Mountain Biking - Why do you guys dislike the Dart 3?

I have heard nothing but bad reveiws. I just bought a Raleigh Mojave 8.0 and it has the dart 3. Seems to be OK to me and I do some fairly agressive riding. No leaks, adjustable rebound and pre-load, lock-outs. My LBS said it was a actually a decent fork (for the money) after they fixed the leakage issues

Maybe its the fact I dont know what Im missing as this is my first "decent" bike. Can I upgrarde with $300$400 forks (on sale) and be amazed at the diffrence? *****, I only spent $700.00 on the whole bike. Jenson U.S.A seems to have some killer deals on suspension forks. Is it worth it, or should I just wait and upgrade the whole bike in a year or two? Fortunatley I have the cash to do so if I really get into this sport. Thanks in advance

I used to have a dart 3 on my kona cinder cone (it was stock). I had the oil leakage problem, which was taken care of, but still kind of a nuisance. My main problem with the fork was that it didn't respond to any of the small bumps or ridges on the path, it only soaked up the big stuff. It was functional, but heavy and not at all plush (I could have had the wrong spring in it, but I don't know). I upgraded from the dart to a fox f100 remote lockout fork, and the difference (and the price) is amazing. The new fork allowed me to go so much faster on the down-hills, and have what felt like a different bike.

I would recommend upgrading to an air sprung fork or at least a higher end coil fork (coil forks can be really plush too, but they tend to be heavier).

If you just bought the bike, go ride the trails and don't think about upgrades until you know what you want. The Darts are not super-buttery-smooth but perfectly serviceable forks. A friend's Dart 1 has been holding up to some aggressive (read: clumsy) XC riding and mild jumps (0 to 1 ft of air :P) for about 2 years with no problems, and he's around 185 lbs. Once it begins to break or you begin to acutely feel the limitations and decide what you want (stiffness, small bump response, more travel, progressive springs, compression adjust, adjustable travel and other bells and whistles) then I would start shopping around...

I have heard nothing but bad reveiws. I just bought a Raleigh Mojave 8.0 and it has the dart 3. Seems to be OK to me and I do some fairly agressive riding. No leaks, adjustable rebound and pre-load, lock-outs. My LBS said it was a actually a decent fork (for the money) after they fixed the leakage issues

Maybe its the fact I dont know what Im missing as this is my first "decent" bike. Can I upgrarde with $300$400 forks (on sale) and be amazed at the diffrence? *****, I only spent $700.00 on the whole bike. Jenson U.S.A seems to have some killer deals on suspension forks. Is it worth it, or should I just wait and upgrade the whole bike in a year or two? Fortunatley I have the cash to do so if I really get into this sport. Thanks in advance

Could it be that people who have tried more equipment and used it longer than you have might be able to offer a better opinion?

Always read reviews with a grain of salt, there are far too many people who review something 5 minutes after buying it and dont know what their talking about.

The fact that you post this up tells a lot about how much experience you have. If you spend time on a nice fork you see.......

When I think Dart 3, I think of the puddle of oil in my garage. Or the fact that my friend's Dart 2 wont go past the first 60mm of travel.

My friend's Dart 1 has been taken down stairs and 1 foot drops and he weighs around 190lbs. Gets all the travel it was made for, and still holding strong. We go riding once or twice a week for about 20 miles on some light XC and a few jumps here and there.

So...my point is, you only hear about the bad stuff on the internet. Just sayin'...

Just ride it till it breaks.

Always read reviews with a grain of salt, there are far too many people who review something 5 minutes after buying it and dont know what their talking about.

That's so true... sometimes some people also comment on things they haven't even tried or ridden! I've seen some reviews on other forums that are like that.

I would upgrade the whole bike/fork later on, once you get to know more about what you want. Upgrading to a really nice fork could show-up other misgivings on the bike, and you don't want to start a domino effect of continual upgrades. It's very expensive doing it that way (I know!) :)
.

Thanks. Valuable input from all. I think I will hang tight and upgrade whole bike in year or two. Thanks.

ride what you have now, Really feel if you like the feel of the frame a such. Bars, stems, seatposts, and etc can all be changed to help the feel.

if you truely like the frame, then you can upgrade it later one, when parts break.

Upgrading now only leaves you with a lot of OEM parts laying around, and the need to upgrade everything..

My 2008 3900.
Started with the seatpost.. this was legitamate because I broke 2 of the stock ones..
trashed the RD, got an used deore, it trashed itself (was bent from previous users) so Then I jumped forward and bought a 100 LX.
Got a new set of disk wheels... this lead to new tires... and a new fork with disk mounts, and a front disk brake... which is now leading to new brake cables, wires, and levers, shifters..
it starts a chain like posted above. This chain is hard to control.

So...my point is, you only hear about the bad stuff on the internet. Just sayin'...

Just ride it till it breaks.

Thats the way to go. Just because bad things can happen doesnt mean they will.

My friend's Dart 1 has been taken down stairs and 1 foot drops and he weighs around 190lbs. Gets all the travel it was made for, and still holding strong. We go riding once or twice a week for about 20 miles on some light XC and a few jumps here and there.

So...my point is, you only hear about the bad stuff on the internet. Just sayin'...

Just ride it till it breaks.



I got that one beat. I used a Dart 1 for well over a year. Took off of several dirt jumps and who knows how many miles of hardcore trail riding. I weighed over '260 lbs' when I had that fork. The only issue I had with it was, it did not have a lockout. But it never bottomed out or broke.

It really is hard to determine until you go better. It certainly does the job, but that plush factor does a great deal for riding quality.

I recently went from a cheap coil suntor to a Recon race air, and the difference is night and day. My handlebars move a lot less over any terrain and the additional adjustments are really great.

Plus the difference for me was a couple of pounds on the front end.... and the Recon isn't by any means a high end fork, not really even comparable to a good fox.

I just learned an interesting thing about why my friend is so confident on downhills riding his Dart 1 fork: when I stand over the bike and compress the fork, it's pretty nice and progressive. When I ride about 5mph and brake to a stop, the fork flexes and the stiction prevents it from compressing under brake forces. Actually the flex is quite bad, but at least it removes brake dive so it's easy to brake at speed.