$124 Bolany ZTZ Mountain Bike Air Fork Tear Down | Butter Suspension

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In this #ButterSuspension video, we tear down a vintage #Bolany #ZTZ mountain bike fork

[jacdenniel]

Suprisingly great video I literally thought this is from from a 1 mil yt channel KEEP DOING WHAT YOU ARE DOING!

[simrigpcb]

I disassembled my Bolany 32 this winter after a full season of riding. Obviously not doing drops or large jumps on that bike but rough XC and mild downhill stuff. The version i have does not have a negative chamber adjustment and no rebound on the lower.

Since i have this weird thing about buying on the cheap and seeing what can be done (😄) I ordered basically every internal component from Suntour for 32mm stanchions, including their $70ish damper cartridge with rebound. Also replacement bushings for the lowers. It all fit and it all works hahah!! This is literally just for fun but want to see how long I can go on this fork. If I can get 3 or 4 seasons on it, I will call it a win for upgrading inexpensive big box bikes. That is really what these things are aimed at anyway.

Great vid and now subbed 👍

[jvdarwinGAjr]

That brand is the most commonly used suspension fork here in the Philippines because of budget issues. Also, a lot have attested that its just enough for casual rides because a lot have encountered accidents while using it on trails.

[dwight]

I got a Bolany Chetah black with gold stantions and man its too good for its price. Been using it for light trails and long rides. Im from the Philippines and its quite cheaper here since Bolany is I think is a Chinese more of an Asian brand. Got it for $80. 👍

[lukerobinsonmtb]

The fork looks so nice and I know how bad this will perform on a blue trail, SO I’m going to buy one and take it to my local double black free ride and tech trails I’ll update this comment on how it was
They will arrive in March
There will not be a video

[indorider]

Not nearly as bad as I thought it would be.

[chrisjones]

I saw this channel and I recently bought a 120mm Lutu fork. My main bike is a Giant Reign SX with a Fox36. How ever I wanted to try a 29er with putting to much money in. Now the Trek Marlin comes with a horrible heavy pogo stick. So the Lutu Fork is similar to this with Rebound. Its not a DH or Park bike so the Lutu from my experience so far, after spending years on longer travel Fox and Rockshox fork is, for the money it hard to beat. I was surprised at how well it worked in smaller rocky terrain. I won't be sending it of big jump but the Marlin is not suited to that anyway. My first ever suspension fork was a Judy back in the 90s. This is worlds better. Long winded I know but the point is, I respect your shop experience but instead of just tearing the fork apart and saying its not built as well as high end fork, get out and test them and give an objective POV. Maybe you can't if you business is servicing higher end forks. But I hope so 😎

[wik]

I went to a bikepark with my 100mm suntour xcr last year, wasn’t the most comfortable but definitely doable. You can’t imagine the grin I had when I tried my new bikes fox 36 for the first time, it’s such a huge difference.

[xsvpixelpopper]

Thank you for this video. You may have just save me a trip to the hospital, at least.

[jimmysmith]

never really done any research on these baloney forks but have fitted them to a few bikes as replacement forks for people glad u opened them up im sure il be trying to service them at somepoint

[laurencej]

To be honest that fork is popular here in the Philippines.. Popular for the stanchions being separated from the crown lol

[tobiasstock]

Really great video! I bought a fork made by the same brand about a year ago right when I got into mountain biking... I didn't know anything about forks at the time (Let alone bikes) and I thought that since it was an air fork it must be great, plus the price appealed to me. I really wish I had this video at the time to guide my thought process. I didn't ride the bike over the winter, as there is too much snow where I live to ride without a fat bike, but when I picked the bike up the next spring I came to find out that it had zero air in it. I brought it to the bike shop to get them to pump it up and pink sealent started bursting out... I'm not quite sure why there was sealent in there in the first place, but it was a complete waste of 200 bucks Canadian... What I wish I knew back then.

[craiginator]

This was a super interesting one! Blown away that any company can manufacture an airspring fork for under $400. Sounds like the seals will slow rebound as they age...So for one glorious month the Bolany will ride llike a dream!

[dukeofcebu]

used bolany fork for a year now. works fine with just for lite trails. bought it here in the philippines for 70usd only. im happy with it

[Fajah]

My Bolany is still alive after 2+ years on the Acadia carriage trail lol. It gets the job done for casual riders like me.

[aaronbehindbars]

I love this video and it is very informative!

There is a huge budget bike community and youtube channels like Kevcentral and Wolftick seem to use forks like these on some of their bike builds. It's probably still better than the steel lower pogos that come on a lot of big box bikes. I'd still rather have a SR Suntour XCT/XCM coil fork because I know it's durable, I can get all the parts to overhaul it, and it's simple enough even I can open it up and work on it.

It's not worth saving a few bucks when there are name brand forks for $200 or less. I bought a Suntour Epixon for $158 just recently. Rock Shox Judy/Recon, XFusion RC32, and Suntour Raidon/Epixon are all great budget options.

[JiorujiDerako]

Wish I'd seen this video like a year ago! I did end up buying a Bolany back then, and honestly this video probably wouldn't have changed that decision, but I'd have been a lot more confident in knowing what exactly it is that I bought. (Mine was "gold" stanchions, which are really more of an orange; perfect fit for my 15-year-old mountain-turned-commuter bike where basically every part I've replaced so far has been a different shade of "gold". Goes a long way towards letting people know where my budget is on that one, hah.)

And gotta say, I don't take it on anything besides light trails myself, and I've been... I don't want to say impressed, but surprised to find it's performed as good as the stock Suntour fork it replaced. A bit less durable (it's got a slight looseness after a year-ish that the Suntour took 10+ years to develop) but the Suntour was this beefy, super heavy coil fork, and the Bolany is a far lighter and more comfortable air fork with a remote lockout.

I wouldn't trust it off more than like a 1-2 foot drop, but I wouldn't trust the rest of my bike off a bigger drop than that either (old entry-level bike shop bike that would probably survive, but I don't know if the components would). And having just dismantled and re-built a far newer Suntour fork earlier today, I'm pleasantly(?) surprised to see the Bolany is nearly identical on the inside, so at the very least there's some potential for simpler repairs. Maybe if the Bolany gets more noticeably loose I'd pay the $15 or whatever for new stanchion bushings and seals rather than a whole new fork.

[orrprosegaming]

I've been beating the crap out of mine for almost 2 years. The only issue is the excessive lubrication mine had from the factory. It has sorted itself out with no servicing and I have to say its alot better than the 2007 fox f100 it replaced with the rigidity

[PaulPaulsen]

interesting. since the uppers are "inspired" by other brands, could you possiby upgrade these with better inners/lowers?

[guillaumevincent]

If you flip the O with the A in bolany its now balony wich is also the cheapest type of meat on the market. Great video i loved it.very entertaining