Here’s the problem – my first offroad bike had a pair of RS Judys which had all the plushness of an iron girder. I ditched them for some Rebas and have never looked back at coil forks. Since then air sprung always worked for me – light, easily adjustable, smooth enough and has been reliable for me.

I’m now on the lookout for some 140mm forks and there seem to be a lot of coil forks for sale out there but at the moment I’m not bothering to look at them. I’m not fussed about opening a fork up to change the spring (I’m about 11st in my riding kit), but I’ve got no experience of finding the correct spring rate etc.

So educate me – am I still daft to discount coil forks?

Rock Shox Pikes with std. spring should be just fine. Even better if you can find some Push tuned ones.

I’ve been using air forks for 15-16 years now, with a very brief period on the coil/air assisted Pace RC36 (awful reliability problems, went back to Pace twice in the 9 months I ran them for!) have used a fox air fork for the past 4 years, 2 weeks ago switched to a 36 vanilla, wow so much nicer than any other fork I’ve ever used, great small bump response, no stiction, but, and it’s a big but, they’re rather heavy (roughly 2lbs heavier than my 32’s), if that’s a problem for you, but for me it’s a weight worth carrying for the extra capability.

Coil and air feel identical to me on Revelations. No discernible stiction on either. Air has the advantage that you can get the spring rate just right.

The feel of the fork is more down to the damper IMVHO 🙂

Coil is much plusher and nicer, and you get all your travel. Just heavier.

Coil Judy’s were rubbish with no damping whatsoever. Comparing modern mid level coil forks to your experience of Judy’s is like comparing a new 3 bed semi to a cave.

molgrips – Member

Coil is much plusher and nicer,

So people keep saying, my Lyriks aren’t plusher or nicer now they’re coil and my Revs are just as good as a Pike. Think it’s something that used to be very true, and there’s still some less good air forks out there, but it’s been a while since coil was automatically better.

I think it depends on the fork and the year. All my coil/oil Bombers have been beautifully plus and robust from the start and never changed. You just pay for it in an extra pound or so. Their air forks seem to take an aweful long time to loosen up. I’ve air-phobia, wouldn’t catch me with an air fork, which makes no sense as I’ve got an air rear shock and it seems nice enough!

fox have stopped making a coil fork in their 32 range as of this year, so that should tell you something about the direction trail forks are going in. air forks are getting more supple and with the weight and adjustability benifits mean that most high end trail/xc forks are now air.
ive always used coil but have just switched to air on my trail bike.
more people still use coil rather than air for long travel forks for downhilling, although in think this will change as the air forks get even better.

I owned an air fork once, never again, coil all the way…

thought this was going to be a thread about his wife choosing to have a bit of barbed wire inserted for contraception. 😳

Doug – Hydracoil Judys’ damping was on a par with Pikes if set-up right IMO. (ignoring the pointless on the fly adjustable compression or hydraulic lock-out bollox of Motion control)

Twohats, what fork and when? I had a coil SR Suntour XCR, it was ****, air forks only for me now 😉

Were judy’s not elastomer not coil. 😕

It is not even work comparing them to a modern fork. They are antiques now. I still have my DHO’s. They are terrible.

Give me a coil fork over an air one anytime.

GW – Member
Doug – Hydracoil Judys’ damping was on a par with Pikes if set-up right IMO. (ignoring the pointless on the fly adjustable compression or hydraulic lock-out bollox of Motion control)

No, it’s much more basic. At best it’s like a badly set up Pike (no high speed circuit).

@Northwind,
it was a Fox talas 36 RC 2, the worst performing suspension fork I’ve ever owned.

Thanks for the replies folks – I always knew that the Judy’s were a POS but was really wondering whether better coils would be sufficiently better than air to make the weight penalty worthwhile. I’m not a weight weenie by any stretch, but I’m not going to add weight for no major gain. Think I’ll keep an open mind & if I see a decent bargain that’s not too weighty I might give coils another go.

The gap’s definitely closing, if not closed, depending on the fork. The current 36 Floats (not Talas) are supposed to be amazingly plush and controlled.

Well I am just away to get my Float 36’s converted into Vans as I don’t like how they feel. In my opinion coil forks feel much more active and responsive.

I would add that my new Revs are actually very plush indeed for an air fork. However they’re not very linear. The spring rate on an air fork is usually higher at first, then get slack in the middle and ramps up towards the end. Coil forks don’t do this, and for me that’s very noticeable. It means lots more support in general riding without getting harsh right at the end.

On my hardtail (rockhopper) replacing the coil Tora with a Reba Team air was a drastic improvement.
On my full sus (Meta 5) replacing the Fox 32 RL air with a Marzocchi 44RC3ti coil was also a fantastic move.

Horses for courses basically.
Oh, and the titanium coiled ‘zocchi is as light as an air fork 😀 Best of both worlds. Really impressed 😀
If you are looking at the 140mm range, they would be my recommendation.
2010 model is 140mm & 2011 is 150mm.
Typically about £400 for the 2010s.

[EDIT] and you get a 3 year NO MAINTENANCE REQUIRED warranty 8) [/EDIT]

Marzocchi 44 RC3. Ti so coil and light. Win.