Repair Darts or replace with recons?!?

smegg79

Hello

Having owned a Rockhopper SL 2010 with Dart3's since March, I have been getting back into ridding and taking on some of the trails in SW Wales. Back up there again in two weeks to Afan.

My issue is on the last night ride my forks kept seizing (just like if you put the lockout on). I am guessing its the turnkey oil but my fear of messing things up prior to the weekend in wales has me thinking that I should take them to a shop...or replace with something a bit better! Keep the darts as spare and fiddle with them in my spare time without fear of limiting riding time.

Shop repairs could be pricy so the two options are:
Recon Silver Coils - £120 or Recon gold RL with poploc - £199

The recon coil forks, will they really be any different from the Darts? Won't they just have the same issue with the cold.
Poploc - any issues? I would probably stick with the lockout, but at the price above its tempting.
Is motion control that much better than turnkey? Not overly fussed about coil vs air, apart from the weight loss.

Confused!

nicklouse

recon Golds.

ThePriory1978

Recons Silvers also come in solo-air 120mm flavour, if you can find some.

If your decide to upgrade. Dont bother with coil it'll basically be the same as your Darts. At this level air is better.

Go for gold.

smegg79

Siding with the Gold - Not sure on Poploc though? Should I worry about that? All the solo-air ones with manual crown lock are upto twice the price as the ones on On-one.

ThePriory1978

A poplock is just a switch connecting a cable to the crowns lock out turn key. Means you wont have to remove a hand off of the handlebars to lock out.
Might as well have a poplock if you can. Cant see any disadvantages to not having one unless handlebar clutter annoys you.
On Ones price is low for no other reason than they buy in bulk and offer superb deals.

StefanP

I have poploc on my Toras.. They work very well, I've just replaced the (standard gear) cable that connects it to the handlebars.

A big advantage is if you've turned the lockout on up a fireroad and forgotten to turn it off whilst going down a descent its very easy, just flick it off from your cockpit as it were, rather than having to stop etc.

Having said that it does make my handlebars seem rather cluttered.

cooldad

Golds. Poploc - if it's there take it. I don't have any problem leaning forward to flick the lockout on or off though. Same with Propedal.

supersonic

The cheapest Rockshox you can get with Motion Control, probably the Recon Gold RL coil.

holiver

I replaced some DART 2s with a Recon Race air with MC. The difference is day and night, even on the road. The Recon's are much more tunable to get the ride how you want, more plush, much lighter and stiffer.

gilesjuk

Failure within 12 months should be a warranty replacement. You would expect to get years not months out of forks.

But I'm guessing with such a component they would class that as normal wear and tear?

arigold

Recon silvers

chopchop

I too have a SL Rockhopper and have replaced the terrible Dart3's with the gold Recons. They sound a bit asthmatic in use and aren't anywhere near as plush as my 140mm Revs (to be expected I suppose) but they are a major improvement over the Darts.

I rode at Afan with the RH just this week and they performed very well once the right adjustments to pressure and rebound are sorted. The Poploc is also a very useful feature.

Having previously used spring Toras, I assume the silver Recons would also be fine though- cost vs slight weight loss/poploc/tweakability/looks.

smegg79

Cheers for all the advice

Decided to stick with the darts for the winter and try to get them working enough for Afan next week.

Maybe Recons next summer or...

Marzocchi Marathan forks? They seem to be good value, almost as light as the recons. Back in the day of the first bombers they were really popular so would be interested to hear what people think of 2011-2012 forks.