Looking for some thoughts on what fork is better for a hardtail build for general trail ridding. It’s between the MRP Ribbon and a Pike.

I’m building a Stooge Mk3 soon and am caught in a bit of a dilemma re what fork is best. I’ve carpark tried the MRP and love the 16click spring rate adjustment. The Pike I’ve not tried but I hear lots of good things, especially in small bump situations. Cost isn’t really a factor, it’s performance.

Historically, I’ve always had to lock the forks out when in very slow, technical trails as the trail conditions / obstacles we have here often mean the forks would fully compress at very slow speeds thus pitching you over the bars as the head angle changed. The MRP system / or tokens in the pike would appear to solve this issue. I’m also aware of the retro MRP cartridge that can be fitted to the Pike.

The plan is to run it on 27.5×3 so that would mean running the forks with 120mm.

Cheers

I went from a pike to a MRP stage, both very good when they work! Stage has a better spring action but the pike damper had the edge, however I suspect the Ribbon has improved on the stage quite a bit. I think there will soon be a coil option for the Ribbon too, would love to try it. Keen to see if I can retrofit the ribbon coil into my stages. I like how the MRP forks are made by a dude in a shed in Colorado, you get a signed dyno test card, just nice little touches from a small engineering company.

You need Mboy! He’s got a Ribbon at the moment, and had Pikes

MRP ramp control isnt a soring rate adjuster, it does nothing at low speeds unless pretty much fully closed…. it is speed sensitive. Bigger and faster the hit, the more progressive the spring rate becomes