I’ve been running a Yari for about 4 months now, but have never achieved full travel (160mm) despite some fairly major nose dives off jumps / hard impacts off drops / heavy impacts.

It came with 2 tokens in, but so far I’ve removed one and used maybe a little more travel but not much.

Running around 30% sag at about 80% psi. The fork feels very plush over small stuff and the first part of the travel is very soft.

Its running the standar moco damper with the compression dial at the lowest compression setting possible.

I’m thinking I’ll probably take the other token out next and see how that feels. It’s on a Bird Aeris 145 which is a long bike and I would say I’m weighting the front wheel as much as I can, especially through corners to get good front wheel grip.

Weight wise I’m not 100% sure what I weigh at the moment but would think just over 12 stone but no higher than 12 and a half stone.

What have other people’s experiences been with these forks?

I read somewhere recently that unlike the pike both of the stanchions on the yari due to not having a charger damper are sealed up so they ramp up more, thought that was interesting.

I’d read somewhere that the motion control damper does lead to quicker ramp up – could be linked to what you’ve read. I would like at some point to get a Lyrik charger damper potentially – just can’t justify the cash at the moment due to family / house stuff.

The Yari seems to be streets ahead of my old 150mm Revelations but using less travel at the moment. Despite them having basically the same damper.

I weigh 13 stone at the moment, and with riding kit 100 psi gives me 25% sag on 150mm 650b Yaris with the factory fitted two tokens.

Nice and plush on small bumps, not running any lsc at the moment.

Nairnster- are you getting full travel though?

!50 travel Yari here and have taken both tokens out , feels a lot better with none in it .

On big hits yes.

forget about getting full travel, set the bike up to get the performance you need most of the time.

Does the fork have a lot of dive either brake or steep trails?

Can’t say I’ve noticed it diving no.

Surely if I’ve got a 160mm fork I should have it setup so that if I hit something really hard (one of those oh s*** moments) I get pretty close to full travel? At the moment I’ve got 30mm completely unused.

To stop diving under braking don’t you need to dial in low speed compression?

The Yari has quite basic controls – there is a compression dial on he too if he damper leg but I’m not sure if that’s low / high speed.

burp your fork seals with a small zip tie

I’d take that token out too. Bear in mind that on a long slack bike like the Aeris 145 there isn’t as much weight on the front unless you load it, so it won’t use the fork travel as much when hucking to flat (which is what I find uses the most travel – apart from when everything goes a bit wrong!)

I spent a while experimenting with tokens in my Pike and found I preferred no tokens but less sag (tried 0, 1 & 2 tokens and sag from 10 to 30%). Nowadays it has a Luftkappe and -2 deg Works headset and is running more sag.

Definitely having the token out then and see what happens.

Does the Yari suffer the air build up in the leg like the Pike then (referring to the burping comment)?

only one way to find out, insert zip tie, if air comes out and you get full travel … then yes 😆

I don’t get the obsession with full travel. Set the bike up to work with you – I never get down the bottom of my forks unless im really hammering it and make a mistake. Even in the alps I’ve usually got 30mm of reserve on 160mm forks after a days riding.

You spend 90% of your time in the top half of the travel, that’s the bit you want right. After 4 months I’d be dropping the lowers and giving them a clean and lube, but to me it sounds like they’re set up pretty well for you. Try dropping a token and see how it feels, add another 5 psi to get a bit of support back.

I ran 3, dropped to 1 with the Lufftkappe, but I’m going to try running without.

I never use the last 30mm or so.

Why have 160mm of travel if you can’t use it all – even when you really mess up and need it?

I had a shocker on one trail (probably) going far too fast – really jarred my slightly dodgy shoulder (had surgery in September last year to reattach some of the tissue to the bone that I’d ripped off playing hockey). I don’t think I’ve ever hit something quite so hard – another 30mm of travel might have made it less stressful on my shoulder.

I don’t expect to use 160mm travel all the time – but with stuff like that I’d expect to get to near bottoming out.

From comments above I need to burp the fork and see if any air escapes as 1st port of call. If nothing comes out then the last remaining token in there is coming out and then I’ll play with pressures.

If it uses the amounts of travel I expect but gets a bit divey under braking then I’ll dial in some low speed compression.

Surely if I’ve got a 160mm fork I should have it setup so that if I hit something really hard (one of those oh s*** moments) I get pretty close to full travel? At the moment I’ve got 30mm completely unused.

Set it up, so that only the biggest most god awful nose heavy landing to flat or nose dive into a rock garden uses it. So basically, you shouldn’t be bottoming it unless you’re in a crash scenario.

Over 20+ years of riding (been riding since I was small) I’ve had way to many offs due to my forks travel ending very abruptly.

Does the Yari suffer the air build up in the leg like the Pike then (referring to the burping comment)?

Pretty much all forks do, it’s why motos have bleeder valves and why a few mtb forks have them (another reason is for dealing with altitude changes I think).

You don’t have low speed compression adjust on the moco yari. Just the compression adjust which is different – you just restrict the flow of oil through the entirety of the stroke. There is also a different neg spring in there which gives you that initial plushness, flip side of that is that can be lack of support at the top of the travel if too soft.

Tokens themselves won’t affect the travel you get, they reduce the volume of the air chamber which alters the spring rate. Taking a token out will effectively drop your air pressure and increase your volume, softening it up and it will give up travel more easily, will give you a little bit more at the bottom. You can pop tokens in or out trailside so easy enough to see what suits you.

If you’ve felt like you’ve bottomed the fork out but it’s not at the bottom could be an issue with the forks, clean and lower lube would be my first port of call, you’ll probably find them dry as a bone given there’s not normally much lube in them from the factory!

You don’t have low speed compression adjust on the moco yari. Just the compression adjust which is different – you just restrict the flow of oil through the entirety of the stroke.

That is low speed.

Low speed affects the compression through the entirety of the stroke by changing the flow through bleed ports.

High speed adjusts the preload on the shimstacks.

Tokens themselves won’t affect the travel you get, they reduce the volume of the air chamber which alters the spring rate.

No, they alter the progression of the spring rate – for a given pressure they will absolutely alter the bottom out resistance.

No, they alter the progression of the spring rate – for a given pressure they will absolutely alter the bottom out resistance.

Which is what I said. But removing 1 token won’t gain 30mm of travel on a 150mm fork given same pressure, not in my experience anyway.

Valid point on LSC though, I more meant independent LSC but yeah.

Yeah, in my experience – it would change the use a few mm here or there. Honestly, at least the last 15mm should be held in reserve anyway. Maybe the OP should cut a token in half.

It’s an open bath damper as well is it not? If the fluid is overfilled that increases the bottom out resistance.

There are many ways to skin a cat and achieve the same outcome, with suspension setup.

Thanks for all the comments – some really interesting points made.

I’m not sure I’m up for dropping the legs off myself – if I had the time and enthusiasm I could probably do it but with a young family any chance I have a spare couple of hours I’ll ride rather than do bike tweaking. The air release and token thing is so-able in 30 mins though I think.

Probably in a few months time I’ll drop the forks in for a service as they have seen quite a lot of muddy conditions already. Bad ass bikes in burrington Combe services / put a longer air shaft in the Revelations I had previously so would happily use them again.

you need a 26 mm ring spanner or socket to add or remove tokens so it’s not really an easy trail side job .

I thought it was 24mm on the Yari?

I can’t remember the size of the socket required – but I removed a token a couple of weeks ago ok. It something I’d do out on the trail as it would be easy to get dirt in there and that wouldn’t be a good thing.

The bike is filthy after Bike Park Wales on Friday as the trails were soaking wet, so it needs a good clean before opening the top cap / playing with zip ties and seals.

I’ve got no tokens in my Pike, run it at 55-60 psi, and I never bottom out.

Anywhere you can borrow/ hire a shockwizz nearby? if you like putting numbers to these things which can be useful (if you record it all carefully)

Not considered that on the shockwhiz front. Read about it in a bike magazine but not thought about who might have one that I could borrow. I’m not a complete numbers nerd, but it could be something interesting to try. Not up for buying one though – I’m not that bothered.

As said further up, if the damper side is over filled then you’ll never get full travel. Let all the air out them and see if you can get full travel before adjusting anything else.

IF your still not getting no travel with no tokens then you could always try lighter oil in the damper.

The bike arrived in a box in May with the forks completely compressed – so at that point they had full travel with no air in. I’ll check that is still the case when I remove the other token.

I’d think I’m heavy enough not to need lighter oil around 12 – 12 and a half stone. Although as the bike is long and slack perhaps I’m not getting enough weight over the front of the bike.

So I’ve just removed all the air and I can get full travel easily.

Sonthe other token has been removed so I’ve got none in there. This weekend I’ll setup the sag etc correctly again and hope I can get a quick spin out on the bike locally to see how it feels.

Worth a punt, I’m going to remove my last token (been saying it for weeks). Yari ramps up pretty quickly.

If you find it dives too much tokenless, try a Lufftkappe.

The luftkappe just increases the negative spring size as I understand it. So you can up the psi to resist dive without making it less active at the start of the stroke?

I was thinking I’d see how it goes with no token and if a bit divey then dial in a bit of compression damping.

If I upgrade the fork in any way I reckon it’ll be with a Lyrik charger damper

You’ve an Aeris, right? I think Bird will rent you a shockwiz for £20. I’ve no idea how useful they (the shockwiz) are, mind.

I’ve got 160mm Yari, a really nice fork. Both more plush off the top and noticeably stiffer than my previous 26 Lyriks with the charger damper upgrade. Only downside is over repetitive hits like large roots, they are not quite as good, but the stiffness makes up for this.

OP, I usually don’t use the last 50mm. Most of my riding is around rockless Swinley and I don’t go off anything more than 4ft around there. Despite being hefty the number of tokens never really affected the total travel used, not by much anyway. I’d be surprised if I use any of the last 25-30mm. This might change elsewhere, but I concentrated on getting the forks feeling nice.

With 30% sag i’m running around 70psi. Although the forks are generally easy to set up I could not quite get them 100% right. Run 4 tokens and they were even more plush off the top and I could drop the pressure by 10psi. However, they would then ramp up a tad too much and feel harsh. Reduce to 1 token and mid to late harshness reduced significantly, but I would need another 10psi to maintain sag but loose the low speed plushness off the top.

My solution was to recently install the MRP ramp control. Now I can make the adjustments as I could with the tokens for ramp up but in isolation without it altering the other aspects of the travel and performance. So basically I can run 10-15 less psi, have regained the added low speed plushness off the top but can alter on the fly the degree of ramp up. Based on my riding we are talking about only 2 out of 16 odd clicks of ramp up, 6 def makes the forks sit up nicer and higher which was surprising (bike ran wide on one or two corners though) but think 4 clicks is the magic number around my local trails. Don’t think i’ve noticed much extra travel being used, perhaps a smidge, and I believe 0 clicks is the equivalent of 1 token ramp up. I can now start experimenting with the compression and rebound. The forks feel more active too with a bit more `pop’.

As said above, carefully use a zip tie down the seal – you will hear the air escaping – I had this issue after doing a lowers service and noticed losing 10mm of travel and the psi required being all over the shop.

You are running 170psi that’s more than twice what I’m running . I wouldn’t expect to get hardly any travel with that much air in them .

Sorry, typo. 😳

I was going to say, that sounds like a lot of psi. I’m about 12 to 12.5 stone I’d imagine and think I’m running around 80 psi.

That sounds odd, as I’m pretty sure I’ve run 70-85 psi to get 30% and I’m 15 stone on a good day. That’s in the attack position not seated though, or perhaps my shock pump is out and stiff seals prob not helping

It will be different depending on the amount of travel the forks have .