[lawson]

Simply put, is it shite? I've got a Charger rct3 in my other pike, and whilst it's obviously a better damper, the Yari is on an ebike, so what I'm really asking, is should I change the damper for something else?
Due to my lack of experience on an ebike, I can only compare it my Evil which obviously rides a lot lighter.

I know I'm not making a lot of sense, just hoping someone can siphon out what I'm asking? Send help 🤣

 

[gregnash]

RCT3 and RC2 chargers really arent all that different. Main difference is that the RCT3 has 3 different "platform" settings for HSC whereas the RC2 has a certain number of clicks (believe I have read 22) for HSC and LSC. So the RC2 will give you more adjustability per-say but it really comes down to how you are using the bike.

From what has been found with the few Charge 2.1 dampers that are starting to show up, it looks like not a whole lot was done to "improve" their ride quality. Upgrading past the charger maybe look to have it tuned by someone like PUSH or FAST, or go with something like the PUSH HC97. Outside of that you may be better off with a different fork that is meant for ebikes specifically.

 

[PurpleMtnSlayer]

IMO the moco is dangerous.

I have a yari on my evil Wreckoning. When I first got the bike I was running the fork stock, but planed to drop in a custom damper. I hit a big step down jump and overshot the landing. It was a big high speed impact, the type the moco has the hardest time sorting out, needless to say it choked up. It felt like a ridged fork and the lack of blow off caused my foot to come off the pedal, slam into the ground and resulted in: an acl rupture, grade 3 mcl tear, 2 meniscus tears and three fractures to my tibea. After the acl repair and 7 months off the bike I got the Avalanche Cartridge I planned on getting before my crash. It’s a freaking game changer and I fully believe if I had it installed when I overshot that jump I would have not crashed. Obvi your choice but I’d say replace it before you get hurt.

 

[Curveball]

IMO the moco is dangerous.

I have a yari on my evil Wreckoning. When I first got the bike I was running the fork stock, but planed to drop in a custom damper. I hit a big step down jump and overshot the landing. It was a big high speed impact, the type the moco has the hardest time sorting out, needless to say it choked up. It felt like a ridged fork and the lack of blow off caused my foot to come off the pedal, slam into the ground and resulted in: an acl rupture, grade 3 mcl tear, 2 meniscus tears and three fractures to my tibea. After the acl repair and 7 months off the bike I got the Avalanche Cartridge I planned on getting before my crash. It's a freaking game changer and I fully believe if I had it installed when I overshot that jump I would have not crashed. Obvi your choice but I'd say replace it before you get hurt.

It could be even worse. A very long time ago, I had a Stumpjumper with a RS Duke fork on it. Imagine trying to ride down a trail while a huge NFL linebacker is grabbing the front of your bike and violently pitching it off the trail any which way.

 

[gregnash]

IMO the moco is dangerous.

I have a yari on my evil Wreckoning. When I first got the bike I was running the fork stock, but planed to drop in a custom damper. I hit a big step down jump and overshot the landing. It was a big high speed impact, the type the moco has the hardest time sorting out, needless to say it choked up. It felt like a ridged fork and the lack of blow off caused my foot to come off the pedal, slam into the ground and resulted in: an acl rupture, grade 3 mcl tear, 2 meniscus tears and three fractures to my tibea. After the acl repair and 7 months off the bike I got the Avalanche Cartridge I planned on getting before my crash. It's a freaking game changer and I fully believe if I had it installed when I overshot that jump I would have not crashed. Obvi your choice but I'd say replace it before you get hurt.

Damn dude that is no bueno!!! Would hate to have something like that happen, should know what my future plan entails by end of week. Got a line on a nice condition, used Durlox, offer to purchase a buddies 160mm Lyrik RC2 with MRP Ramp control at a good price and well there are other options as well.

See my feeling is the opposite of yours but I do not take jumps like that and most of my drops are less than 3ft. I feel like the small jumps and drops the Yari RC does fine, not great mind you, but well enough. It is when you get into the high speed chatter, braking bumps, rock gardens with baby head sized rocks, etc. that I have felt it get overwhelmed real quick. Other spot is in slow speed tech it just seems to wallow in the travel out of no where and then suddenly wants to take odd lines. I have been messing with settings, sag, etc. and found a decent mid point, running about 20% sag (85psi for my weight) and 2-3 clicks of compression and only 3-5 clicks of rebound.

 

[PurpleMtnSlayer]

Lol all I know is tuned suspension saves my ass when I run out of talent. Which happens way too often!

 

[Dougal]

Lol all I know is tuned suspension saves my ass when I run out of talent. Which happens way too often!

It can go the other way too.

Suspension too good, confidence outgrows talent, find you're going a whole lot faster than you ever expected when things go sideways!

Long term it's awesome, but the transition can be rough and need some recalibrating of your limits.

 

[PurpleMtnSlayer]

Ya I should probably slow down a little lol

 

[One Pivot]

I rode moco forks for years. They're not dangerous, they just suck. The worst part is the jack hammering wrist pain.

It's not inconsistent though, you know exactly how it's going to respond and its predictable. The rebound isn't too shabby, so control on that end is decent. It just spikes.

I would want to replace it asap, but it's not like it's going to perform dangerously or erratically.

 

[gregnash]

LOL.... I think my ride last night gave my MoCo a heartattack! Did a 17 mile ride that once you start heading downward (has a good 30mins of descent) you have LOTS and LOTS of chunder with smooth trail in between. It was the first time my buddy had been on this particular trail/loop so I would pick predetermined spots to wait for him to catch up while I hauled ass in between. Each time I stopped I had to shake out my hands because of how spikey and harsh this thing was, tried adjusting what little I could (aside from air) and it did nothing on the chundery sections. Just continues to confirm that She won't last the season in her current form.

 

[PurpleMtnSlayer]

I rode moco forks for years. They're not dangerous, they just suck. The worst part is the jack hammering wrist pain.

Maybe not if you're slow. But if you ride hard and fast they're dangerous. There's no way to really know, but my experience makes me believe I would have not lost the entire 2017 season if I was not riding a moco.

 

[clintj]

I read threads like this and I wonder if I have the one good Yari out there. My Strava times on our local downhill segments are normally in the top 10 to 15%, and I've never felt like the fork was lacking on those runs. It ate up the rocks on Porcupine Rim, too.

Now my friend's bike with a Pike scares me. It always feels like it doesn't want to move until the hits get pretty harsh, and then it still wants to resist movement.

Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk

 

[One Pivot]

Maybe not if you're slow. But if you ride hard and fast they're dangerous. There's no way to really know, but my experience makes me believe I would have not lost the entire 2017 season if I was not riding a moco.

A million pros ran a million miles on them at warp speed until charger came out. They're all fine.

It's not a good damper, but your assessment that they're dangerous is a bit of a stretch.

It sounds like you crashed, and that sucks, but people still crash on the best custom tuned stuff every day!

 

[PurpleMtnSlayer]

Whatever bud

 

[Prickly geezer]

Whatever bud

You have no basis on saying that with another fork you would not have crashed. Your claim of 100% is clearly false, as yiou fully well know. You kust made it to support your thesis of this being a dangerous part. You needed that support as you also fully well realize that you only have your (terrible) anecdote.

Heck; people crash terribly with 9000$ bikes. And considering in your case it was f*ing up a jump on just too much speed and not squashing it is hard to say without anything else except you passing along the blame that it's the MoCo damper.

On the other hand, it is verifiable that the MoCo damper is a much used fork (back in the days even by pro's) and that though not a very sophisticated part it's not particularly problematic.

Your snark really is weak considering the point made is rather valid.

@ The OP: What are you going to do with the bike? What's your level? That determines much of the answer you will get.The MoCo is a mid range part, well suited for general trail and xc riding.

 

[RS VR6]

I read threads like this and I wonder if I have the one good Yari out there. My Strava times on our local downhill segments are normally in the top 10 to 15%, and I've never felt like the fork was lacking on those runs. It ate up the rocks on Porcupine Rim, too.

I'm pretty happy with mine too. I recently picked up a second hand one on Pinkbike. Initially it didn't feel all that great. I did a seal and oil change and that made the fork feel much smoother. I leave the MoCo on full open all the time.

I'd do a seal and oil change even if the fork is new. I've pulled the lowers of fairly new Rockshox and Fox forks. I was surprised at how dry the seals were...and how little oil came out of the forks.

 

[Rngspnr]

I'm pretty happy with mine too. I recently picked up a second hand one on Pinkbike. Initially it didn't feel all that great. I did a seal and oil change and that made the fork feel much smoother. I leave the MoCo on full open all the time.

I'd do a seal and oil change even if the fork is new. I've pulled the lowers of fairly new Rockshox and Fox forks. I was surprised at how dry the seals were...and how little oil came out of the forks.

Absolutely, do a lower leg service. Mine was ridiculously dry. After the service it was like a different fork. Unfortunately still not as plush as I'd like it.

 

[One Pivot]

Full open is the only way to descend on a Moco fork. It reduces spiking and starts feeling pretty smooth.

But that's wide open free bleed, and you don't get a nice firm low speed supportive feel.

I suppose its relative. I didn't even realize what I was missing until I got a fork that could use a ton of LSC without spiking. Mine feels like a moco 3/4th shut, but still not harsh.

 

[PurpleMtnSlayer]

No **** my story is an anecdote. I prefaced it with there is no way to know it wouldn’t have happened on another fork. But everyone agrees the moco is a spikey piece of trash. I couldn’t find a dyno chart for the moco, probably because nobody cares about it, so I gave an example of the damper spiking. A hard landing to flat. Anyone who hucks and lands flat with a moco fork can tell you it’s like having a ridged fork cause the damn thing can’t move oil fast enough to get out of its own way. Compare that to a damper like the avy with a high speed blowoff valve and hydraulic anti-bottoming, which delivers soft pillowy travel when landing flat and you can see where I got my theory.

If you’re defending the moco design in 2019 you are either being paid for your opinion or misinformed. If your the former maybe you’re a pro who can ride well with a wooden damper, good for you, but I’m not taking suspension advise from you. If you’re the latter maybe you’re a contrarian, a flagellant, a cheap ass, or just plain slow on the trail, again your opinion is invalid to me.

OP if you’re a slow rider or an old dude don’t waste your money on upgrading, take a trip or something instead. If you want to rider faster and safer, get a new damper for the excellent yari chassis.

 

[gregnash]

I think that is why most of the people that give the MoCo a decent/good review are chiming in from. For the aggressive rider that charges into rock gardens or more technical terrain the MoCo doesn't seem to have the damping characteristics to accommodate for that type of terrain. It can handle the occasional hit here and there, but when you get into successive hits, trail chatter, brake bumps, whatever, that is where the systems characteristics really show, at least in my mind. If I was riding buff singletrack day in and day out with on the occasional bigger hit or technical section but mostly (say 75-80%) long, flowy singletrack then this thing would definitely shine.

There is one section in the trail that I normally ride, and when I say "normally" I mean I am on it at least 3-5 times a week for 10-14+ miles of riding, that has a chattery section with lots of small rocks, maybe golf ball sized strewn all over the trail. In the close to 10yrs I have been riding this trail I have never felt my suspension become overwhelmed, even on a steel hardtail. Monday this week I charged through the section like normal, damper at 1 click from full open and 80psi with -11 clicks of rebound (much like the Trailhead app recommended) and I was literally rattled so badly by the section that my sunglasses rattled against my helmet. THAT is why people say these dampers suck. Even riding my SR Suntour Auron, which many consider an inferior fork, I never had that happen. I will be trying out a Lyrik RC2 this weekend on the same trail so will see what happens. Main difference between the two forks is the fact that the Lyrik is slightly lighter and has the Charger2 RC2 damper. All other aspects will be equal.