Replacement fork for 2009 Rockhopper

arthur_scrimshaw

Want to replace the Dart 3 on the bike, have trawled through the forum posts about this and now more confused!
I think I want air suspension because I'm fairly heavy (just under 14st) and believe coil forks are generally setup as standard for lighter people? So don't want to mess around changing springs (and also I'm still losing weight)
Understand I need 1 1/8" steerer, post mount brakes, 9mm qr (I think?) and up to 100mm of travel.

saw these

http://www.merlincycles.co.uk/Bike+Shop ... GOLDTK.htm

Max I want to spend is around £250 Live around the South Downs and most of my riding is cross country type stuff, nothing too dramatic.

Your advice would be much appreciated.

AndyOgy

The Rock Shox Reba is pretty much the perfect fork for the Rockhopper. The Recon is not much lighter than the fork that you have but the Reba will save over half a kilo. It has a dual air shock too, which is lighter than a coil and can be adjusted easily as your weight decreases.

It's the fork that'll be fitted to my Rockhopper once my bank account has recovered from a very painful month.

The Northern Monkey

the recon is a massive improvement over the dart 3 though.

AndyOgy

The Northern Monkey wrote:

the recon is a massive improvement over the dart 3 though.

I agree 100%. It's just that the Reba is better still. For a bit more money, it's about the best fork that can be fitted to an XC bike that will only take 100mm travel.

And I can't think of a cheaper way to save that much weight.

The Northern Monkey

difference in weight is around 200g... so there isnt a big difference.

http://www.merlincycles.co.uk/Bike+Shop ... 10_880.htm

£20 over budget and its dual air.

arthur_scrimshaw

Thanks for the input - a further question - what's the difference between the Reba SL and the RLT ?

http://www.merlincycles.co.uk/Bike+Shop ... BA-RLT.htm

Other than the price!

thel33ter

The RLT is the 2011 version, but I'm pretty sure it is the same fork.

arthur_scrimshaw

Right, ordered the Reba RLT forks (mainly because I wanted them in white plus there was an additional discount taking them to £280) and a new FSA Orbit headset as my current one is on it's last legs. As I've pushed the goodwill factor with the missus into the red zone I was wondering if I can get away with my track pump with gauge to set the air pressure or if I need to invest in the suspension pump?
(hoping on the former!)

cheers

welshkev

unfortunately you need a shock pump, check out flea bay, you can usually pick one up on there for around a tenner

not sure what the quality's like but you get the idea:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Beto-MP-035-MTB-S ... 4cf41f15fd

arthur_scrimshaw

Oh dear, lack of planning on my part :oops:

arthur_scrimshaw

welshkev wrote:

unfortunately you need a shock pump, check out flea bay, you can usually pick one up on there for around a tenner

not sure what the quality's like but you get the idea:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Beto-MP-035-MTB-S ... 4cf41f15fd

Cheers for that, should be able to persuade my son to get that on his account!!

welshkev

Arthur Scrimshaw wrote:

Right, ordered the Reba RLT forks (mainly because I wanted them in white plus there was an additional discount taking them to £280) and a new FSA Orbit headset as my current one is on it's last legs. As I've pushed the goodwill factor with the missus into the red zone I was wondering if I can get away with my track pump with gauge to set the air pressure or if I need to invest in the suspension pump?
(hoping on the former!)

cheers

i once watched my mate try to use his track pump to pump up his shock, he went bright red, sweated alot and then i though he was gonna have a heart attack

i bet he only got about 10psi in there

jakeeeeeee

i have upgraded the darts to reba sl's on my giant which has saved a lot of heft !
but i haven't ridden with them yet as i don't have a shock pump to set them up
although i tried with a track pump which seemed to make a slight difference :?

cooldad

A decent track pump will pump them up to 160 psi or so, but pump high volumes. As forks and shocks contain a very small quantity of air, so you'll never get the pressure right.
Shock pumps pump small volumes at high pressure, and have a valve to reduce the pressure as well.