the main fork of choice these days?

im thinking of a change, 26″ 160mm for my alpine

currently running fox 36 talas and fancy a change.

everybody happy with them? any problems to report?

Yep. Nope.

plush as an owl’s tits

If can live without the travel adjust then TALAS to FLOAT conversion would be your best bang for buck.

If you want travel adjust then go for the Pike Dual position.

I have FOX 36 on my hardtail that I’ve recently converted from TALAS to FLOAT.
On my full-sus I have just fitted Pike dual position.
Both are ace (in contrast to the TALAS which were pretty grim). The Pikes seem better of the two but only had one ride on them and the cost is about seven times higher than a float conversion!

i can buy the solo air versions for £499 new ;o)

to be fair i never use the travel adjust, always just run them at 160…

i can buy the solo air versions for £499 new ;o)

to be fair i never use the travel adjust, always just run them at 160…

How nice for you…they are £470 from hibike.com.

My dual positions were £540.

A talas to float kit is about £80.

Yer pays yer money and makes yer choice.

My aftermarket solo airs in white 26″ were £300 new so beat that 🙂 and no i am not telling where from just willy waving!

Lol rob…. I’ll give you £375?

nope – best forks ever

Email in profile if you wanna share the love lol

all gone now

mine have survived well over the winter and they are very well mannered

worth putting in 1 or both if youre a big lad of the supplied tokens s they help make them more progressive

The best thing i can say about mine is that they do what you ask without protest, so you don’t have to think or worry about them. The same could be said about the forks they replaced 80% of the time (Fox 32 Floats @ 150). For general trail riding they were grand but didn’t like fast rough stuff or bigger jumps. The extra stiffness of the Pikes is probably the biggest difference, that and they are easier to get feeling right – floats took a lot of fiddling to get them how i wanted them.

Plush, smush! Seriously over hyped imo. I can’t notice that much difference in that regard, but that could just be me. Your 36s are plenty stiff (have a pair on my hardtail) so unless you really want to spend £400 i’d go for a float conversion – providing you’re happy to experiment getting them just right.

edit: they do look very nice in black.

Plush, smush! Seriously over hyped imo. I can’t notice that much difference in that regard, but that could just be me

I wrong about Pikes.

I got a pair of RCT3 Pikes about 6 months ago and after a few rides i thought they were just ok. I rode them at a few trails centres and some local rough, but fairly flat trails, and although extra stiffness was apparent, i wasn’t getting awesomeness that most riders seem to harp on about.

Well not any more. I popped in a couple of tokens (only because most on here had done the same and were impressed) and dropped them down to 85psi and headed off to the mountains. Lots of climbing, plenty of swoopy, rocky singletrack, henduro style runs and a couple of trails that wouldn’t be out of place on a WC DH course. They took everything in their stride and i mean everything! No matter how rocky, rooty, off camber, lumpy and steep the trails got, they just ploughed on, soaking up everything the terrain had to offer. The faster i went, the better they felt and i found myself not having to brake anywhere near as much as i used to on the old fox 32s, which got a bit scary on fast rough stuff. This extra speed came without any extra effort – and that’s worth the price alone. The bike felt so composed that i was able to hit lines that looked out of reach with relative ease. I think on some parts of Saturday’s ride i was driving a bike, off road, better than i ever have on some of the most technical trails i’ve ridden. So thank you Mr Pike, i’m sorry i doubted you. I wont do it again.

In contrast, mine are ballcocks….

Had them a few months. First day of a 3-week biking trip the damping cartridge went kerplunk and I had to ride on pogo sticks with zero rebound damping.

They’ve had a small top out clunk since day one, I’ve sent them back for warranty twice now as after the first time to fix the damper the clunk was worse.

They’ve not replaced them though and they say this clunk is normal…

Not really happy at all. Lots of money.

I do however realise I am in a minority, not ethnic, but Pike-unhappiness-wise.

Fine so far. Damping performance on low speed rooty, rocky climbs, roll overs, square edged stuff, is just excellent. So much so that I’m realising my Lyriks just aren’t as good, but I’ve never really fiddled much with the settings so I’m trying to get them similar. The Lyriks however are amazing at high speed blasts down rough as hell stuff, along with drops and jumps. The Pikes are on my hard tail so makes it difficult to compare there as despite plush forks, a hard tail is still rough at times when throwing it into gnarly stuff. Still, testing out yesterday what I did notice is coming off small drops, if the front lands first the whole thing feels really smooth. If flat, it’s a harsh jolt. Given no rear suspension, it’s no surprise.

Would like to test them on my full sus, though I need longer travel. Not sure it will match up to the Lyriks for BPW, Alps and the odd bit of DHing.

Everything Euro said.once dialled in , which for most people only comes once dropping 20 psi off the fork listed pressure, they really are the best 300£ bike component ive ever bought. Nothing phases them, any type of trail chatter or rut fest just point and shoot. Has opened up some great new lines on local trails.

In Whistler (almost exclusivley in the bike park), I preferred them to Boxxers and Fox 40s.

Make of that what you will.

I never bother with the listed pressure, but did find they were diving a bit at the usual 25% sag I set for most forks. Added a bit more air and they’re nearer 20% now, but diving has gone and still feels plush if I set a fair bit of compression.

Not tried tokens yet. Not sure what difference they make really. As I mentioned earlier, I’ve got them on the hard tail so they’re not doing big stuff.

I’m still not blown away by mine, adding the tokens made them work decently (they should be fitted as standard imo) but still not awesomely. I switched back to my old Lyriks for a week in the alps and they’re just plain better imo (though weigh almost 50% more!)

I’ve put a fair amount of effort into my Revs and Lyriks to get them working how I like, so it’s not the fairest comparison. Still working with the Pikes, I figure if I don’t have them working how I like by the end of the year they’re getting the sack.

Pike’s have fantastic internal technology, they come with KNOCK Tech and can actively detect when you need to reduce travel via their SUCKDOWN (TM) technology.

kayak23 – Member
In contrast, mine are ballcocks….

Had them a few months. First day of a 3-week biking trip the damping cartridge went kerplunk and I had to ride on pogo sticks with zero rebound damping.

They’ve had a small top out clunk since day one, I’ve sent them back for warranty twice now as after the first time to fix the damper the clunk was worse.

They’ve not replaced them though and they say this clunk is normal…

Mine have a top out sensation when lifting the bike off the floor via the handlebars, i’m guessing latent weight of bike compresses them ever so slightly. Wouldn’t call it a clunk though. They all have this topout sensation apparently and its not a fault.

They apparently eventually end up sucking air into the charger damper, negating the point of having a closed system.

Avalanche can rectify this by enclosing the bladder in a sleeve charged with nitrogen, something that has been done on most motocross forks for a long long time.

n contrast, mine are ballcocks….

Had them a few months. First day of a 3-week biking trip the damping cartridge went kerplunk and I had to ride on pogo sticks with zero rebound damping.

http://www.avalanchedownhillracing.com/Rock%20Shox/Pike%20Charge%20Piston_Valve%20Upgrade%20Kit.htm

This guy will sort your cartridge out, or you could opt for his own open bath damper. They are brilliant.

http://www.ridemonkey.com/threads/avalanche-kits-for-the-pike.266499/

The real advantage of the open bath is maintenance, with the charger damper the oil can easily get aerated over a very short time, this will require bleeding or if the oil is too foamy it will need to be replaced. The o-rings and rod seal should be replaced if this happens too often. The other advantage of our open bath is the air over oil creates pressure as the fork compresses and charges the damper oil to prevent cavitation(vapor bubbles forming at the valving locations) We are also able to add our optional ABS system to the open bath cartridge.

The stock charger damper needs different valve/pistons to effectively revalve them, the stock ones use very large ports that only require a very small shim lift to achieve full flow(kind of on/off or a threshold style valving) created by the rod/tube arrangement. We are able to use our open bath piston/valves and midvalves along with our extensive database of set-ups to revalve the charger damper for more specific riding conditions which allows the adjustments to be used more fine tuning as compared to course tuning and settling on a final setting with the wide range of the stock charger damper. We are also able to convert the Pedal/Lock-out into a high speed adjuster for more useful fine tuning. It also is less money than the open bath conversion.

In theory they should not mix, but when they do it causes a big problem in the damping. Any entrapped air after changing the oil or a pinched or damaged o-ring can contribute to the air contamination. We are not saying that sealed dampers are no good, just that they are a bit more maintenance for the added benefit and one needs to be very careful to prevent these issues. Since the Charger damper has no pressure on the oil, (kind of ironic since it is called the Charger damper) the cartridge rod seals do a good job of preventing the oil from leaking out, but they can also allow air to be sucked in as they wear, or as the rod flexes, or on high speed hits when higher damping forces are used in the pedal and lock-out modes. Essentially the pressure down stream of the rebound piston draws a vacuum and the rod seal can bend backwards and suck in a bit of air on each stroke. This is an another reason to add a charging sleeve around the bladder to maintain this positive pressure. As our web page describes:

I am assuming that is the reason why your fork is now a pogo stick. Basically Rock Shox managed to make another product (like my Lyriks and Totems) that isn’t fit for purpose.

‘Where from’

I know where from… 😉

I was toying with changing my open bath dynamic bleed valve 55’s for Pikes. After all the stories though (you must admit- do a stw search there are a few) I think I’ll go for Fox36’s

Not fit for for purpose?.

What utter drivel.

There the fittest for purpose forks i’ve ever ridden 😆

After all the stories though (you must admit- do a stw search there are a few)

There are a few. In and amongst the dozens singing their praise.

True. People will always sing the praises of in-vogue products that they see in the mags then buy into.

Almost every bike has them and loads are sold so there are bound to a few people with issues but they are great forks.

I have the RCT 3 solo air 160 26″. On second pair as first pair had poor quality control and they had left a lot of bonding agent on the stanchions and they creaked badly.

The second pair feel really nice. Like most rock shox they are easy to service and setup. They are light, stiff and plush and all the other stuff. However they have a horrible clunk at top out, like the last cm is just loose with no damping. For me this ruins a brilliant fork and I have never experienced anything like that on a working fork. Rock Shox claim it’s normal but like most of their products, they use a huge team of testers (or as we know them, the public) to find all the issues with a product over the first few years. Then they fix them all and they work properly after a few years.

Shame.

True. People will always sing the praises of in-vogue products that they see in the mags then buy into.

I was initially unimpressed with mine. The fact that they wouldn’t hold air from new didn’t help. Neither did the two week wait for them to get fixed. They looked nice and were much stiffer than the forks they replaced but i wasn’t wowed by them. It took maybe 10 rides (it might have been less had i got to the mountains sooner) for me to really appreciate how nice they are to ride. Worth the wait 😀

Mine have the topout, I just don’t care- it’s not a performance issue and is presumably just a sideeffect of stripping every available gram out of the fork- adding a topout mechanism, even a wee elastomer, would add weight and not make any real difference.

True. People will always sing the praises of in-vogue products that they see in the mags then buy into.

Same happened with Shimano brakes, they were the next coming of Christ and I was an idiot spending money on Hopes.

Then a few months later lots of people started having serious problems with them. Never had a single issue with the 7-8 Hopes I’ve used over the past 15 odd years.

I only get topout when lifting up bars from bike leaning against a wall though, never had it when riding off drops etc

I only get topout when lifting up bars from bike leaning against a wall though, never had it when riding off drops etc

I get a constant top out when climbing steeply. It’s different to the very small movement I felt originally. More pronounced, and that’s after coming back to me after a warranty repair of the damper.
The forks cost best part of £600. I sure as sheets ain’t spending more on some aftermarket tuning product. They should be spot on, and they’re going back again if they aren’t… 👿

No top out in mine I’m afraid

Lower leg service made a big difference to the feel though, a lot smoother and plusher. Have popped a token in but I’m 15st, quite a hard rider and run 80psi

Timbo I can get rid of it completely if I run at 80-90psi, but then the forks are like pogo sticks, so reckon the high pressure stops the topout.

50 psi and I can notice, albeit very slightly.

Understood, I run the rebound about 2 clicks slower than middle as well, if that helps

Try this: