to run less travel than what you find in new forks. You stated that you were a DIY person because the odds are you would need to do a rebuild but there are guys here that will steer you in the right direction

That Ds2 does not state how long the steer tube is so you would need to ask plus they wrote it is a threaded steerer so if you plan on a threadless it might not work unless it is so long you could cut that part off. I Even if you want the threaded you would still need to check the length that you need. The only way you could go a little newer is with a fork like mine where you can adjust the travel somewhat, mine can do 63 to 80 mm travel .

http://www.ebay.com/itm/White-Brothers-SC70ul-Fork-/121185585820?pt=US_Forks&hash=item1c37394a9c

9″ steer tube… unheard of for a vintage 90s fork!!!

Since you have a 1994 A2E with the black and white frame and the STX group, I wouldn’t concern yourself with the STX as that’ll do fine for now and you could upgrade as you go. However, that A2E deserves a top performing air fork! The link above is for an auction that ends in a couple days, I’m very familiar with the SC70UL fork, you can’t do better than a White Brothers fork outside of buying a new Fox fork! Yes, I’m very biased! White Brothers used to be 10 minutes from my home, my old college roommate was the art director, no one in mountain biking at that time knew more than White Brothers about suspension. W.B. built custom internals for Fox, W.B. has always been a leader in MotoX suspension. Eric Carter pictured jumping on the front page of this Cuda site raced on the White Brother Rotec team and won often. I was privileged to meet him a number of times, super nice and down-to-Earth guy. He always spoke in interviews above how the W.B. suspension was always perfect and never failed once… no one else can say that. All the o-rings and internal parts on the W.B. forks can be found at a regular hardware store, this was built into the design so there would never be a need for obsolete components with their forks. I’ve owned 9 W.B. forks, I had some serviced when they were local, and I’ve sent a couple to W.B. in Colorado for service. Their suspension techs are the same guys that service the MotoX pros that race for the W.B. Factory Team. Like I said, you can’t do better than that SC70 fork for your A2E… plus the black, white, and gold would look awesome!!!

Right on! Congrats on the win, you won’t be disappointed! As far as cutting down the tube, I’d run the stem at the height you think is right, and simply run some spacers above the stem. That’s how I have my 96’er set up for my wife, I’ll attach some photos. This will give you the most freedom to adjust the stem on or off the trail until you nail down the perfect set up. I wouldn’t cut it down, even half an inch, until you’ve got your ideal cockpit with regard to stem height. Also, another variable is the stem, different heights and lengths stems have made me wish I had more steer tube to play with. I say hold off on cutting until you’ve finished dialing it all in.