Submitted by
focused1
a Weekend Warrior
from Fort Collins, CO
Date Reviewed: October 8, 2011
Strengths: Stiff, plush, very adjustable
Weaknesses: 2005 model had a defect in the arch
Bottom Line:
This review is for a 2005 Pike SL. I bought it new in '05 and have beat the tar out of it for 6 years. I just recently broke the arch completely through. I called Sram and they reported that this was a known issue with the early Pikes and had me take it to my LBS to send in. Got the fork back 2 weeks later with new lowers, completely rebuilt with new seals, and they even replaced my broken compression damper, all at no cost to me. My new lowers have a beefed up arch, as do all 2006+ Pikes. Can't say enough about Sram customer service.
As for the Pike itself, it's the perfect do-it-all fork. I've ridden downhill trails at the resorts, dirt jumps, urban, and XC trails with this fork. It's ultra plush, very strong, and the adjustability can't be beat.
Strengths: Very strong fork. Short enough for urban and big enough for trails. Plush. Still feels great after tons of riding.
Weaknesses: Close to impossible to find a replacement maxel. Compression adjuster stops to work over time.
Bottom Line:
It's a great all-round fork that's strong enough for urban riders. It's solid, and won't break easily. Some parts are hard to find (maxel) but other than that it works great.
Strengths: Maxle is brilliant. Excellent range of tunability, especially for the price. Smooth operator right out of the box. Little deflection, even on very hard hits.
Weaknesses: I'm not convinced mine actually gets 140 mm of travel, but its pretty close anyway. Disc mount on fork was heavily painted over which made it difficult to line up the caliper correctly.
Bottom Line:
This review is for the 2005 Pike Race with coil springs (as opposed to what? uncoiled springs?) and a steel stearer. My Pike has taken some good hits and handled them with aplomb. It has a linear stroke which is good and bad. I have bottomed it really hard a few times on lowspeed drops to flat. For those situations I wish it had a more progressive feel. But for trail riding its killer. The U-Turn is nice for dialing the right head angle for the job, and the compression and rebound adjustments have a functional range. I have taken my Pike to Whistler, and North Van, and done plenty of rocky/rooty single track, and it hasn't let me down. This fork is perfect for technical and demanding trail riding. At 5.8 lbs, its no light weight, but light forks are for sissies anyway. 5 flaming ?¡çk$ for value! 4 flaming ?¡çk$ for difficulty with disc tabs....
Bike Setup: Heckler with X9, juicys, profile hubs, 829d rims, fox float R (not impressed with this product!), king deep cup steel
Overall Rating:
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Submitted by
dING bURP
a Weekend Warrior
from Santa Barbara CA USA, WORLD
Date Reviewed: August 31, 2006
Strengths: stiff, light, responsive, great progressive feel. very inexpensive alternative to the overpopular and inferior 36Talas. Maxle is great!
Weaknesses: the red paint job sucks...might mars camo the thing..
Bottom Line:
Excellent fork for an unbeatable price...i got these just at the right time from Nashbar, hard to beat $270...but it's red which is lame but it saved me some green. funny how i could have three of these for 1 Fox 36Talas. I had the talas before but sold it as it had very poor small bump sensitivity and felt too linear(also having stiction which you can feel at the handlebars).
Submitted by
Scott Benson
a Racer
from West Hawk Lake, Manitoba, Canada
Date Reviewed: July 6, 2006
Strengths: Super Plush, Highly Adjutable, Lookes Cool, Rides Sweet is Pretty Cheap.
Feels like it has 8" off travel.
Weaknesses: Weighed more than listed ?(was trying to knock weight off my bike)
Hayes 8" disc adapter for Marzocchi Z.1 FR 2 was too thick. I had to beltsand it for 45 minutes to make it fit.
Bottom Line:
This fork is more plush than a Fox Vanilla and 36!!!
Its the ultimate do-anything fork. Travel can be dropped to 95mm and locked for XC. And it can be rasied up to 140 for downhills.
Its the most adjutable fork I've used, plus its really cheap. It allows you to fine tune everyhting while on the trail. I've taken it off 4 foot drops and it handled it better than the Z.1 FR 2. If it uses too much travel all you have to do is close the floodgate slightly rather than going home and pumping it up like on the Z.1.
Its a great fork for those XC riders who like to go big or AM/FR who like to climb the hills instead of shuttling.
Bike Setup: 2004 Specialized P.3 with full truvativ hozfeller parts.Sun ringle Double tracks,Hayes 9 hydraulic disk brakes 6" Deore drive train. And PINK Rockshox pike.
Overall Rating:
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Submitted by
pete
a Cross Country Rider
from walnut creek, ca, usa
Date Reviewed: May 4, 2006
Strengths: Just changed the spring from medium to ex-firm for my 230+lb rider weight and the fork is FABULOUS!! Thank you Rock Shox!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Weaknesses: Knobs for 05 are disappointing so I have upgraded to the 06 aluminum dials.
Bottom Line:
Great trail, backcountry, epic riding fork for some fun in the sun or rain. I told my brother about this fork now he too has a Rock Shox fork. Cheers!!
Similar Products Used: Marzocchi Drop Off 150 w/ETA, Z1 FR SL(04) 130 w/ECC.
Bike Setup: Weyless 67 with spv 4way coil, pike race, king headset, hope hubs with wtb rim and singletrack rim, avid 8" mech discs, thomson front and rear, sram x9 drivetrain etc.
Overall Rating:
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Submitted by
Jack A.
a Downhiller
from Dummas, CA. USA
Date Reviewed: December 20, 2005
Strengths: This fork can survive anything from 20ft drops to 70 mph downhill runs and also running into trees at 30 mph. Rebound and motion control is superb. That doofas who said the pike sucks probably had a judy instead.
Weaknesses: Needs to be a little longer say around 160mm to compete with the Fox 36. I got one of those too.
Similar Products Used: Fox 36RC, Marzocchi 66RC, Manitou Nixon Platinum and Maveric DUC.
Bike Setup: Intense 6.6 with sram x.o kit, pike race fork, gxp crankset, thomson front and rear, dee max wheels etc.
Overall Rating:
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Submitted by
JB
a Cross Country Rider
from Phoenix
Date Reviewed: November 19, 2005
Strengths: Nice linear stroke, just get the right spring for your weight. Very stiff. Very adjustable for a sping fork. The motion control and floodgate features are great... Quick release Maxle is great! Light for a 5.5 inch spring fork.
Weaknesses: Don't know yet. Block letters maybe.....but looks great on my Yeti with block letters, haha.
Bottom Line:
hey, this is a great fork. Just don't try to make it more then its supposed to be.....if you need big hucking ability then look for a beefier fork! If you are a big time urban rider then I don't know....all I know is I am an aggressive trail ride and this fork is great for that. 3ft drops at speed to flats or slight tranny its absolutely plush. The motion control damping is great. I like to run it at full damping with the floodgate nearly wide open so it reacts to any significant bumps. On d/h stuff I use almost no damping.
And that fool that said the knobs were cheesy b/c they are made of rubber....whatever...the knobs are metal but covered with a rubber overlay so you can grip them better, quick nitpicking stupid stuff.
This is a great fork for trail riding, moderate jumps and fast quick bumpy singletrack riding. Those who don't like it are in the market for a different type of fork, and thats ok just don't hate this one....
Similar Products Used: honestly, none. Been using air sprung forks...
Bike Setup: Yeti 575
Overall Rating:
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Submitted by
James
a Downhiller
from Bratislava, Slovak rep., Slovak
Date Reviewed: November 10, 2005
Strengths: Great weight, it works briliant on any travel, good stiffness, great progressive travel, excellent adjustment
Weaknesses: haven't recognized any yet...
Bottom Line:
I've been using this fork for 6 months. I'm doing downhill, dual slalom, a little bit dirt jump, freeride. For downhill and freeride i use 140mm of travel and for other riding 95mm. I can adjust harder travel for dual slalom and dirts and soft for dh and fr. The maxle quick release system works better than expected, easy to open, no tools needed. I thing this fork is a great work of rocksox...
Similar Products Used: all Z1, dorado, shiver, and many dh and 4x forks...
Bike Setup: pike, saint, point, FSA, sh. deore, shaman, maxxis
Overall Rating:
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Submitted by
Pablo Hill
a Weekend Warrior
from Mexico City
Date Reviewed: November 3, 2005
Strengths: It's all mountain, all condition, all discipline, all all all all type of fork. Unless you are a weight watcher biker and keep your ride either anorexic or bulimic.
Weaknesses: Had to change my front hub, spokes and disk brake. Takes too long to reset the fork once you get to the top of the hill, but man is it worth it.
Bottom Line:
Is it only 140mm? it feels like 1000mm. It loves drops, It loves roots, It loves rocks, its the fork that keeps on giving.
Similar Products Used: 94' Quadra 5, 96' Juddy xc, 00' bomber, 02' duke
Bike Setup: 05 Kona Dawg, Fox RP3 rear Shock, Shimano XT/LX
Overall Rating:
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Submitted by
Peter
a Weekend Warrior
from Middletown, CT, USA
Date Reviewed: October 3, 2005
Strengths: not a whole lot, maxel was easy.
Weaknesses: the fork feels horid, cracked maxel made it difficult to remove and use. this is the second one i have had over 6 months. it made me a worse rider. i believe i blew it airing out of a quarter pipe.
Bottom Line:
the pike was nice size for street but it just sucked, it feels like the worst fork i have ever ridden, it is way to soft even when locked out and with heavy coils. i am 150 lbs and it just doesnt cut it. so if you are 110 lbs and ride hiking trails i would recomend this fork for you, if you are anyone else do not go with it.
Weaknesses: Some people complain of a clicking noise from the spring side. This is from the spring binding in the tube.
All you have to do is move the black rubber tube up or down the spring and the clicking will stop.
People also complain of the crown creaking slightly. This is from the stanchion setting itself into the crown, it will eventually go away. Mine did.
Remember DON'T huck the TEAM version! It's not as strong as the SL and RACE (one I have).
Bottom Line:
Good for up to 10 foot drops to nice tranny if you weigh around 190 lbs. Wouldn't go any bigger than what 140mm will give you. It's a strong fork, but not a 200mm DC.
As stated before, the best settings for the damping system are as follows:
Dirt Jumping - Close compression and give slight amount of floodgate lock, open up rebound to faster. Best setting for max energy off jumps, also helps to lower fork.
XC- Close compression and give slight amount of floodgate, use slightly more rebound than DJ setting.
FR- Dry days, close compression and use full open floodgate. Wet days, use full open compression and floodgate. Use generous amount of rebound.
DH- Full open everything ALL the time for high speed traction. Faster rebound helps at fast speeds.
AM- Heavy floodgate going uphill with compression locked. Downhill, use DH settings.
Bottom line, keep this fork oiled nicely (oil seals every week, it's easy, no excuse for not doing it) and it will last a long time.
Service manual says I should be looking at a Bushing replacement by now (over 200 hours). I can see no sign at all of bushing play, actually holding up better than my last Zoke. I've been hucking the snot out of mine for nearly one year now, not a single issue.
These forks really are strong for their weight. I pile drived my front wheel into a ditch going 25mph and the head tube of my burly FR hardtail peeled right off. Any SC fork that can tear a head tube off a 5.5 lb hardtail is pretty darn solid.
Submitted by
Yomama
a Weekend Warrior
from Irvine, CA
Date Reviewed: September 28, 2005
Strengths: U-turn, Coil-spring, stiff, and the Maxle (stupid name aside) it's easy and it works. This fork is very stiff, and the price is right.
Weaknesses: The Rock Shox stickers
Bottom Line:
This fork is perfect for this bike. The U-turn gives the bike unparalleled adjustment and allows me to easily switch the ride characteristics, from a long-travel FR hardtail with a slack headangle to a pimpin' street rig with only a minimal amount of effort (I usually change the tires). The Maxle system rules, 20mm stiffness without 20mm hassle. Also the GATE valve paired with the motion control adds another aspect to this fork which is hard to find on options that are twice the price. This is a serious trail and street fork, apparently SRAM's acquistion of Rockshox was a good thing. This is a quality piece of work and it comes highly recommended.
Similar Products Used: Marzocchi Z.1 FR, Marzocchi DJ1 ('02),
Bike Setup: 03' .243 Racing w/ E.13 SRS Urban, Diety Cranks and BB, and X.9 drivetrain (she's a purty girl)
Overall Rating:
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Submitted by
Saso Bogdanovski
a Downhiller
from Bitola Macedonia
Date Reviewed: September 26, 2005
Strengths: This is for Pike SL. Looks Cool And Works Great. Easy to adjust.
Weaknesses: Loud Clicking Sound in the left leg where the U-Turn is. When it1s in lower position it stops.
Bottom Line:
Everything exept the clicking is for now OK. If I have any more problems I will lett you knoy. I`ve jumped it quite a lot since i`v got it and it stands up to the chalenge without much fleks. I can do 1.5m to flat without any fear now
nashbar's got em, but don't be fooled, they're RED, not purple or blue or black...they were custom painted for nashbar...i confirmed this from a customer rep at nashbar...
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