What are your thoughts on the Mcqueen so far?

Stiffness?
Reliability?
46mm offset vs 51mm?

Is the RL2 ok or is the RC HLR worth the extra £100?

got em on my solaris.
nice and stiff, easy to adjust. air forks are the best when you are a big bloke, so I like em.

Slight tangent but I upgraded my Xfusion slant RL2s to the Roughcut damper (aka HLR) and it was a noticeable improvement. Much better damping at speed, the the ability to adjust lsc in the open setting is great. Have Pikes now but the Xfusions were better.

RL2 dampers can also (no-one seems quite sure how) suck in air and become pressurised, which means you can lose 20mm of travel. Have to take the top-cap off to release the air pressure.

I think Xfusion stuff is great – all metal adjusters and not a single reliability problem in 4 years. Edit – apart from the RL2 damper sucking in air!

I have two pairs; 130mm on my Flare Max and 120mm on my Solaris Max. Not ridden one without the roughcut damper and no idea of the offsets tho. What I do know is they’re *almost* as good as a Pike for me. I tend to run them without any HSC at all and abut 4 clicks of LSC. That makes them still plush and good on small bumps and fine for crashing through stuff in my normal clumsy manner.

Not serviced either yet, but having had previous x-fusion forks (apart from a stupid tiny allen bolt) they are pretty easy to work on. Well by a proper adult anyway.

I paid £450 for the first set and £300 second hand for the second. That’s about one set of Pikes. For the money, I think they are brilliant.

Got the 140mm HLR version new on my hardtail (Genesis Tarn) and also 140mm Pikes on my full susser (older, but recently serviced). Only ridden a couple of times and still need to play with the adjustments. I had the low speed compression set half way, which is probably too much but I really noticed how it limited dive when chucking the front over steep steps – that would be a useful thing to adjust for specific sections of trail if I could remember to (and to unadjust it). Haven’t fiddled with the high speed so interesting to read about others’ experiences there. Apart from the adjustability, can’t say I notice a difference from the Pikes when riding, but there is a slight initial stick when pushing down on them (maybe the bushes will wear in a bit).

ETA this is the boost version with the 46mm offset and with a 29″ wheel in it.

Haven’t fiddled with the high speed so interesting to read about others’ experiences there.

Set your sag correctly and go ride, start with no HSC and dial in a click at a time until you’re using full travel only rarely. For me at 65Kg that’s 3 clicks from fully open. I might add an extra click for DH/Alps riding

I run LSC at 5 clicks ffo but then I pedal standing up a lot (used to ride a singlespeed). I also add an extra click for very steep trails (Alps mainly) as it minimises fork dive.

Great info STWers

Cheers

Now to try and find a second hand RC HLR.

Thanks rich I will have a go. Should get a daylight ride in this w/e in reasonable conditions.

I have sweeps with the HLR I believe and think they’re incredible. Have ridden (but not owned) pikes and Yaris and think the x fusion are as good. Silky.

Interesting that Ton says he likes air forks because of his size, I’m fairly light (10.5 stone) and like air forks for this reason

I have the RL2 and I like it, although I suspect it’s pretty industrial in feel compared with the HLR. You do need a few more tools to work on them – damper removal tool is a must unless you live a charmed life in terms of hitting cheese-like bolts with a mallet. Also prongy thing for getting at the air side stuff.

As Alex mentioned, there are eeny weeny screws holding a few things on, also made of cheese. Treat the lockout cap very gently – knocked mine putting it in the car and it took the top of the threaded section out of the damper assembly with it.

You honestly can’t beat them for value though. Rose was knocking out the 27.5 RL2s for 240 quid the other day.

Did some fiddling at the weekend and I can confirm the HLRs are great. Smooth but firm (oo er missus). I could sort out the high speed compression by going at a dippy puddle at the bottom of a fast chute, and the low speed by rolling over a half-metre or so step. Interesting. I may investigate how more or less spring pressure affects things.

Hi all,

Thread bump!

After a year how are these McQueens fairing?

I am planning a new build (29 hardtail), and am wondering how they compare to a slightly cheaper option like RS Revelations? My use is general trail, Surrey Hills stuff, Cwmcarn, nothing more than trail centre red – I run Reba’s at the moment (and have for the last 15 years), which are OK but run out of puff sometimes so either would probably be an improvement.

Thoughts appreciated!

Concrete24

I bought some Mcqueens with the better damper for my genesis Tarn as I was so impressed with my previous sweeps on my old bike. Very impressed so far, only done about 10 rides but the large amount of adjustability means I feel I have it dialled pretty well (although I am not one to constantly adjust, just find something that works).

I own a smuggler with revs (2018) and On balance I think the Mcqueens are better.

Thanks superstu. Good to hear the positive feedback, whatever I go for needs to last a good few years, so combined with the original comments your experience is reassuring!

Haven’t used mine a huge amount but been very happy with them (roughcut damper). They definitely feel a lot better than the 2018 revs I tried, though those were on a demo bike so minimal setup for me.

They’re very smooth and responsive and haven’t given me any trouble in 8 months of ownership, they made a lot of noise when they were new but that’s gone away over time.

I’ve got roughcut sweeps on my hardtail, and RL2 McQueen on my FS. The roughcut is definitely better, but the RL2 is actually still pretty good with the help of a suitably squishy front tyre.

Thanks all,

No horror stories and sounds pretty conclusive that it’s worth the extra £ for the Roughcut to get the most out of the fork.

I’ve had a slightly different experience with my McQueens.
First set of forks were on my Solaris Max and after about 10 months the lock-out failed. Had it sorted under warranty by Upgrade bikes and it was fine until the bike got nicked 4 months later.

Subsequently bought a Pole Taival and stuck on a new pair of McQueens.
Lo and behold, the lockout started to go funny after 6 months and it was sent in for warranty repairs during which the damper was replaced.

Overall I love the forks but on two occasions on two separate forks I seem to have had the same issue. Funnily enough, nobody else seems to have this issue with the forks from my extensive forum trawling on the subject. Wondering now if it is my style of riding!?

btw, both forks had/have the standard damper.