I’ve been riding Scottish enduro events over the last two-ish years. I’m 50 years old and have had a mountain bike since the early 90s but I’ve only acquired a gravity skillset comparatively recently. For my fiftieth I got management permission for a new bike and bagged an XL Norco Range carbon 29er. Reserve bike has been a Devinci Spartan (size L 2015 alloy). They feel completely different but somehow both get the gravity job done.
I rode the Norco at round 2 of the SES at Innerleithen. I rode the Devinci at round 3 at Kinlochleven yesterday.
Forks (both Lyrik RCT3) Norco vs Devinci:
- 160 boost vs 170 non-boost
- Charger 2 vs Charger 1 (light rebound tune)
- Debonair 2019 spec vs Solo air
- 2 tokens vs 1 token
The Devinci is short, upright and has a whopping great stem (75mm). It has the wrong width rims (23mm), the wrong size wheels(27.5). Every advance of the last few years is absent. The Norco has all the modern advantages and certainly fits me better. I’ve had my best ever result on it. The Norco Lyrik feels soft and pliant off the top; easy grip to lean into. The Devinci Lyrik (freshly serviced) feels stoutly supportive and linear.
Hitting the Kinlochleven stages (blind but with between the tapes commitment) I only used ~130mm travel on the Devinci (front and rear) but was in a place of complete calm behind the bars; no arm pump; bumps just disappeared; sightlines stayed way down the stage. The firmness translated into confidence to launch into all of the jank. Heels stayed down. On the pedally stages it pedalled well too. (In the Alps hitting bigger speeds and bigger compressions I have used all the travel, btw.)
How can such different feeling forks be so defining in the character of the ride of the two bikes and yet both be almost inseparably capable? Do things get better or just different? Should I try and make the Norco fork feel like the Devinci fork or the other way round?
[I know. Least popular thread ever. I'm actually happy with two RockShox products. How dare I?]