SR Suntour or upgrade to Dart III?

Question

Hey All,
I'm getting back into mountain biking :) and i just purchased a 2009 Specialized Hardrock Sport Disc. Should i invest on getting a Dart III or stay with the SR Suntour SF8-XCT-V2 that it come with?

Also, what is the difference of getting a 80mm or 100mm fork? Is that the size or the level of suspension? -THANKS!

Answer 1

Stay with the Suntour. Other than a lockout and 20mm (less than 1/2") travel they are quite comparable... and why would you want to replace a fork on a brand new bike? Give the existing fork a chance.

Answer 2

Either one will be fine and it is your money spend it how you wish. The Dart III would be a slight bit better in quality but Suntour has been in the business since 89 and they dont make a bad product overall. If your present fork does not have a lockout feature then the Dart III will and that will be about the only real difference here. 80-100mm is travel distance of the fork not size of the fork. it is 20 mm longer on the DartIII and that wont make much difference to you but will give you some extra travel that your bike could handle.

Answer 3

I would recommend upgrading from SR Suntour forks, they are a pretty poor fork... If your budget it £300 then potentially you could pick up some Fox forks, which are generally accepted as the best fork around.. however you'd be getting them second hand. But they are a VERY good fork. Alternatively, look at DT SWISS forks or Rock Shox, the latter being the cheaper forks of the two. When buying a fork you need to make sure the travel of the fork isn't too much for your bike, you can find this out on the scott website most likely. The reason for this is that frames are made for a certain size fork (in your case most likely 100mm), by sizing up to a fork with larger travel you change the geometry of the bike frame thus changing the angles and distribution of force onto your downtube, which can result in a breakage. You should be able to get away with something like a 20mm increase in fork travel.. any higher could be dangerous, but of course you need to check what your frame can handle, try looking in the manual. You also need to measure the steerer length, which is the piece of the fork that goes through your frame, make sure that the forks you purchase steerer is long enough to go through your steerer tube and accomodate a stem and headset. You need to measure your current steerer and width of your components to check this.

Answer 4

i have had the same suntour fork on one of my old bikes and it's not a bad fork at all keep it on your bike.

Answer 5

no dart, do not get a dart !