[Duncan]

I had the first ride with my new Pike 454 today. Thanks very much to everyone for their opinions and suggestions over the last loooong sixth months, and thanks to Larry at Mountain High Cyclery for tracking down a fork and getting it to me quickly and cheaply with no hassles.

Although I only rode it home on the streets today, plus up and down a few steps with some small 2 foot drops, my initial impressions are very good. It feels much better than my old Vanilla 125R and, although I expect I'll leave the travel at 125mm pretty much all the time, I'm already loving the compression adjustment and floodgate. Practicing trackstands is much easier when you don't feel like you're on a pogo stick.

My mechanical dyslexia means I can't really go into much more technical analysis without making a fool of myself, but basically it seems great. Here are some rather bland photos taken in the corridor of my language school. I like to sneak my bike in when the boss isn't looking.

I'll report back again with lovely graphs and diagrams later

Duncan

 

[tscheezy]

Gorgeous. So you got the 454 U-Turn Air? Or the Coil? If it's an air, how is setting the negative spring at different travel settings? I'm not totally clear on how the Air U-Turn works actually.

Good call. Enjoy.

 

[Duncan]

Gorgeous. So you got the 454 U-Turn Air? Or the Coil? If it's an air, how is setting the negative spring at different travel settings? I'm not totally clear on how the Air U-Turn works actually.

Good call. Enjoy.

I got the dual air. It felt very nice riding today - even just little things like the front coming up a bit better on the drops. I just ran the fork at 125mm all day as I wanted to get a feel for it in comparison to the Vanilla 125 before I start fiddling with the travel. If you're talking about the initial set-up, I think you're supposed to set the springs when the fork is wound out to full travel.

I can't make a really clear assessment of the fork yet as today we rode rather easy trails that I always ride my rigid bike on. It was interesting to be on the Spot rather than the Kiluaea though. Some of the technical rocky climbs that demand a lot of attention and the perfect line on the Kona could be approached on the Spot without even thinking.

I noticed an improvement when weaving up some twisted 'ruts', probably because having the compression pretty high was a big improvement on my old 'pogo stick' Fox.

Tscheezy, you claiming there's something you don't know about a bike component is kind of like the Pope scratching his head and saying "Well, I'm trying to work out the Holy Trinity myself but I'm going to need to look in the little black guide book."

Cheers,

Duncan

 

[Mr Bling]

I
Tscheezy, you claiming there's something you don't know about a bike component is kind of like the Pope scratching his head and saying "Well, I'm trying to work out the Holy Trinity myself but I'm going to need to look in the little black guide book."

Duncan

That surprised me as well. I think that's the first time I knew more about a product than the big T. But, then again, it might just be his humble way of asking for you input....

 

[paddlefoot64]

I'm confused by the Rockshox website that describes the dual air 454 as having only one travel setting, 140 mm. The Air U-Turn says travel from 110-140 mm. Can someone explain this?

 

[Acadian]

I'm confused by the Rockshox website that describes the dual air 454 as having only one travel setting, 140 mm. The Air U-Turn says travel from 110-140 mm. Can someone explain this?

that's because the 454 comes in a few different flavors. e.g. 454 U-Turn, 454 Dual Air and 454 Air U-Turn.

 

[Duncan]

I have the dual air u-turn. Travel can be adjusted from 110 to 140.

I'm glad I got it from the States. It cost me about $540 or something from Larry. Buying it in Korea would have cost me about 900,000won, which is basically $900.

Duncan

 

[tscheezy]

Tscheezy, you claiming there's something you don't know about a bike component is kind of like the Pope scratching his head and saying "Well, I'm trying to work out the Holy Trinity myself but I'm going to need to look in the little black guide book."

Well, I've never actually opened a U-Turn air up so I am curious how the fork changes travel without messing up the balance between the air chambers. How the coil version works is quite straight forward, but the RS U-Turn Air does not go through all the wild gesticulations the Talas requires to achieve essentially the same effect, it seems. Anybody have a diagram?

 

[elmadaleno]

Maxle?

Is that a quick release or did you have to convert to a 20mm axle? BTW Tcheezy: I got the demo Spot! I can't wait for it to get here!

 

[tscheezy]

The Maxle is a 20mm thru axle that Rockshox uses on Pike and the Boxxer Ride forks. It uses expansion wedges to clamp itself inside the dropouts instead of using pinch bolts like other 20mm systems. The expansion wedges are operated via a QR-looking lever on the drive-side of the fork. It works extremely well.

 

[elmadaleno]

Maxle question

Can you convert a normal hub to a 20mm or do you have to get a new one?

 

[k1creeker]

some...

Can you convert a normal hub to a 20mm or do you have to get a new one?

Some can be converted. The Hope Bulb is one of them. I think King's as well. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[tscheezy]

Hope Bulbs are easy. You just pull the 9mm qr axle and put some end caps on. You can convert non-disc Kings to disc Kings and vice versa by swapping hub shells (and spokes), but the hub shell is a totally different size on the 20mm so that does not work. CrossMax XL, AtomLab (?) and some other wheel systems can be converted too.

 

[MK_]

U-Turn Air

I spent some time looking at the diagram a whlie ago. It looks like both the positive and the negative air chambers are decreased when you reduce the travel. I circled the volumes subtracted from the full extension volumes in the second picture. That essentially results in a stiffer main spring with a stiffer negative spring, so the small bump compliance ought to be relatively unaffected and deep stroke ought to be identical to full extension U-Turn. From the diagram it seems like this is all that's happeneing.

_MK

 

[paddlefoot64]

This was what I was looking at at the Rockshox website. The features and specs of the 454 are as follows:

[ Pike ] - 454 Features & Specs
Spring: U: U-Turn D: Dual Air A: Air U-Turn
Travel: U: 95-140mm D: 140mm A: 110-140mm
Adjust: U: U-Turn D: All Travel A: U-Turn
Weight: U: 2108g (4.65 lb) D: 1851g (4.08 lb) A: 1947g (4.27 lb)
Adjust: U: Change Spring D: Positive and negative Schrader valve A: Positive and negative Schrader valve
Damping: Motion Control
Adjust: External rebound, Floodgate, external compression and lock
Lowers: Magnesium, disc and 20mm only
Crown: Hollow, Forged 6061 T-6 aluminum
Steerer Tube: Butted Aluminium
Upper Tube: 32mm 7000 series aluminum, low friction anodized (with travel gradients on both U-Turn models)
Colors: Dead Moss Grey, Diffusion Black, Silver
Options: Remote
Recommended Rear Shock: Pearl
Upgrade: Over 426: Hollow crown and aluminum steerer

The Dual Air travel says 140 mm, not a range of travel. Do they have it listed wrong? And which model is the spring model, the U-Turn?

 

[Duncan]

I like it



Last weekend's trails were either new to me or usually ridden on my other bike, so today was the first chance to try the 454 on the very familiar trail behind my university.

The new fork is very nice.

I had some concerns about increased A to C height, but with it set at 125mm there doesn't seem to be much difference from my old fork (2004 Fox Vanilla 125R). K1Creeker asked me if it feels like a 'chopper'. Nope.

The Pike seems to have improved riding all round. The bike feels more stable on rough, rocky, rooty descents and also more 'predictable' when going into fast corners on smoother singletrack. As for climbing, yes, definately an improvement. Parts of the trails were buried under slippery damp leaves today but climbing was better than usual. I found myself making lots of surprised and happy little "hmmmm"s

Ironically, after spending months saying I wanted a fork with travel adjustment, I think I'll be quite happy not adjusting the travel much at all. Just being able to fiddle with compression and the blow-out valve thingy has improved things. I think my climbing technique has improved over last few months anyway - the tip of my seat and my arse are now on chummy, first name terms. Still, having the option to use u-turn is nice. Worth an extra 100 grams I think.

One small concern. Despite adjusting and and tightening it a few times, the maxle did tend to loosen up a bit and I ended up getting a bit of movement in the wheel. Any cause for concern?

Duncan

 

[Mr Bling]

[ Pike ] - 454 Features & Specs
Spring: U: U-Turn D: Dual Air A: Air U-Turn

The Dual Air travel says 140 mm, not a range of travel. Do they have it listed wrong? And which model is the spring model, the U-Turn?

U is spring U turn
D is dual air non adjustable
A is air (in fact dual air) u turn.

 

[The Squeaky Wheel]

One small concern. Despite adjusting and and tightening it a few times, the maxle did tend to loosen up a bit and I ended up getting a bit of movement in the wheel. Any cause for concern?

Odd. Are you sure you seated it correctly? I've never had one come lose.

For the sake of thoroughness:
Screw in the maxle until it stops turning then adjust the tension on the disc side nut so that there's moderate resistance when you flip the cam. Don't leave the cam action either too loose or too tight. Then when you remove the maxle, open the cam and spin it out. You'll never again need to touch the rotor-side nut.

 

[tscheezy]

Some hubs seem to chronically develop play even while the Maxle is grabbing the dropouts correctly. I never heard a good explanation, but it seems like the inside bore of the hub is a little large, or the overall width of the hub is a bit narrow, so the Maxle does not preload it correctly. What hub? I run King ISO, WTB DH, and Hope Bulb, and all stay snug.

 

[SSINGA]

Some hubs seem to chronically develop play even while the Maxle is grabbing the dropouts correctly. I never heard a good explanation, but it seems like the inside bore of the hub is a little large, or the overall width of the hub is a bit narrow, so the Maxle does not preload it correctly. What hub? I run King ISO, WTB DH, and Hope Bulb, and all stay snug.

My friends Zocchi hub does this in his Pike unless he really cranks it down tight.