[Spectre]

I'm looking to build up a new bike and am looking at forks. The bikes I'm considering will have about a 150 mm rear suspension travel so I'm looking at forks with about 160mm of travel. Usage will be a range of trail to all-mountain riding, but I'm not looking to build up a mini-DH bike. I've mostly been riding Pikes for the last couple of years and have been happy with their performance for my typical rides.

Between the Fox 36, RS Lyrik, or RS Pike, which ones have you had experience with (not opinion, but actual ride time) and can recommend? Also, what damper would you recommend?

How does the Fox 36 ride? Is there significant benefit to going to a Fox 36 or Lyrik from a Pike?

 

[Austin-nc]

Cant comment much on the fox 36 as I've never owned one but I'd say if your starting out at 160mm go for the lyrik over the pike.

You can always lower the lyrik to 150 or raise to 170 but the pike is topped out at 160. Lyrik is also marginally stiffer and seems plusher in my opinion. Definitely easier to find good deals on new take offs of lyriks vs the fox 36 as well

Sent from my SM-G970U using Tapatalk

 

[Miker J]

Tuned in.

This whole damper opinion/review thing, I find really odd. By reading most reviews on this site you'd think Fox and RS don't have a clue as to what they are doing. I'm starting to think that many riders posting on this site have unrealistic expectations of at least their front suspension.

Maybe people think suspension is made to make your ride "more comfortable", rather than realizing suspension is made to increase traction to permit you to ride faster and harder. I take the hardest pounding, by far, on my longest travel bike. A DH bike.

A too often repeated sentiment involves riders complaining of how much their hands and arms hurt from their poorly functioning front suspension. Ask any really fit, fast riding, competent biker about how a fork will feel. It should feel stiff and even a bit harsh if you want it to hold up to hard aggressive riding.

What we might be dealing with are reviews from flabby, over weight, out of shape, dudes, cruising along glorified rails to trails wanting a "comfortable" ride.

I've seen guys who instead of tuning their motor by squatting and deadlifting and running and eating properly (and biking of course) throw money at fancy aftermarket tunes to suspend their jiggly, flabby arms, bellies, and asses as they creep down a dirt sidewalk.

If my arms and and hands hurt after a long day of DH'ing first thing I do is spend a few hard weeks swinging a cutter mattock bench cutting and doing chin ups. Then when callouses are there, and the flab is gone, will I start blaming the damper.


Sure, is there room for improvement on existing dampers - yes. And I do want to follow this thread, but I'd be skeptical about most advice you get around here. All that said, I'm still tuned in...


Sorry, I think that was a rant.

 

[mikesee]

Maybe people think suspension is made to make your ride "more comfortable", rather than realizing suspension is made to increase traction to permit you to ride faster and harder. I take the hardest pounding, by far, on my longest travel bike. A DH bike.

A too often repeated sentiment involves riders complaining of how much their hands and arms hurt from their poorly functioning front suspension. Ask any really fit, fast riding, competent biker about how a fork will feel. It should feel stiff and even a bit harsh if you want it to hold up to hard aggressive riding.

What we might be dealing with are reviews from flabby, over weight, out of shape, dudes, cruising along glorified rails to trails wanting a "comfortable" ride.

I've seen guys who instead of tuning their motor by squatting and deadlifting and running and eating properly (and biking of course) throw money at fancy aftermarket tunes to suspend their jiggly, flabby arms, bellies, and asses as they creep down a dirt sidewalk.

Tell us how you really feel...

You're not wrong, except if you assume that everyone has to think/act exactly the way you do. And then you are.

My $.02 to the OP: Lyrik RC2. Best feeling fork I've owned, out of the box, ever. I've had a pile of Pike's, 34's, 36's, and even a Dorado over the past decade+. Dorado was amazing but not practical for all-day climbs. Lyrik is 95% as good without the drawbacks of so much added weight, cost, and height.

 

[bdundee]

Tell us how you really feel...

You're not wrong, except if you assume that everyone has to think/act exactly the way you do. And then you are.

My $.02 to the OP: Lyrik RC2. Best feeling fork I've owned, out of the box, ever. I've had a pile of Pike's, 34's, 36's, and even a Dorado over the past decade+. Dorado was amazing but not practical for all-day climbs. Lyrik is 95% as good without the drawbacks of so much added weight, cost, and height.

What about compared to the Mattoc or do have you had any time on the Mezzer yet? I know it's off of the OP's list but not to be ignored.

 

[Miker J]

Tell us how you really feel...

You're not wrong, except if you assume that everyone has to think/act exactly the way you do. And then you are.

My $.02 to the OP: Lyrik RC2. Best feeling fork I've owned, out of the box, ever. I've had a pile of Pike's, 34's, 36's, and even a Dorado over the past decade+. Dorado was amazing but not practical for all-day climbs. Lyrik is 95% as good without the drawbacks of so much added weight, cost, and height.

Yeah, I know that came off a little hot.

I'm sure you'd agree, based on some of the responses I've seen from you, that a feisty post is more likely to liven up these sometimes drab boards.

Are you taking issue that I believe that the primary purpose of cycle suspension is to increase traction to permit faster speed? Rather than comfort?

 

[Spectre]

My $.02 to the OP: Lyrik RC2. Best feeling fork I've owned, out of the box, ever. I've had a pile of Pike's, 34's, 36's, and even a Dorado over the past decade+. Dorado was amazing but not practical for all-day climbs. Lyrik is 95% as good without the drawbacks of so much added weight, cost, and height.

Thanks! Exactly what I was looking for. Performance is my main interest and just having suspension is enough comfort benefit for me as I started off riding rigid mountain bikes.

I'm interested in all feedback from people that have actual ride experience on these forks, especially from people that have ridden more than one of these forks. I read and interpret comments/feedback from consumers and end users for a living so reading into "This is the best" and "This sucks" type of comments to find common threads for the reasons behind these assessments is no problem for me.

 

[plummet]

I have 160mm pike 26" and 27.5", 170mm lyrik and 180mm 36.

Pikes and lyric feel almost identical to me other than different travel. They have better small bump performance than the 36. Then tend to dive more than the 36 when set up to the plushness i like.

Midrange support feels better on the fox. I feel in more control on high speed hard hits on the fox. General trail riding feels nicer on the pike/lyric. Crazy **** and top end of gnar feels better on the fox (yes i'm taking into account travel differences).


If I could get a fork that felt as plush as the lyric/pike for small bump and as in control at the top end/mid range than the 36 i'd been in suspension nirvana.


For what you are building i'd go pike. Unless you want the option to upgravel to 170mm then lyric. If you want to get more mini DH in the future then 36.




If i could find a

 

[jeremy3220]

I haven't ridden the latest Lyrik but in my experience, get the 36 for performance or Lyrik for comfort. Don't take that as gospel, it's just my experience. I like the support and damping of the 36.

 

[294037]

If I could get a fork that felt as plush as the lyric/pike for small bump and as in control at the top end/mid range than the 36 i'd been in suspension nirvana.

I think this pretty much sums things up, I like the lyrik platform but fox dampers have better control

I've owned several pikes and lyriks, haven't ridden the latest 36 but worked on a ton of them. Will try buy one to test soon hopefully. I would put the lyrik RC2 as the best out of the box fork there is and will please the most people. If you want even more damping support the push HC97 will take care of that!

 

[Vespasianus]

What about compared to the Mattoc or do have you had any time on the Mezzer yet? I know it's off of the OP's list but not to be ignored.

Honestly, if that has the ride quality of the Mattoc but in a stiffer package, it is going to be a winner. I currently have a Pike and a Mattoc and the Mattoc has the small bump compliance of the Pike but the big hit compliance and feel that fork lacks. The air spring and damper are just miles better on the Manitou.

 

[CaveGiant]

I've ridden all those forks, the only one that remotely impressed me was the grip 2 fox. I'm spoiled by running a dorado as my everyday fork.

I'd wait for the mezzer.

 

[twodownzero]

I've ridden all of the forks mentioned. For 160 I'd go with a Pike. I can't tell the difference between the Lyrik and Pike and I doubt you will, either. Fox forks feel like jackhammers at low speed to me compared to Rockshox. On the big stuff they all do the job.

 

[Vespasianus]

I've ridden all of the forks mentioned. For 160 I'd go with a Pike. I can't tell the difference between the Lyrik and Pike and I doubt you will, either. Fox forks feel like jackhammers at low speed to me compared to Rockshox. On the big stuff they all do the job.

Well, you must be one of those "flabby, over weight, out of shape, dudes, cruising along glorified rails to trails wanting a "comfortable" ride".

I am of course kidding and agree with you for the most part!

 

[aerius]

RS has what I call a comfort tune while Fox has more of a race tune. I don't really care what my fork does when I'm going 10mph but I need it to do its job and keep me alive when I'm overshooting jumps or charging through rough terrain at ludicrous speed. To keep RS forks from diving through their travel or bottoming out hard when I'm riding like I'm 20 year old, they need to be setup so firm that they start bouncing off way too many things, the front end gets jittery which is pretty scary to ride. With Fox, I can get a setting where it's still reasonable settled & controlled at tunnel vision speeds without any diving or hard bottom outs.

Personally I'm not a fan of any RS or Fox forks. My Mattoc is a better all-round fork and only loses to the 36 in serious bike park use, and for that I have a Marzocchi 350 NCR which is still better than the Fox 36.

 

[Jayem]

Fox forks have been hit and miss for me. Had a 2013 performance float and it was terrible, as in crazy dive and had to be set up crazy-stiff for racing, which would in turn make it ride like a jackhammer. Supposedly they fixed that a few years later. Fast forward to when I bought a 32 SC for racing. Wasn't bad, decent support, could be pushed pretty hard, I was getting in top 5 or so expert XC racing, so I was pushing it plenty hard. Thought I'd get a second fork for more trail-ish riding and marathon, a 34 SC. Thought it would be even better. Wrong. Was crazy stiff damping, so much so that I had to run around 50 psi to get any compliance out of it, and then it had to run a bunch of spacers to not bottom, so it'd get harsh on the big choppy stuff being so far in the travel. Push diagnosed it as an abnormally heavy compression stack that appeared to be in there "for no particular reason". No question, while riding, the 32 was more compliant, supportive, controlled, etc.

Honestly, I find both RS and Fox to be somewhat "sponge-like". Maybe Fox a little less so, but nothing like my custom Avy damper that runs heavy compression and rebound and still doesn't feel like a jackhammer. I sent both Fox forks off for tuning and the 34 is now usable, big change from before. Where you can ride over off camber braking-bumps (scalloped holes) downhill and it doesn't upset the chassis.

 

[DrDon]

Tuned in.

This whole damper opinion/review thing, I find really odd. By reading most reviews on this site you'd think Fox and RS don't have a clue as to what they are doing. I'm starting to think that many riders posting on this site have unrealistic expectations of at least their front suspension.

Maybe people think suspension is made to make your ride "more comfortable", rather than realizing suspension is made to increase traction to permit you to ride faster and harder. I take the hardest pounding, by far, on my longest travel bike. A DH bike.

A too often repeated sentiment involves riders complaining of how much their hands and arms hurt from their poorly functioning front suspension. Ask any really fit, fast riding, competent biker about how a fork will feel. It should feel stiff and even a bit harsh if you want it to hold up to hard aggressive riding.

What we might be dealing with are reviews from flabby, over weight, out of shape, dudes, cruising along glorified rails to trails wanting a "comfortable" ride.

I've seen guys who instead of tuning their motor by squatting and deadlifting and running and eating properly (and biking of course) throw money at fancy aftermarket tunes to suspend their jiggly, flabby arms, bellies, and asses as they creep down a dirt sidewalk.

If my arms and and hands hurt after a long day of DH'ing first thing I do is spend a few hard weeks swinging a cutter mattock bench cutting and doing chin ups. Then when callouses are there, and the flab is gone, will I start blaming the damper.

Sure, is there room for improvement on existing dampers - yes. And I do want to follow this thread, but I'd be skeptical about most advice you get around here. All that said, I'm still tuned in...

Sorry, I think that was a rant.

I agree. I know I'm getting older but my Switchblade pounds the shite out of me. I'm going much faster through chunk. It took an Avy tune for me to realize I've been setting up my suspension for full travel rather than performance. I'm not sure if I need it. My current LBS set up my other 36 better than factory, myself or other mechanics. If I push my 429T, I get beat up but I rarely do because it's kind of scary relative to my SB. YMMV.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

 

[petercarm]

I've raced RS Lyriks for the last few years preferring firm setups. They don't bounce me all over the place. Speeds hit 60+ kmh. They stay in control. You need fast rebound at those speeds and careful tuning of tokens to help the negative spring catch the top out. I'm usually running pressures higher than the label. On rct3 spec it takes a massive hit to use the last of the travel but this seems to be the least worst compromise. Lots of support. Hands get an easy ride even when I'm only using 140mm (out of 160) down some serious gnar. Charger 1 benefitted from running the light rebound tune. Charger 2 is a lighter tune straight away. Rider weight 81kg.

Never ridden rc2 spec but the latest Ultimates with charger 2.1 have a better adjustment range for lighter riders than the charger 2 iteration. I have every expectation I could keep all the good aspects of my current tune and get full travel if I had the charger 2.1 but it is not enough for me to need to upgrade.

 

[petercarm]

... and service the lower legs regularly

 

[Jayem]

I've raced RS Lyriks for the last few years preferring firm setups. They don't bounce me all over the place. Speeds hit 60+ kmh. They stay in control. You need fast rebound at those speeds

You need "fast" high-speed rebound and if you are setting your LSR control (external knob) to a real light setting/fast rebound for those speeds, it's a red flag, way too restrictive HSR circuit and uncontrolled chassis movement.