Redesigned for 2004, Judy forks provide solid, all-around performance for riders just starting to hit the singletrack, or recreational riders looking to take the edge off paths and trails or pathways.
This new all-mountain fork epitomizes the phrase "trickle down technology" with the incorporation of our award-winning U-Turn travel adjust system. Clean sheet design providing increased stiffness and steering precision HydraCoil damping for consistent high-speed performance Santoprene® co-molded U-Turn knob for ergonomic, tactile travel adjustment. Consumers can experience the adjustment on the showroom floor. Dollar for dollar the most feature packed fork we make. Travel range from 70-115 mm provides multi-use applications.
Travel: 70-115 mm Weight: 4.18 lb. (1.90 kg) Spring: U-Turn travel adjust with optimized spring rate Adjust: U-Turn Damping: HydraCoil Lowers: One piece magnesium Crown: Forged Aluminum, black Steerer Tube: Steel Upper Tubes: Chromed steel 28mm Colors: Black Upgrade: Over XC: U-Turn spring System (Disclaimer: Weights are based on 160mm steerer tube pre-production models and may vary. Actual fork travel may vary +/- 3 mm. Specifications and call-outs are preliminary and are subject to change.)
Submitted by
Alex Paulsen
a Cross Country Rider
from Christchurch, Canterbury, New Zealand
Date Reviewed: April 9, 2008
Strengths: These forks have held my front wheel in place for over a year. They have kept the front of my bike at an almost perfect height suitable for both up and down the hills (once adjusted) Can't complain really, have held up better than those "spinner grinds" and my mates "RST gila t6+"
Weaknesses: The springs are a bit stiff(factory setup) and the fork flexes back and forth when extended to 115mm. The little adjustment knob broke off and was replaced with a shortened 8mm ring spanner.
Bottom Line:
Overall these forks were cheap (free from my eldest brother who used them about 8 times) they do a good job of holding the front brake and wheel on and they occasionally compress and rebound after hitting large bumps. A bit too much flex for heavy riders.
Similar Products Used: sr suntour xc 60,suntour xcr.
Bike Setup: carrera magura,tioga,maxxis,rock-shox,ect:
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Submitted by
Rob
a Cross Country Rider
from Frankfurt , Germany
Date Reviewed: March 24, 2005
Strengths: U-Turn, Price-value, looks, long travel, dampening
Weaknesses: Weight (I think almost 2,5 Kg!), she must be clean to work good, a little bit stiff by cold weather
Bottom Line:
I can describe she as easy and effective. Doesn’t have many extras and adjustments but it doesn’t matter. She makes good her Job, is smooth and smart. The biggest Problem: she must be cleaned and greased a lot. If not, she works unresponsible and too stiff. It is very important in winter, when the trails are full of mud. I would recommend it as start fork or as budget fork.
Similar Products Used: RS Pilot XC, RST 381, Suntour XCP 75
Bike Setup: Cube Aluminium with mixed deore and Lx. Disk brakes of Magura
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Submitted by
Carlos
a Weekend Warrior
from Argentina
Date Reviewed: February 13, 2005
Strengths: Price, long travel, relative stiff, u-turn
Weaknesses: Weight, lack of adjustments (but for the price...)
Bottom Line:
Very good entry level shock. Of course, there are better things in the market, but you have to pay much more. For XC ridding is enough. You have to maintain it good greased, if not, her performance is worse. Therefore I grease it every 600 miles. I´m a big guy and have no problems with the spring. Rebound could be a bit faster but it is not a problem. After a year she still works like the first day Better than the Gila of RST or similar low end forks. I wish it were lighter!
Weaknesses: WEIGHT, lack of adjustments like preload, rebound, or compression
Bottom Line:
These guys are crazy that want to give this fork anything less than a 4 chili rating. For under 200 bucks, what do you expect? I'ts a pretty heavy fork(I'd say it's closer to 4.8 or 4.9 lbs. than the claimed 4.18) but it's well worth 130 bucks. It doesn't have any preload or rebound adjustment, nor does it soak up small bumps as well as what's out there these days, but it does it's job quite well, is pretty stiff, and the adjustable travel is cool too. I'd say, if you need to replace your mediocre fork, and don't have 200 bucks or more to spend on one, go for it!
Similar Products Used: Rock Shox Judy Race '00, Sid SL '00
Bike Setup: Jamis Dakar, XT drivetrain, Avid Mech's, Fox Vanilla rear shock
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Submitted by
Brett Samms
a Cross Country Rider
from Australia
Date Reviewed: September 12, 2004
Strengths: Looks, u-turn, dampening, value
Weaknesses: dont absorb the small bumps very well
Bottom Line:
These shox are the best for the type of riding i do. i am mostly a xc rider and race every now and then. they eat most of the bumps and can ajust them to suit you riding style.
Submitted by
tinm
a Weekend Warrior
from LA CA USA
Date Reviewed: August 20, 2004
Strengths: lots of travel for the price, cranks way down for up hill grind
Weaknesses: a little flexy, cheap crank down knobs, lack of adjustments
Bottom Line:
there's alot of better forks out there, but you do get what you pay for. for the price you would be hard pressed to find this much travel for the money. after break in thay were fairly soft,but i'm 190+ lbs. if your lighter you would need a softer spring, springs and oil are all you got to make them feel right. the u-turn knob is cheap and is hard to turn, if you stop and get your weight off the bike it turns alot smoother (you almost have to lift up the front end)if you back off 1/2 turn from the top it won't clunk at the top of the travel. i like how low the fork will crank down for the up hills, and the fork is extreamly stiff down there no bob. if your on a peanutbutter budget i would say this is an good fork for you, with a little work you could get a good ride out of them, if you got the money you could do a lot better.
Similar Products Used: rock shock indy c, man. six rockshock sid ti
Bike Setup: chameleon,xtr,cook bro cranks
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Submitted by
Ruben Garcia
a Cross Country Rider
from Madrid, Spain
Date Reviewed: July 19, 2004
Strengths: Looks, U-turn, Stiff, Price-Value and after the change of spring, very sensitive, dampening works really good. Very good travel for the price
Weaknesses: YOU HAVE TO CHANGE THE ORIGINAL SETTINGS!!! My first 5 months, the most common question for me was: Where is the 115 mm travel????… I had seen around 95 mm and only after big droops or jumps…later I understood it: the original spring was THE BLACK ONE Only for maximal weight. I can’t understand why they didn’t put the normal blue spring??? Weight/ No rebound / With maximal travel it flexes (lateral)
Bottom Line:
After more than 6 years without front shock (My first shocks were Crap!), I bought my Merida with this Judy (it was a special of my dealer; normally this bike is equipped with a crappy Suntour XC 75).
I had not many confidence in this fork, due the bad rap RS in the last years, but after some months of intensive using and specially the change of the spring I’m really surprised (Ok, I’m not a Down-Hiller and my biggest jump was ½ meter ;-). The first 5 months I used it with the standard settings and it was a mediocre fork, very stiff, unsensitive and not comfortable to ride, because the front wheel rebounds a lot, with the logical lack of control. After a full revision and changing of the spring to a soft one (RED), I am very pleased with it. As I said, the original spring was the black, too stiff for a normal rider (I’m 75 kilo) not normal as an original setting.
In any case, now the fork works very well, glues the wheel to the ground and damps the most things that a relaxed XC/Trail rider like me can find in his way. It is very sensible and smooth, a good upgrade for riding. The front wheel is always where you want and that is the most important thing. For what I ride, it is perfect.
Stiffnes was also a surprise…if you don’t set the fork to full travel of course. If you use it with around 2/3 travel, you find no major Flex. Only by full travel, you can notice an uncomfortable side flex, but in any case, it’s not a terrible problem; it looks like the wheel “dances” over the ground…therefore it doesn’t give you confidence, specially by cornering. Conclusion: Best results with 100mm travel or lower.
I used the U-Turn many times without problem: it works fine, like the first day and is great, how the Bike’s performance changes with this thing. I use it normally 2/3 or less of travel. The problem with the original spring was, that at full travel, the shock reaches maximal 95 mm and by normal ride, only around 80 mm, almost the same as set to 2/3 travel ???… The solution was to change the spring to a softer one and now I have seen the promised 115 mm. It was also important to change the oil inside. If not, rebound could be problematic. My dealer put the 5 wt and rebound works good.
Conclusion: A very good fork for its price, but YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR, therefore it has some problems! Judy is the cheapest model of RS: It is quite heavy and probably the 28mm tubes are not enough for aggressive DH / Freeride / Jumping, it doesn’t have rebound dampening… but these are minor problems. Changing of the spring was essential to enjoy this fork.
Anyway we should be grateful to RS for doing good budget shocks (The Manitou’s Six for example are terrible!!!), reliable and capable, for people who don’t want to expend lots of money. That is the only “Big-brand” that makes it. This shock is much better than the comparable things of RST, Ballistic, Suntour, Zoom, Insyc…A perfect start fork.
So far so good: I will use it until it breaks; probably it works only a year more, but for the price, I cannot expect much more. I would buy it only as start fork or as upgrade of crappy forks.
Price value of course 5 flaming chillies. Overall rating is complicate. It should be 3 with the standard settings and 5 with the new spring…Ok I’ll give 4 chillies, because you have to expend extra-money for an adequate spring, lateral flex at full travel and lack of external rebound control.
Similar Products Used: Old 90’s forks like RST (I forgot the name!) and Ballistic LE 450
Bike Setup: Merida Matts Speed 2003 Standard with V Brakes Avid Single Digit 7 (levers)
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Submitted by
Rhys Lennings
a Cross Country Rider
from (Logan, QLd, Australia
Date Reviewed: June 8, 2004
Strengths: heaps travel for price, look cool, reasonably light, nice an smooth
Weaknesses: can get stiff on cold start, spit out crap all over nice crome legs, u-turn knob fragile, can't use all travel
Bottom Line:
Overall a really great shock except for a few small points. these shox really have great damping for the price, charging down the trail they do not wallop down, they stay nice, firm and comfy. Very smooth travel and huge travel for the price even if a light rider cannot use it all. On a few cold starts, they did hop around a bit. Also the gimmicky u-turn knob just changes travel, is fragile and should also include pre adjust.
Bike Setup: RST 22 Rear, shimano (Stx rc) components
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Submitted by
James
a Cross Country Rider
from college park,md,usa
Date Reviewed: April 16, 2004
Strengths: looks, u-turn
Weaknesses: stock spring way too stiff, feels like spring doesn't even compress
Bottom Line:
I bought this before I bought my 04 4900. I had an Alpha ZX trek 6500 and put these on it, but they messed up the geometry, so I decided to get a new bike. The 04 Trek 4900 came with Pilot C shocks. The Pilot C's are sooo soft and comfortable, but I thought that since I had the Judys I should put them on. They are HORRIBLE! I don't know why Rock Shox put such a stiff spring in them. I am going to try putting a "soft" spring in, but if that doesn't work I will put the Pilot C's back on and sell the Judy's. Don't buy these until more reviews are posted. Go with the Pilots instead.
:-( :-( :-( Wot more can i say????? Extremely disappointed with the product in general! Too stiff, malfunctioning (locking up), fragile dial, unreponsive to trail... arrrrgggggghhhhhh!!!!!! Thanx Alvaro for your comments... the truth is out there. If riding on a hardtail is punishment enough, with this fork i might as well be riding a rigid!!! Don't fall for the hype and save your pennies. I have no confidence whatsoever in this particular product.
Submitted by
Alvaro Pardo
a Cross Country Rider
from GDL, Jal, MX
Date Reviewed: April 5, 2004
Strengths: Low price for its weight
Weaknesses: Cheapy lubrication. IT GETS STUCK!!!
Bottom Line:
I've had a lot of trouble with this fork. First: the fork itself was way too hard, so I bought a "soft" spring and had it installed. Second: I thought the problem was the spring, but it was not. I had the oil changed for a lower grade (5), and guess what... it worked fine for about 20 minutes! Third: I took the fork again for a check, and the guy told me it is ok, and he put more grease in it. It worked fine for 2 hours. The lower legs seem to get stuck, looks like some bushing or seal is too tight and producing high friction. It takes SECONDS to the lower legs to move to "home" position. Status right now: Stuck! If anyone has an advice to solve this issue please let me know.
Bike Setup: Ironhorse Rogue '04, Deore XT, Hayes hidraulic disc brakes...
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Submitted by
Travis Rentz
a Weekend Warrior
from Memphis
Date Reviewed: March 29, 2004
Strengths: Excellent value. Best bang for buck. U turn feature is great. Nice amount of travel and smooth in compression. Tracks nicely, feels secure when speed picks up. This is a more capable fork compared to the Judy XC,TT.
Weaknesses: No rebound dampening. If it had this feature, I think it would be just about perfect for me. A spring rate that is more progressive would help as well.
Bottom Line:
I have a mid priced hardtail that I was quickly outgrowing. Didn't want to spend $1500 plus right now for a bike I couldn't outgrow. So, I did a little research and decided to upgrade without spending to much on the bike. Local bike shops wanted MSRP for upgrades, so I went online. This fork was a SIGNIFICANT upgrade over my previous fork. I was pleasantly suprised by how smooth and stable the bike felt. It has added at least a year or two to my hardtail's lifespan. Anyone with a Suntour, RST, or similar lowend fork should upgrade, even if it's to the bottom of the line Judy. I am very pleased. I let you know in a year how it holds up.
Similar Products Used: Trek ???, Suntour XC, Manitou ???
Bike Setup: Mid priced Hardtail. Shimano parts. Cane Creek parts.
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Submitted by
Nikolay
a Weekend Warrior
from Varna, Bulgaria
Date Reviewed: January 21, 2004
Strengths: Really big travel for it's price. Damping really works.
Weaknesses: No rebound adjustment, but what you pay is what you get.
Bottom Line:
This is really the best fork in this price class. Eats all stones/roots/etc on the trail that is supposed to eat. Of course, if you abuse it, i guess it will broke - judy is in the low-end of Rock Shox products, and using it for downhill is stupid. But if you ride trails/xc and you need to replace your old and/or crappy fork, this is for you.
