So my bike shipped with Recons 120mm. Never been impressed with them, no good at trail chatter need big hits to make them. Now my riding is harder reg bottoming out. So either I service to bring some life back or stump up obscene lump of cash for some pikes.my question is it worth it and if so which version. Can someone confirm if I buy the 130mm 27.5 boost. This will come with tokens so if I want to play with travel and take up to 140mm or 150mm I can just remove tokens. I know the bike can take upto 150 and understand all the geometry changes etc. Will also be running a boost adapter to run current hub but good to be future proofed.
My bike shipped with 130mm Recons....
My 8yr old scratched the stanchions getting the bikes in the car (I had a broken arm so fair play .. not blaming him) but I took it as an excuse for buying some Pikes....
What you need to change is the airshaft.... it's pretty easy assuming you have a good set of circlip pliers and otherwise 5 mins on a lowers service! (I had crap circlip pliers and wasted more time on the damned thing)
is it worth it and if so which version
If your blanching at the money ... (I did) then go for the ones with the best discount.
I think they are all good .. as in better than your current Recon.... and it might even be better getting non-boost if they are 1/2 the price... (sell em later and then get whatever is good at the time)
Tokens are only for air volume, to change the travel you'll require a new air spring which is something like 25 quid and a bit of work. You can usually pick up second hand pikes at a decent price, but you're more likely to source a non-boost version though. I think the pikes would be a pretty decent upgrade relative to the recons in my opinion.
brand new 27.5 boos pikes at 150 mm travel are £335 at bike discount De at the moment. Id buy those sell your old forks for waht you can get for them, makes Pikes a cheap upgrade. If 150mm is too high you could have the air shaft changed to lower them (new shaft £30)
As someone said earlier the tokens dont effect the travel only the spring rate.
Thanks for info. Yeo forgot that about the tokens. But still it sounds feasible to change travel. Not sure which way I would go 130, 140 or 150. Always a compromise but my bike has to climb as well as descend. Dual position is an option but keeping the fork stifled in short travel most the time is probably not good.
The .de Pike deal mentioned above sounds a good price - I’m not sure if they’re still knocking out Fox 34 Rhythms cheap but they are also a pretty good fork - I know a few people who bought one and have been pleased.
If the Pikes come out too expensive you could also consider a Yari if you could get a good price on one. The damper isn’t as good as in the Pike but they’re stiffer (also a little heavier) and should you feel the need you could upgrade the damper at a later date.
Not sure which way I would go 130, 140 or 150. Always a compromise but my bike has to climb as well as descend.
Climb as in racing or climb as in to get to the top of the next hill?
Its 30-35 quid an airshaft so not prohibitive to try both ends. You can do a lowers service whilst you're at it. (Even a half service and just wipe clean and regrease) ... if you're doing it often the Pike oil is about double the price per litre or something as the 100ml and you can get 50 crush washers for a tenner.
I doubt the travel "per-se" will make much difference to climbing .. more how it changes head angle.
Have you considered dual position ???
Regarding travel though my Whyte T-130 has 140 Pikes on at the moment.
It feels a bit under-biked on uplift powered DH.(e.g. FOD) .. but not hugely. It would be pushing it to do Fort Bill though.
On milder XC (like Swinley) it feels slightly over-biked... but again not hugely or enough for me to bother switching the airshaft but that's just out riding. I'm sure Swinley could be done a bit faster on my 100mm Carbon HT... but I have more fun taking the T-130
