OK, so here's the plan..

1. Buy 2010 Rev Teams (150mm with maxle lite)
2. Stick them on my old school 575 (replacing crappy marz all mountains)
3. Ride scotland (honeymoon) and pyrenees all mountain stuff (summer) plus whatever trail centres and faffing. (have a blizzard for xc duties).
4. Next year, buy a new big bouncy bike (nomad-c?????)
5. Move the Revs to a 456 or similar and retire the blizzard and the yeti.

So, should I buy U-turn forks or just the plain dual-air ones? there is about £40 and 100g difference.

Dave

I found u-turns a bit of a faff, the number of times i have wound them down to climb and then forgot to unwind them on the descents is countless, plus you dont carry a weight and wallet penalty.

I've got '08 coil rev's with U turn, living half way up a steep valley side. I wind them to 100mm for up's and 130mm to return downhill to home, and adjust for some of the short but steep hills in the middle. It's too steep going up to ride it at 130mm without a light front end, so the U turn is valuable to me, considering the terrain I normally ride.
I really like the option, and being a non-'eyeballs out' type rider, seem to time the adjustments to take in a view!
my tuppence
Q

I know a lot of people complain about the u-turn being slow, but I can wind my 110-140 Revs from one extreme to the other in just a few seconds (less than 10). As long as the going isn't too bumpy, I can usually do it on the fly as well. I find it really useful & easy enough that I wind them down for anything other than a really short climb.

Depends on you, do you like to fiddle? I don't and I don't want u-turn – I barely use the talas on my Heckler, but I loved my Marz all mountains and eta.

I liked the eta on my old marathons. The all mountains I was complaining about were AM3s with the seemingly pointless ETA2.

I can't help thinking that 30mm of adjustment would be a silly thing to give up, especially if I put them on a hardtail in the future.

Sounds like I'm talking myself into getting u-turn!

Dave

I find the u turn a faff compared to ETA on Marzocchi or Talas? on on Fox. It's not that time consuming but I'd find it nearly impossible to do while pedalling unlike the other two. It also knocks when wound down which drives me nuts so I never use it.

I ride a SS so spend a lot of time out of the saddle really cranking it up climbs and I'm fine without winding down the forks. You won't miss it so I'd say don't bother. Needless complication/one more thing that can go wrong.

I have U-turns. Only adjust before a ride normally – XC/extreme (110/140). Other than that they stay as is.
What I did do was buy a metal u-turn doobry from Jenson USA. Following the useless plastic one slipping and not working properly. Best investment ever.
But then on the later noes perhaps it is metal?

Oh, and as above. ETA is far better. Flick switch, climb, flick switch, descend. Easy.
Unless of course you forget to flick the switch and have a hairy decent with 30mm of travel front and 130mm rear – nearly died as the back pogo'ed around…

I don't really see a problem with u-turn, it's no hassle at all and can go from 110mm to 140mm in a few seconds.

Used to just keep it wound out to 140mm but started having em at 110 for flat/climbs and jumping and the difference it makes in feel is pretty surprising. out to 140mm for any steep descents feels great 🙂

ex-pat – Member
What I did do was buy a metal u-turn doobry from Jenson USA. Following the useless plastic one slipping and not working properly. Best investment ever.
But then on the later noes perhaps it is metal?

Depends on the fork. I've an 08 Pike with the metal one, and a 2010 Recon with the plasticky one. The metal one is definitely a lot nicer to use.

I use u-turn all the time on my Enduro – the bike rides best overall at 120mm, but I drop it to 100 for climbing and out to 140 for proper descending.

I don't like to have too many fiddly bits on my bike but one thing I do like is the U-turn on my Pikes. I don't care much for lock out, compression dampening and the like. I find U turn great for my kind of riding which is anything from riding to work on roads to light DH. 95 mm for steep uphill, 120mm for XC and 140mm for DH. Great option I think and I find that the extra weight penalty is outweighed by the other bonuses.

Thing is, the u-turn adds very little weight and it's usually reliable, so it's no great issue to have it and never use it.

I can understand why people don't like it, it's no one-button solution but it still takes no real time or effort to go from one end of the travel to the other, and it's easily done on the move (not sure this is recommended but it's not at all hard to do)

They're not for climbing for me, or at least not just climbing, both my bikes have pretty different character with the forks at different lengths so it's about variety as much as anything else. Though being able to drop the front on the hemlock does mean I can run a more downwards-oriented setup and still get up steep stuff, avoids the compromise.

argh!!!!!!! now i don't know what to do!

Dave

I have a u turn fork on my bike. Its really rather too long for the frame so has to be wound down for going uphill. I tend to leave it set at 110 mm until a rough downhill where if I remeber I unwind it to 140mm.

However like others on this thread I do sometimes reach the bottom of a descent and realise the fork is still wound in.

It is quick and easy to alter the length tho

ive got talas on mine and im ditchin the internals soon for float ones as they are much smoother. Dunno if its the same with rockshox but it might be worth checking

i had U-turn once when it first came out on Psylos and never bought it again. Too much faff and stoppage involved, prefer to just get used to riding the bike at a fixed fork length (around 130mm on a Chameleon).

looking down the road to where you're going to stick 'em on a geared ht, i'd pay the extra 40 and get the u-turns. either that or save yourself a few quid ( probably ) and get some pike u-turns….

I think a lot of people have answered this question from the wrong angle

I'd say if you're planning to switch the fork between bikes the U-Turn is a great idea, and you will use it.

Where is the cheapest for Rev U-turns with Maxle at the mo ?

Anybody seen any good deals ?

Just run more sag in dual airs for a shorter fork.

You can still adjust the travel on non U-Turn Revs, internally with a spacer. I always regretted having U-Turn on mine, it may have changed now but the dialing in the travel you wanted isn't as quick and easy as some other systems- not particularly hard, but enough to put me off the faff. Which isn't hard in my case tbh! 🙂

I suppose it depends what riding you want to do aswell and how much travel you have on the back end. There would be no point putting 140mm + u turns on a short travel bike. I have a 5" travel bike and it works fine for that.

I have Talas on my nomad and regularly use them (in fact I think the nomad rides most singletrack better on 130). I have uturn pikes on my sidekick and use it as well, however not as much and it is definitetly more of a pita than the fox talas system which is one click and changes.

are you a tinkerer or not?

I had a set of U-turn toras (heavy but great for what I needed them to do) and found that once I had them set to about what seemed to be a good setting (which was probably about 110mm) I left them there… but that's because I know jack all about fork settings etc.

Just run more sag in dual airs for a shorter fork

Nonononono! That means youre using the wrong spring rate(Air pressure) for your weight. Do or do not. There is no try. 🙂

It'll be plush though. 😉

Has anyone got a firm (blue) Pike spring for sale please?

"Not to 'U-Turn'" is my answer for the following reasons:

Less to go wrong and 150mm is an ok amount of travel to climb with without too much front-end lift, not to mention descend with! 😀

Yes, u-turn. Loads of flexibility. I have no idea at what travel my next bike will be happiest. What i do know is that I can play about with the u-turn until I like it, and still adjust it for the ups and downs if I want to (which frankly I rarely do). If you're planning to swap frames the u-turn will be a great investment.

I think a lot of people have answered this question from the wrong angle

I'd say if you're planning to switch the fork between bikes the U-Turn is a great idea, and you will use it.
Agreed. For those of us who haven't got loads of cash to burn changing components all the time – u-turn could be viewed as an advantage to increase the long term usability of your fork.