I'm not an owner or a rider of one. But the damper is weird and documentation is completely absent.

It looks like it started as a spring backed IFP design, but it has now ditched the spring and is a floating IFP with just trapped air behind it. This is a type that is difficult to bleed and set correctly.
The damper base-valve is just a gate. So no shims or anything that can react to different compression speeds.

 

I'l have mine (coil) back with the chocolux internals soon and then I can report back.

I do like it quite well so far. No complaints on the damping at all.

 

Everyone I know that was on one, myself included, realized how sticky and harsh it was as soon as they went to another fork. I tried to make mine work for months and never got anywhere, the stiction was awful compared to my 34, 36, Sapphire, Helm, and Mezzer. The ability for them to reduce stiction by a claimed 30% is a confirmation to me that there was previously a problem, as that's a pretty big reduction.

I also felt Ramp Control was kindof gimmicky compared to IRT/RUNT/etc and had some drawbacks compared to those systems, although I'm a bit torn on whether I feel like it's an improvement over tokens.

Noah is here and I'm sure he'll comment, their support was always great for me, although it was a bit frustrating their initial response to my stiction concern was to run a bit of an excessively low air pressure, they were always prompt and great to deal with when I had issues. I wish I liked it more, I think it would be a great option for heavier or more aggressive riders on short travel bikes looking for a light fork. If the new seals really reduce stiction that much, I wouldn't be opposed to trying it again on a shorter bike.

It seems Manitou has the reverse problem. Their forks feel incredible, but their customer support has been a bit mixed based on what I can tell.

 

I love my ribbon air; its the best fork I've used, although my experience is limited to a lefty and 2 pikes, the second of which had a faulty damper. I've not noticed stiction to be a problem with my fork, prior to chocoluxe the fork would sag ever so slightly under the bikes weight. I have the chocoluxe internals now, but haven't had a chance to ride it yet.

 

I would buy another Ribbon in a heartbeat. We sold a few that had the harshness issue and new bushings and the Chocoluxe fixed it for sure.

I understand how the Ramp Control works (it's not ramp control like tokens) but they have a token-based cartridge as well. On the damper side, it's easy to work on, bleed, rebuild.

I have a new Lyrik Ultimate and the damper doesn't work. The RC2 set-up NEVER gets firm. I replaced it with the PUSH HC97 to get functional LSC and HSC. The way the Ribbon reacts on the damper side, I've never felt a need for independent adjustments. The crossover from LSC to HSC works really well for our varied riding types.

I would have bought another one if they made a 170 29 that worked on the new Enduro.

I think the bushing/Choco issues will fix any issues people found with the fork. I haven't done my internals and I love the fork as is.

mk

 

My 160 29er ribbon coil was smooth from new but then went sticky after only a few rides. I did a lower service using some Spectro 20wt I got from a local motorbike shop and that transformed the fork, it's now smooth between services. The stock oil must be too thin or just not suitable. I would still like to try some supergliss 100 from Dougal at Shockcraft.

I've got nothing to compare the damper with but I don't really have any complaints apart from the noise it makes.
I'd like to see someone do a fork damper shootout with dyno graphs and include the ribbon damper.

 

Ribbon air owner here with the older internals. I like the fork, but it hasn't been 100% smooth (pun intended) ownership.

Never had the stiction issues that others had. Mine had a mediocre bleed from new, leading to dead spot at the top of the travel. Sending it in for factory warranty, they failed to correct the issue. It still rode pretty well so I decided to go with it for a while. Sending it in a second time and they did a full factory damper service at no charge to me even though the fork was out of warranty by then.

It came back riding great after attempt #2. I can't compare it to a lot, but I have no complaints about the performance. I like it better than the '17 pike it replaced.

My overall thoughts: Great CS. Possibly questionable QC. Set up seems a bit finicky, when it's right, the fork is great but that window is pretty small. Get it wrong and it will be disappointing. I think most of the bad reviews are from folks who either got a bad fork or botched the set up (even the experience people).

Do I regret buying it? Nope, it performs up to snuff for me considering what else was available at the time and I like supporting smaller companies with good CS. I also got a great deal, which influences my option a bit.

If I was building a new/second bike now would I buy one? I'd probably buy a Mezzer given what I've read, but that's cause I already own the Ribbon and trying something different is always fun to see if I like it better.

 

My Ribbon coil is better than any 34 I've ridden. Not quite as good as a 36 air and definitely not as good as a 36 converted to coil.

Owned a Stage prior and it would get sticky towards the end of it's service interval. I don't think MRPs air spring is as resiliant to lack of maintenance like RS or some Fox forks.

My buddy has a Ribbon air and it took him a lot of tinkering with different psi in both chambers + ramp control to get a setup he likes. Says it's really good now, he just wasn't near the recommended pressures.

Customer service has always been fantastic. Fixing stuff out of warranty, quick responses to emails, super fast turnaround on annual rebuilds.

All in all, very above average, not world beating, amazing service and US assembled.

 

r.e Chocolux. Upgraded on my last rebuild. It is an improvement, just not earth shattering. I like that they're willing to introduce rolling changes. Shows me they are always trying to improve.

 

r.e Chocolux. Upgraded on my last rebuild. It is an improvement, just not earth shattering.

What did it improve? What didn't it help it with?

 

Fork feels a little smoother. But it's a coil and already feels pretty smooth.

It's like $40 or something. Not much of a commitment, so try it and form your own conclusions.

 

Another note. In my experience the fork rides much better when ridden pretty hard. At moderate speeds, it would be fair to say it feels pretty heavily damped on medium sharp hits. Bigger slower ones and small stuff is fine. When I start hammering, it feels waaay smoother.

 

I just got mine back from MRP last week with the chocoluxe upgrade and took it out for a spin this weekend. I have not been in love with the fork up until now, but I was also off the bike all last year due to an injury, so things have just been sitting.

I'm riding the Ribbon Coil @ 165mm on a 2017 Canfield Balance (165mm rear, 65* HA). I'm 185lbs with gear on a Soft spring. Riding chunky/loose in the southwest US. I was pretty satisfied with the fork for regular riding but on sustained DH/park days it seemed to get stickier as I was riding it. Once it cooled off a little it was back to normal. MRP had resized the bushings before and it helped, but never fixed it.

That's totally changed with the chocoluxe. It's more plush than before, and it doesn't seem to lose plushness as i'm riding it. To be fair it's going to be another month before I can put it through a full 15 minute downhill, but the initial impression was that it was a huge improvement. I'm using more travel consistently too...I used to use 50% for most riding and peak around 75%, and now i'm using 75% pretty consistently with peaks around 85-90%.

It sounds like they changed quite a few things on the fork at once -- the chocoluxe internals are what gets mentioned, but they also switched to norglide bushings and they mentioned on the phone that they spec more oil for the lowers now. I'm guessing mine will only get plusher as the bushings break in.

I also have to give a shout-out to their service department. Without a doubt they have some of the best service in the industry and I really appreciated the time they spent on me. Much appreciated.

 

I searched for and am reading this thread because the difference was so significant
after getting full service and chocolux. CS was topnotch.

Only one ride but much more supple. Repeated high frequency hits at high speed - biggest improvement. Big improvement in lack of deflection and therefore traction on big hits on technical ups. Seemed also to ride higher in travel improving bike handling. Used to run no LSC, because of what I didn’t realize was high stiction. Ran 3 clicks.

 

In terms of cost, how much were these Chocolux internals alongside the service?

 

Chocolux internals were an extra $40 to upgrade. Totally reasonable.

Like attaboy, I was at 0 clicks of LSC and Ramp Control because of the stiction, but already added LSC and I'll start playing with the Ramp Control because the fork is so much plusher.

 

And they check the bushing tightness, CSU for creaks, etc etc? How much is the service without Chocolux internals?

 

Prices are on their website. Mine is coil so it was $120 + $40 for the upgrade, plus they gave me a deal on the rebuild since I was having issues.

https://mrpbike.com/pages/factory-service

 

I was told coil service+Chocolux internals+norglide bushings was $140 total.

Curious to hear if anyone else is getting back their Chocolux/Norglide rebuilt Ribbons and has something to say about them.

 

I was told coil service+Chocolux internals+norglide bushings was $140 total.

Curious to hear if anyone else is getting back their Chocolux/Norglide rebuilt Ribbons and has something to say about them.

I think the air forks are $20 more than the coil forks to service.

Mine has been breaking in and it is a major improvement, I'm very happy with it on ride after ride. I rode a new trail in my area recently that was the most technically difficult trail I've ever been on (it was like an unpolished Captain Ahab). The fork was incredible the whole way.

Unfortunately I'll be selling it soon because it's new bike month for me and my new frame is 29".

 

MRP stated they have no interest in the end user tuning their forks. Thats a pretty big turnoff for me. At nearly a grand, a fork with no HSC and no tuning seems incredibly far behind the curve. Everyone elses product is setting a pretty high bar for the high end.

Its basically a old coil motion control pike from 2005.

 

Its basically a old coil motion control pike from 2005.

I think you might be under selling it a little.

My only real complaint is I wish it was a little more stiff. The stiction in mine was completely sorted with using thicker oils, I'm now running Supergliss 100k.

 

When you pay for the internal/bushing upgrade you don't need to pay for the rebuild because they essentially rebuild the fork when they do the upgrade. From what I understand, they are treating the bushings as a warranty upgrade because of the problems people were having with them.

 

I didn't realize that, thanks for the clarification. I thought it was $40 just for the parts

 

Whatever.

I was going off what MRP told me at Sedona Bike Fest.

She said coil service + Chocolux + bushings was $140. How or why, I don't really care. That's just what she told me.

It sounds like maybe the bushings get replaced if they are found to be defectively tight, otherwise they are left alone. Hence why I got the impression from my conversation with her that they would replace them as part of the service. In this case that would be a "if necessary" type situation.

 

Whatever.

I was going off what MRP told me at Sedona Bike Fest.

She said coil service + Chocolux + bushings was $140. How or why, I don't really care. That's just what she told me.

It sounds like maybe the bushings get replaced if they are found to be defectively tight, otherwise they are left alone. Hence why I got the impression from my conversation with her that they would replace them as part of the service. In this case that would be a "if necessary" type situation.

Whatever? Is there a problem?

 

Yes. I'm annoyed that the MRP person I talked to last weekend quoted me a different number than they are advertising on the website.

Then I went and worded some things foolishly that you spent the time to try to correct. That's my fault.

Personally, I'd think the coil version would be cheaper to service as its got less seals. Perhaps less stuff impacted by Chocolux as well.

Per the website and other places they've advertised the Chocolux upgrade, its:

$120 + $40 for coil
$100 + $40 for air

Not sure what's going on with the bushings and if they are being replaced via warranty (if defective) or pretty much always going to cost $99.

It doesn't help that these aren't the easiest dampers to tear apart, so it's probably not cost effective to buy all the parts from MRP do it myself or have a local, cheaper guy do it.

 

Yes. I'm annoyed that the MRP person I talked to last weekend quoted me a different number than they are advertising on the website.

Then I went and worded some things foolishly that you spent the time to try to correct. That's my fault.

Personally, I'd think the coil version would be cheaper to service as its got less seals. Perhaps less stuff impacted by Chocolux as well.

Per the website and other places they've advertised the Chocolux upgrade, its:

$120 + $40 for coil
$100 + $40 for air

Not sure what's going on with the bushings and if they are being replaced via warranty (if defective) or pretty much always going to cost $99.

It doesn't help that these aren't the easiest dampers to tear apart, so it's probably not cost effective to buy all the parts from MRP do it myself or have a local, cheaper guy do it.

No worries. I agree, that would be annoying.

Genuinely not trying to be pedantic or argumentatilve here, just trying to consolidate good info, but the website lists the prices at:

$120 for full coil rebuild, +$40 for chocoluxe upgrade
$150 for full air rebuild, +$40 for chocoluxe upgrade

Yes, bushing replacement is listed as $99. And, if they were deemed defective, I have no doubt that MRP would replace them for free. But, I'm not sure where that concern is coming from... I haven't heard of the fork having bushing issues, but maybe I've overlooked it. Per a email convo with someone at mrp, the new norglide bushings are only a minimal improvement over the old bushings, and that most of the friction reduction that they're claiming with the new forks is coming from the chocoluxe internals. Also, I've been to talking to Craig at avalanche about getting a cartridge damper for the ribbon, and he mentioned that the bushings are not an issue with this fork, and that most of the friction is coming from the damper and spring.

I agree with the original premise of the thread.... the reviews are all over the place, especially in regards to the damper, very polarized. FWIW, I've been super happy with my ribbon air, but I don't have a lot to compare it to, as I tend to dial in and maintain my stuff and ride it for years, rather than demoing and upgrading a lot. My last fork was a XF trace rl2, which was solid but basic, and the ribbon has been a big upgrade obviously. Also got to use a rental 36 grip1 for a whole enchilada day, and it was great but I'd say the ribbon air outperforms it overall.

 

Yea bushings, or at least stiction was brought up a lot in early reviews.

Like you said though, that might have been due entirely to the internals and not the bushings.

Dare I say it, but there might even be some advantages to drop a GRIP, Charger RC, tuned older Charger damper etc into the Ribbon. The nice thing about an Avalanche damper is that it could be moved to future forks provided the range of travel adjustment in the cartridge is there. That might be my one complaint about the Avy dampers - Craig didn't design them to be swapped between 140mm and 180mm forks.

I have noticed quite a few recently rebuilt and Chocolux upgraded Ribbon being sold shortly after service. You can't help but think that people are still a bit disappointed with the performance, but who knows. Upgrade-itis is quite common in this sport.

 

Well, at last I got mine out on the trails and can report that the Chocolux made no discernible difference in performance. I wasn't the least bit disappointed before, but the upgrade doesn't seem to have done anything.

 

I've only had one real ride since getting the Chocolux upgrade on my Ribbon air, and the fork feels like crap. I'm at the correct sag, but it feels very harsh, but still dives really badly while braking. It has me thinking about getting one of them new Fox 38s.

 

Sounds like a setup issue. What are your settings like?