Well get riding it and report back on reliability!

 

Going to the front range, Golden area, third week of August. That should tell all, even maybe a day at winter park.

 

Can you give me some insight on Winter Park and the riding there? Is it mostly a lift assist downhill scene, or some cross country stuff in the area? I need to be in Colorado in early June and thought I'd catch some fun if possible.

My original plan called for a road trip staying in WP for the last week of June and catch Eric Gales Band at the WP Blues Fest. It sounded like a win/win! Plans have changed so I would have to rent a bike.

 

pics.. first impressions.. something !

 

Yes please!

 

It came while i was out of town, this is a new full build. Should have pics and impressions by next weekend.

 

I've read most of the news and specs on the new pike but heard no mention of internal travel adjust. Surely there is a pin-ladder system if you want to drop the 150 down to 140. Anybody have the deets?

 

Yep, that's what I want to know - ability to internally drop travel or not?

And what are the crown-to-axle heights of the various models?

Been going back and forth between a tapered Revelation and a lowered, non-tapered Lyrik on my trail bike, and the Pike seems like it would be a great happy medium.

Near the stiffness of the Lyrik, but near the weight of the Revelation? So long as the damper turns out to not suck or crap out, seems like a winner!

 

Found this in another thread

 

Found this in another thread
View attachment 810053

Sweet! Thanks!

Now as long as it can be lowered somewhat...

The 26" version dropped down to 140mm would get me right where I want.

 

eagerly awaiting impressions as well (love my lyric)

 

Got a fractured bone in my foot, so no ride report. But, after a neighborhood curb jump test ride, I'd say that this fork is very plush, very smooth, and under hard braking feels very stiff.

 

Got a fractured bone in my foot, so no ride report. But, after a neighborhood curb jump test ride, I'd say that this fork is very plush, very smooth, and under hard braking feels very stiff.

View attachment 810305

View attachment 810306

What is your Rune weighing in at now with the Pike on it?

 

Love the black on black!

 

Yeah, same here. Considering this fork for my Mojo HD-R with 'tweener wheels but don't want to sacrifice the geo. Can't imagine there not being a pin/spacer system for adjusting down to 140mm or even 130mm. I find it odd that there is no mention anywhere about this. Called bikeco this morning and they are checking it out...

 

My 29er version is sitting at my LBS right now. I forgot to take pictures last Friday. I left it there because it seemed like it was still rumored that the 160mm 29er version was a possibility. My LBS spoke with SRAM and confirmed the 160mm version for the 29er, but as we all know, the 150mm Pike requires a new air spring. Fine by me, I'll just have both air springs to go back and forth to figure out which I end up liking better. LBS also told me it'll be a few more months til the 160mm spring is released. I'll take some un-boxing pictures tomorrow when I go to my shop again. It'll be awhile before I can give a ride report as I bought this fork for a build project. I want to get the new Specialized 29er S-Works Enduro frame and build one up. LBS is telling me September or October before the frames are released.

 

Ok, did a little more digging. Some of the info and general descriptions of the Pike are kind of confusing. I've seen it described as a 160-140mm travel fork some places. But it depends on which wheel size and whether its solo air or dual position air. Also, each travel corresponds to a unique air spring as mentioned above. The Dual Position Air maintains a consistent air spring volume. So here is the break down, please correct me if I'm wrong:

26"
Dual Position Air: externally adjustable 160->130mm (infinite I think?)
-or-
Solo Air 160 fixed
Solo Air 150 fixed

27.5"
DPA: ext. adj. 160->130 (infinite I think?)
-or-
SA 160 fixed
SA 150 fixed

29"
DPA: ext. adj. 150->120 (infinite?)
-or-
SA 150 fixed
SA 140 fixed

 

Got my Solo Air in 150mm!

I only have one ride on the fork, and I've never owned a Fox 34, but so far I have nothing but smiles to report. Super stiff. Freaken beast of a fork compared to the Fox 32 140 I'm coming from. Easy to set up (that's a big bonus for me...). Looks sweet (NOT a fan of gold ano...). Best of all, the longer maintenance interval!

The most noticiable difference coming from a Fox 32 is the stiffness, but the fork, even new, feels a bit more plush and has about the same brake dive. Need more time switching between bikes to really have a sense of this though.

Tire clearance with Hans Dampf 2.35 is great. I suppose since I only ride dry conditions the jury is still out, but looks like loads of room. Could go with a larger tire and still have some mud clearance (mud? it hasn't rained in months....). Will update if anything interesting happens.

 

Frikkin Darth Vader bike! Looking good!

mk

 

Hmmm. . . I am thinking about this fork . . . If anyone can compare to a lyrik I would love to hear impressions.

 

Just a headz-up, when I got my Pike it was wrapped in sticky bubble-wrap. That glue used on the bubble-wrap will transfer to the stanchions, etc. and gum up the seals. I used Goo-Gone to get it off, but mineral spirits would likely work as well.

 

This thread is pretty worthless so far. It would be nice to have a detailed report on performance and comparisons to Fox 34, 36, Lyric, Slant, etc. In time I'm sure.

 

Rode the piss outa mine Saturday, way better than a Fox 34, similar in feel to my CCDBa rear.

 

Anyone have any definitive answer yet as to whether these things can be lowered or not? I want a 150mm 26" dropped to 140mm.

SRAM is being very uncomunicative about that.

IMO, being able to easily (fairly) adjust the travel is one of the best features of Solo Air. It'll suck if you can't do that any longer, or if the mtb group mind community can't figure out a work around.

 

Good to hear. Thanks. After the Fox 2013 line-up, I would have a hard time coughing up $900 for one of their products.

Does the Pike ride relatively high in it's travel as advertised? Riding low has been a complaint about the fox 34 and x-fus slant.

 

Don't really know, I didn't pay much attention to it. I never felt that the F34 rode particularly low either. What I do know, at proper sag, my 120mm F34 Talas pre CTD rode too firm in most terrain, yet I could get it to bottom at least once on a typical ride. Dialed such that there was some minimal plushness, I would easily blow through all travel. I never really noticed that it was particularly flimsy either.

Pike 140mm soloair, on the other hand, at proper sag rides very plush when dialed properly. It uses 1/2 of the available travel just riding over rocks and hammering some light downhill chunk. I'm not quite dialed yet, but you really have to push it hard to go much beyond 85% travel use. There is no noticeable transition between the plush feel and the firm feel. Very stiff fork both front to rear, and side to side.

I was always a strict Fox guy. The crap CTD shock that came on the back of my bike was quickly traded for Cane Creek, now I've swapped the fork out for a Pike. My bike rides much better, especially after both front and rear suspensions have been changed. Plush, yet not mushy, nice progression to quite firm when deep in the stroke.

 

I would second Optimus' comments. I don't feel my Fox road low in its travel, but it wasn't as plush or stiff. So far, the Pike is super plush but seems to always have "more" to go. It's like a super trained trail dog that just always wants to go further, longer, rougher, more. I like Fox fine, but I could never get the same combination of small and big hit comfort.

I also find that I ride a lot with it fully open and don't really care. As long as I'm seated and pedaling smooth, it doesn't feel too soft but still give nice small bump compliance.

 

Minimal info on their site, minimal on youtube. There will be something out soon, either from RS, or individuals posting on youtube etc.

 

I don't have a whole lot of time on mine yet as I had to switch out cranks but initial impressions are really good. Stiff, plush and adjustable. Granted I don't have a lot of experience on many recent forks (just traded my '96 habanero in for a '13 Zeus...big step up!) I did have a year with an Ibis mojo equipped with X-fusion Velvet. Other than the maxle (I preferred the X-fusion) the Pike is pretty freaking awesome.

Weird that RS provides no documents online or in the box to help with fork setup but whatever, I'll figure out what feels good over time.

Some were questioning travel adjustability - I have the 27.5 dual air and with a dial on the left leg can adjust min/max travel minimum being 130 to max 160.

So far very stoked with the bike, forks 'n all.

 

I got the 150mm 26 pike and am very happy. I have an xfusion velvet 140 and a 2010 fox 150 32 talas fit RLC with kashima. All have tapered and 15qr. The pike is by far the smoothest and despite the fact I only weigh 125lbs the extra stiffness is quite obvious and very welcome even over relatively small bumps like 6" rocks.

The pike only weighs 50g more than my fox so I can't imagine buying a 32 or 34 fox knowing that. The 35 pike is amazing.

 

I can give a limited ride report. So far, Rockshox has a real winner with this fork. Some (me included) wished for 20mm but having a few hours on it now I can say it's not an issue with a solid wheelset.

Background: I've been riding since the mid 90's and was not a rockshox fan until the Lyric; Marzochi until they went to crap then Fox after that was my preference. I ride very rocky S. Cal trails and like AM style riding hitting the intermediate jumps and the tech trails. I've owned just about every fox fork and liked the 36 float on my Nomad but the Lyric solo air was better. I put a Marzochi 55TI on and then took it off after a month as the Lyric was 95% as good on the way down and 100% better up. Now I'm on a 2012 Remedy.

I've spent the last 6 months on a 34 Float 150 and been fighting brake dive so bad I thought the bike it was on just sucked. Combined with the typical-for-Fox doesn't use the last inch of travel, the 34 is a dud IMO. I'm sending mine in for the 2014 damper upgrade but am leaving in a week for a big trip so picked up a Pike so I wasn't without a AM ride. My best decision in quite some time.

First off, the Pike doesn't dive and my bike now handles like it should. Secondly, while sagging a perfect for me 25%, I used all but the last 5mm of travel on my typical trails with a few smaller jumps. Same trail and same sag on the 34 and I never got within an inch of using all the travel. Even if the 2014 parts make the dive issue go away, Fox has had the issue of not using it's last 15% of travel for 10 years so I don't expect that to be cured with the change (I've had 8 different fox forks, they've all been like that).

The Pike felt very stiff in braking and the corners, a noticeable increase from the 34. Not that the 34 is bad but the Pikes increased plushness (yes, it's much more plush than the 34, this is probably the most improved aspect between the two forks and quite surprising for a not even broken in fork) combined with the stiffness is a real confidence booster. I always said the Remedy is more like a long travel trail bike but with this fork it finally feels like an AM bike that's not just capable but also confidence inspiring.

I didn't even really research the new damper thing in there but can say that the platform works very well and can be made anywhere from slight to very solid and everything between. Our rides are pretty much all straight up then straight down so I haven't really tried riding it down with the platform on so can't comment on how it would work somewhere like Arizona with lots of small ups and downs and no time to flip the switch. I have it set with just a few clicks and it's perfect for what I like.

I know some are asking for a comparison vs. the Lyric or 36 but that's just not a fair comparison IMO. The Pike is quite a bit lighter and is more an Enduro (whatever that is) and light-AM fork whereas the Lyric and 36 are at the heavy end of AM and light freeride. For what it's worth, I think if you hit any significant gap jumps or drops over 5 ft you should run the bigger forks. Pike would be fine if you hit everything perfect but screw up and that 10% extra the bigger fork gives might make a difference. If you mostly ride technical trails and stick to the table tops the Pike is the way to go. If I still had a Nomad it would run a Lyric. Remedy carbon is well matched with the Pike.

Only questionable thing is that you are buying into a 1st production run product so who knows what the long term issues will be? For me, the unknown-issues-but-looks-good-now is better than the known issues with the 34.