I've riddden the Dart 3 for 1.5 years after a long love affair with a Judy Air. The Dart is not a smooth fork. It has always been sticky and it creates a small bit of a ratteling sound. Finally, just last week the thing has started to squeek loudly and stick annoyingly. I'm heading back to the States soon and will deffinitly look into replacing this (one of Rock Shox's lower quality products).
Weaknesses: Lockout got pumped out in extreme breaking jsut before the drunk driver... caused me catapulted 2 meters high and 5-10 meters away... Crippled my collar bone and shreded my arm on asphalt... unrepairable because of plastic thread on lockout. Impossible to get spare parts. Wasn't covered by warranty, because the shop sold the bike with this fork got odd rules :(
Bottom Line:
Will never deal with Sram by any means, gonna buy marzocchi next season... so long...
Submitted by
Daemongrad
a Weekend Warrior
from Brockville, Ontario, Canada
Date Reviewed: August 3, 2010
Strengths: adjustable preload and rebound, remote lockout, fair travel.
Weaknesses: a lot of bad reviews... but none with mine in particular.
Bottom Line:
I don't ride much throughout the week with work and all but on weekends I DEFINITELY put my bike through things that others tell me I shouldn't, despite the bad reviews others have had, I like this fork. It handles well on climbs and, with the lockout being remote, it is an easy transition from off to on and back. It also handles drops nicely, I do 3-6 foot drops regularly... not huge mind you, but it's what there is around here.... oh, it does feel sluggish for a second or so after you pop the lockout off again, but I don't find it to be a hinderance personally.
Submitted by
JOe Brown
a Cross Country Rider
from Rochester
Date Reviewed: May 15, 2010
Strengths: Looks rebound and preload
Weaknesses: Lockout, stiction
Bottom Line:
After having this fork for about a year I was really sick of all the stiction. I brought it to the LBS and he took the spring out and there was no grease of the spring. He greased it up and then it ran quite a bit smoother. Its a little concern that they would forget to grease something at the factory.
Bike Setup: Gary fisher aquila almost all stock parts
Overall Rating:
Value Rating:
Submitted by
SnoqualmieSD
a Cross Country Rider
from Snoqualmie, Wa. USA
Date Reviewed: February 11, 2010
Strengths: 120mm travel, Product name, adjustable settings, parts availability, upgradeable, well built. Light weight.
Weaknesses: subject to being tortured (previous owner used it for free riding, he was lighter than I though). light weight.
Bottom Line:
this is a cross county trail bike fork. I ride with a fifty pound backpack and I weight 190 lbs. fully loaded pushing 250, and the 120mm travel works very well under a load. I haven't used all of the suspension, but what I have used works very well. The controls respond accordingly, I haven't had much use for the lock out (make sure the lock out is disengaged when not needed). I can't think of any other suspension I would trust to ride on. The only thing I can think of is wider diameter tubes, but that's more money. No seal problems, they work great.If you want a fork for light loads, or for heavy loads, it'll handle it (for trail or cross country).
Weaknesses: although it says 100mm they only travel about 30mm. freeze up in cold weather. lockout doesnt make much difference. make a strange noise when you bounce them.
Bottom Line:
pretty useless and dont deserve the name rockshox. Toras cost about £50 more but are worth it
Submitted by
Randy
a Weekend Warrior
from Bakersfield, California, USA
Date Reviewed: May 1, 2009
Strengths: Looks nice and works well when it is not broken.
Weaknesses: It started leaking oil the day I bought the bike. Broke all the way after two months.
Bottom Line:
This product comes no where close to living up to its name. RockShox needs to stay on top of the quality control issues with this fork. My fork was supposed to be one of the improved one's. So much for that.....
Submitted by
mahshroom
a Weekend Warrior
from Evergreen State
Date Reviewed: February 25, 2009
Strengths: It looks functional and has adjustable knobs (compression, rebound, and remote lockout). Rebound and lockout works.
Weaknesses: Large amount of stiction. Compression adjustment makes little difference. The fork has large amount of stiction and it greatly reduces its ability to compress and rebound. The seal is of poor quality.
Bottom Line:
You can get a much more smooth and light air fork for ~$250 on ebay. I have a Manitou Black I bought for $200 on ebay and it performs 10x better than Dart 3 (Sure the Manitou had some quality control issues in the past but ones that was not defective performed very well).
If you are even slightly serious about mountain biking save up and buy a real fork. I'd not use it even if it was free.
Submitted by
Leo Main
a Cross Country Rider
from England
Date Reviewed: February 12, 2009
Strengths: remote poplock, good price,
Weaknesses: become stiff below about 10 degrees C.
Bottom Line:
good suspension, good price, perfect for me (I only ride it at the weekends on local trails - I use a race bike in the week), poplock is brilliant, bit rubbish that the oil stiffens up in the cold - tempted to get some synthetic oil for it. other than that, perfect XC fork for basic riding. I love it, but I'm going to keep a keen eye out for that oil leek problem, sounds like a pain.
I would definately recommend this fork for basic guys like me, but if you want to get serious, you're gonna have to pay for it!!!
Favorite Trail: The whole of England, every last mile
Duration Product Used: Less than 1 month
Purchased At: www.merlincycles.co.
Similar Products Used: the only suspension i had before came with my bike, it was an InSync Grind 326, rubbish pogo-stick which - by the time i replaced it - had siezed solid.
Bike Setup: Motive Ground Pounder (rubbish name), but with new disc and various other bits.
Overall Rating:
Value Rating:
Submitted by
svmike
a Weekend Warrior
from houston, tx
Date Reviewed: January 25, 2009
Strengths: Low price. Feels better than the Dart 1(pogo stick).
Weaknesses: 1. Lockout broke within two days having the fork installed. Didn't even use it on the trails yet. Went on the trails anyways and it became worse. Lots of bad noises and it started sticking. Covered by warranty and was sent a new fork upgraded w/ poploc.
2. After two weeks, oil started to leak from the rebound adjuster. Never bothered to fix it and after a year it is finally starting to run low on oil.
3. Sensitive rebound adjustment. A hair this way and the fork becomes a pogo stick. A hair the other way and the fork rebounds at a snails pace. Once it's set, just let it be.
4. Preload adjuster requires the use of pliers as it cannot be turned by hand as intended. Again, once I had it set I let it be.
5. Becomes pretty stiff on cooler days 60F and below.
Bottom Line:
Get what you pay for. Looking past the broken lockout and leaking oil, I have to say that the fork did perform well for the price. I am going to take it in to have the oil leak taken care of and then keep it as a spare. As for customer support, I didn't have any problems with warranty as JensonUSA and Rock Shox took good care of me when the lockout broke.
Unless you are in a pinch and really need a fork, just save up to buy something nicer. Maybe a Recon 351 or something with motion control.
Bike Setup: Iron Horse warrior hardtail, RF evolve xc cranks, Kona wah-wah pedals, Cane Creek ZS6, RF evolve xc seatpost, WTB Rocket V race saddle, Hayes mx4 brakes, WTB weirwolf tires, Shimano Hone F. Der., Acera rear der. I'm on a tight budget!
Overall Rating:
Value Rating:
Submitted by
tom
a Cross Country Rider
from birmingham UK
Date Reviewed: January 20, 2009
Strengths: responsive, curb impacts are reduced and shocks well reduced.
Weaknesses: can sometime feel loose, but not so springy and wobbly as other forks
Bottom Line:
Good value entry fork. your getting what you paid for, will easily satisfy all but the most hardcore fan
Submitted by
captain eddie
a Cross Country Rider
from southern,indiana
Date Reviewed: December 30, 2008
Strengths: good adjustability
Weaknesses: damper is made out of glass
Bottom Line:
this front end came on the bike when I purchased it. it started leaking oil at the 3 week mark of riding it.It became totally unadjustable,it was like riding a springer front end with no damping.I took it to my LBS and the mechanic told what was wrong with it right after i discussed the problem. Rock shox repaired it under warranty with no problems. The parts they sent to repair it looked much stronger than what came out of it originally. i ride between 80-100 miles a week on majority of pavement or hardpack. I rarely get "crazy" on it cause when i do i get boo boo's and at my age thats not a good thing!
Hey,
I'd like to service my Dart 3 sl, change the oil, clean the seals/dust wiper, etc. I can't find a service guide anywhere. Has anyone done it before? Fork is feeling pretty Read More »
Hi I have a 2010 Trek 3700 thats seen quite a few intermediate- advanced singletracks and trails. Some with big rocky sections, some fast rolling medium pack. I have some money to Read More »
I have a dart 3 that is plush in warm weather, but gets really stiff in cold weather.
Is this just because its a dart 3 and not a super high-end shock, or is there a way to fix Read More »
I have a Dart 3 that is locking with the the lockout off, but not all the time. Any idea what could be causing it other than the obvious, that it's a crappy fork? That's why it is Read More »
I was checking out my old fork and I measured it's travel, and it shows nearly 115mm of travel. Specialized website says its 100mm, and my new fork is 100mm. 15mm looks like quite Read More »
