Bicycle Mechanics - Upgrade inards for my older Judy XC's?

My Brodie Libido has a Judy XC front fork. Its ok, but not really the toughest setup, bouncey and undersprung, it feels mushy. I'm guilty of not re-building this fork yet after 4 years of use! Yikes.

What upgradable parts exist to improve the performance of this fork? I'd like better overall performance. The bumpers and damper don't quite give me the response I need. The compression dampening and rebound dampening are not so great. Soft and un-inspiring. I'd prefer an air-oil or spring-air-oil system. Is there anything I can swap in thats better or is it not worth it? Englund maybe? I ride XC but I like to go fast and ride fairly hard, although not wreckless or sloppy. I rarely have mechanical probs on the trail, if ever.

thanx for any info

Chris

englunds airs might work for you but they aren't that cheap (probably a bit under $100) and they aren't that good (it's not something you can set it and forget it, and also they don't perform consistently for different people). how about get a new fork?

Yeah. I've thought about getting a new fork. I just wondered if there was something else out there that might work. Rebuilding this thing is going to cost money anyways, right?

I had a different fork, and it was a nicer fork, but the longer travel just didn't work well with this bike and I sold it along with a cable disc brake and front wheel and yadda yadda yadda. I would want a fork with pretty much the same travel as I've got now.

What fork would you suggest?

the englund air upgrade might be worth a try? i picked up an old judy with the airs and though i haven't rode it yet, i set it up and it felt nice. i think you can set it to 63 or 72mm and depending on what you have, it could get you a sub-3lb fork. otherwise shorter travel forks out there i'd choose the sid with 63mm. i ride a 105mm manitou xvert air which i love but it has more travel than i'd like, but it feels better than my old mags did.

If I understood you correctly your fork is a 99 Judy XC. Well your only option is Englunds or Risse cartridges. Rock Shox no longer has anything available for any fork under 2000. I reccomend a new fork if going with either Englunds or Risse is not what you want to do.

I have mag-21's on my other bike. Amazing, they aren't the most laterally rigid forks, and they are heavy, but you just rebuild them every few years and they're quite decent.

I bought my bike in 1999 and it was a few years old as far as I knew. The Judy forks could have been older than that, maybe 97 or 98? I'll look around for better forks maybe. Not sure what to do now. I heard SID's are light and perform well, but they're delicate and high-maintainence?

dude, just get a new fork. you can get a decent one on supergo or performance bike for under $200. they are always running sales of some sort. check out the deals page on mtbr too

I reccomend you go with either Manitou or Marzocchi's. The older Rock Shox were somewhat reliable, however I do not trust the newer ones at all.