Mountain Biking - Need help on choosing a fork

Hi I am new to the mountain bike scene and i have purchased a 2009 Specialized Rockhopper comp off a friend which he practically only rode twice. in short, i bike regularly to work and on weekends i go with a group of friends to bike on trails where there are quite a few roots on the trail and bumpy downhills. sorry about the improper terms as i am still new to the scene. after riding the trails 3 times i notice my stock rock shox dart which came with the bike has no compression or rebound. feels like i am riding on lock out all the time. basically i have a feeling the fork is done and i think i will need a new one. is there some decent forks out there that won't burn a hole through my wallet? i have looked at fox and rock shox sites and not sure which one is a good one to replace my stock one. don't want to go too high end as i don't have the skill or knowledge to use them. input and suggestions are great. thanks.

Welcome to Bike Forums, Rockhopper82!

So how much are you willing to spend?

was thinking around $300-500 range.

No compression? just pump some air in it.

this one uses spring, not air.

I own a 10 yrs old Rock Shox SID and it is good. There are a lot of new versions on Ebay. You should be able to get a decent air fork for around $500.

cool thanks. i am actually looking at the rock shox reba RL. so far the price is right. anyone on the forum has experience with this fork?

Did you get a quote from your lbs to rebuild the fork?

Do you have a link to the fork you are looking at?

The Reba is a great fork and you will notice a huge improvement over the Dart. It's a RS dual-air fork so you can dial in the feel to your liking and they are also easy to maintain. Any specific questions about it?

For what it's worth, I changed my 05 Rockhopper from a Manitou to a Fox F-100 (used off of ebay). Made a huge difference. I ride in the Raleigh area and lots of roots is a given in this area.

How different in size are you and your friend that you bought the bike from?

For what it's worth, I changed my 05 Rockhopper from a Manitou to a Fox F-100 (used off of ebay). Made a huge difference. I ride in the Raleigh area and lots of roots is a given in this area.
The Fox may be a better fork, but just wanted to mention that Manitou does make a solid fork. I've owned a few over the years and more recently had a couple of the Minute 29's with Absolute+ damping and both were great forks. Manitou would also be a brand for the OP to check out - atleast no reason to rule them out from my experience.

Good question IthaDan...there is really no reason that the Dart should not be working properly based on the info.

Also, the reason I asked where the OP is getting the RS fork is because Rockshox has had a run of some forks that had an offset lower issue over the last few years - basically a properly dished(ie centered) wheel would sit off-center, closer to the non-driveside arch of the fork lowers. I first realized this issue back in 2009 when I was working for a Rockshox dealer and we had several RS Sid's come through with the issue. I mention this because if the fork is purchased online through a retailer or on ebay and the fork does offset lowers, you may run into some difficulty having the fork warrantied - you have to go through a local RS dealer for all warranty/repair work. Just an FYI...not trying to sway you from RS, but it's something to consider if you're looking at a closeout deal. They may(should) have fixed this by now.

The Fox may be a better fork, but just wanted to mention that Manitou does make a solid fork. I've owned a few over the years and more recently had a couple of the Minute 29's with Absolute+ damping and both were great forks. Manitou would also be a brand for the OP to check out - atleast no reason to rule them out from my experience.



That's a good point. The Manitou I'm referring to was a AXEL, one of their entry level forks, granted a good entry level, but still lower level.

can't go wrong with a rock shox reba. the rock shox recon is another good fork, similar to the reba but a little less expensive.

Thanks for the info guys. i might get a hookup on a rock shox reba. most likely i will settle with that.

Did you get a quote from your lbs to rebuild the fork?

didn't bother. rather get an upgrade instead since the dart is a low end fork.