[Closed] Dual position Pikes. Any thoughts on them?

I find with travel-adjust forks that when you drop them down it upsets the bikes' handling and consequently any (even small) descent feels horrible while they are dropped.

My last bike had a Fox 32 talas, never used the drop-down. And replaced with solo Pikes.

FWIW I live in a hilly area, as in 3000ft of climbing yesterday in 14 miles.

Not heard any reliability issues and weight diff is tiny. Apparently don't ride great in lower travel mode, something about not ramping up or lack of bottom out control? so fine for riding uphill and easy XC but need to be in full travel for anything rough.

Mine have been fine. I only drop them for steep uphills to tame the front end.

My 160mm DPA pikes are great, although I did order custom bottomless tokens for them from Maverick suspension - without them I thought they wen through their travel too easily. As per last post I only use the shorter travel for steep climbs - on full travel on steep ascents I tend to do accidental wheelies otherwise...

I've got them, they work fine and like the others have said I don't think the lower position is intended to be ridden on and intended for temporary use for climbing the steeps. I've for out of the habbit of using the functionality though. I've found it easier to adapt on the proper steep climbs, which tend to be quite short. Not sure if it's true but I've read that the solo's feel different to the DPA's I.e. Better?

All depends on the frame you chuck em on. I used to have travel adjust pikes on my old mk1 soul, as the head was a bit wandery on climbs, worked a treat.

Fast forward a few years, decided to put them on the SB66, and they are pointless. The bike feels horrible at the 130 setting, even on steep climbs. Feels as if the bike is digging down into the trail, making pedalling even tougher.

So, they just get left at 160 for everything now. As said above though, weight diff is negligible, and I haven't heard of any issues with them over the standard forks.

My mate don't like his duals and wish he'd gone solo like the rest of us. Not heard great things about them to be honest

I've just ordered the replacement for my 2008 Trance, which kicked off with 100mm fork as OE fitted.
I replaced that with a 140mm Revelation. Took a bit of getting used to keeping the front under control on steeper stuff, but pretty much can get up anything rideable without wandering all over the show.

New bike will be a Trance SX in essence, but, with 2x10 XT , SLX brakes and Hope / Stans wheels. That will have a dual position Pike as I couldn't afford to swap that for a Solo air as well, just hoping I won't need to faff with d.p too much.
Dual air rlt Rev and simple Fox float R , with nothing other than rebound adjustment have worked well and it's why I'm staying with Giant as I think the Maestro rear set up is ace.
Hoping that levers and knobs don't spoil me fun !

Wobbliscott mentioned above that he's read that the solos perform better than the DPAs. Anyone else heard that?

Depends on what you prefer: me personally, I've always had travel adjust forks...talas, uturn, dual position...as i get backache if the front is too higher on long xc bits plus, given I like a good climb, I hate a wandery front on steep climbs. My Pike DPs have been great but, whilst I do feel its not quite as bad on my Remedy, there is something with this comment:

Feels as if the bike is digging down into the trail, making pedalling even tougher.

Still they've been no faff and very plush...if there is a performance difference, it's only going to be very marginal and I'll take that if it means I can drop the front down on the climbs.

We are running two sets. Only run them on the lower setting fof climbs. They are excellent forks. You wont be disappointed

If you have a bike with slack head angle (like most of the new breed of bikes) I think the lower setting is really useful for steep climbs. The only negative I've heard compared with to Solo Airs is the linear travel and lack of bottomless token option, but this is solved by using custom tokens, which work perfectly in my experience.

Upgraded from a 150mm 2011 Rev RL to a 160 RCT3 Pike recently. Opted for the DP as my Heckler climbed like a pig with the Rev.

Had my first proper ride out with it last sunday at llandegla. With the fork dropped down to 130 it make a noticeable improvement to the way the bike climbs, felt loads more stable and less wandery. Didn't take long for me to forget to switch them back to 160mm for a downhill but the bike still handled fine (HA is 67.5 w. 150mm fork so still slack enough at 130)

As for my need for custom tokens, I've not used the fork enough to know if it needs them so I haven't ruled out the possibility. I guess with the DP there is technically more to go wrong but looking at the exploded diagram for the extra internals they seem quite straight forward...

I have them and like them. Suspension performance is excellent. I use the adjust on most rides for up hills and it makes climbing much easier. I also use the same bike for xc races and run them in the low setting for that and suspension performance isn't mind blowing compared to full travel but it works nicely.

I have never felt the need for bottomless tokens.

I got DP's only because they came in white. Would've preferred solos.
Dropping the front just feels wrong.

I've had mine for a year and they've been faultless. I'd say the solos could be better as you can add the tokens, I had to turn to tft for a custom tune as the duals don't accept the bottomless tokens.

For the quick cross country runs being able to drop the fork works well. It's a versatile fork.

Got a pair on my double. For me the lower position is normal, only extending them if i know things are going to get bumpy. I don't know what TFTuned did to them, but they've been spot on.

I assume you all know custom tokens are very easy to get and work great, giving DPA's the same adjustability as Solos.

The tokens didn't fit when I looked into this a while back. Have they released different ones now?

Got some from Maverick in the US.

Aye, there's no doubt about it. If you fit a fork slightly too short it can make the bike feel sluggish. My own bike is a bit of a mix match at the moment and the Pike dual position in 130 mode rode crap over (and up) just about everything compared to what it can do in 160 mode. The weird thing is, I've fitted offset bushes (M6 difference front and rear) and the fork is now more usable over so much terrain now in 130 mode.

To the OP, I've had no problems with mine. The reason I bought dual position was to make them more swappable between bikes but like some folk have said, it won't make a huge difference to certain gradients when climbing. The bike will feel far faster at full travel on many of the easier climbs you encounter. Sounds odd, but it's how forks do their thing on bikes when they're dropped too short beyond what the frame was designed for. I thought I was imagining things on my 2005 Marz all Mountain 2's but it's happened on every fork since.

Got a pair on the way, should arrive later this week. Frame designed for 100-120mm but the warranty is good up to 140mm. I plan to get LoCo to change the air air shaft so they'll work 110-140mm dual position. Should work perfectly for my 29er frame and a big performance upgrade from the 120mm forks I'm currently running. From what I've read the dual-position workings are completely separate to the damping etc so they should work just as well in either of the dual position travel options, and with little difference to the solo's. Unlike adjustable travel forks of old such as Talas which I never found as plush as their fixed travel cousins.

Thanks for the advice & info!
I've gone for the solos in the end based on the fact that I can add tokens if needed. Also, don't want the bike to feel sluggish. Cheers!

whenever i have had dual position forks, half the time i forgot to change them to full travel after a climb, so now i dont bother