I was just given some Rock Shox Pikes which are a little beaten and i dont know much about them.

is there anyway to tell what make/model they are?

well the make is Rock Shox and the model is Pike 😉

but as for which variant probably best to post a picture 🙂

does it matter what the variant is?

also the cap on top are not there, do you know what they are called?

one side is air and the other has a spring if that helps

does it matter what the variant is?

eh? Well if you want to know what they are then yes.

If they are air then you normally have air in the left leg and a damper (fluid filled) in the right leg.

If they are U-turn (measurements on the left leg) then they will have an adjuster on the top of the right leg and they should have a compression adjuster dial on the right leg.

If they are worse for wear I’d suggest getting them looked at (service wise) before you bother using them.