I'm looking at pre-ordering a Bird Aeris 145 (in fact I've had it in a basket twice but keep changing my mind on spec). The guys at Bird on e-mail have suggested I'd be better with a Piggyback Shock, which adds about £140 to the build. I'm therefore considering saving a bit of cash on the forks by looking at the X-Fusion Forks in lieu of Lyriks (in all honesty I'd prefer a set of Fox 36s, but that would destroy any sense of budget, plus Bird don't offer Fox themselves).
I'm a big lad, I reckon I'll be 115kg when the 145 is released at the end of March so fancied the stiffness of the Lyriks. However, I just want a fork that works and don't want too much messing about with tokens, etc. Does anybody have any thoughts about the X-Fusion Sweep Roughcut HLR 150mm that Bird offer. They are nearly £300 cheaper than the Lyriks, so that pays for my dropper/contributes to increase in shock cost.
This bike will be used for some Lakes, BPW, Antur Blues and Reds, Gisburn type riding if that makes a difference. My current FS runs 150mm Fox 32s so is noticeably noodly in rock gardens and the like.
I have ridden a set on the Sweeps with Roughcut damper although only once on my Vitus Sommet, they were a nice fork I also used to have a set of Pike RCT3 forks also very nice but my favourite are my BOS Devilles of the 3 forks. I Haven't tried the Lyriks.
Lyrics on my ,Aeris 140 and moving from Pikes I say they are pretty awesome
Far more supple that the pikes
My mate runs the X fusions on a bird Aeris he built and he rides pretty good and has never complained about them
I only went with the lyrics because I would end up upgrading at some point and the lyrics were top of my list
Can't comment on Sweeps but I have metrics the bigger brother and not had and problems. Easy to set up how you want with all the settings as I have the same damper.
Just remember they are all metal no plastic in them so should have less chance of them going wrong.
I suppose I could go for the cheaper x-fusion option and if I don't like them flog then and buy Fox 36s?
I've ridden x-fusion any lyriks, I have lyriks on my bike....
I've ridden x-fusion any lyriks, I have lyriks on my bike....
HLR roughcuts?
I maintain that the best forks I've ever had were my Vengeance HLR. Sold due to lack of clearance (went 650) and weight. I now have Sweep RL on my Switchback HT and Sweep HLR roughcut on my Rune. I want the roughcut upgrade on me RLs now! The Roughcut damper is fantastic. Very easy to setup and forks feel super smooth and plenty stiff enough (34mm stanchions).
So now, 5 of my regular riding buddies have HLR forks (4x sweep, 1x trace). 2 replaced pikes (broke, similar performance, but much more expensive).
I love x fusion forks. I haven't used lyriks but for me I'd go on the upgrade dropper and shock and they x fusion forks.
They are very fit and forget once set up which is another plus for me.
I own 2 Sweep Rl forks and absolutely love them, I would love the roughcut damper but tbh I don't need it as there perform so well with the RL2 damper.
I've run xfusion forks for a few years and I think they're superb. Build quality is a cut above Pikes (metal adjusters etc).
I upgraded from the RL2 damper to the Roughcut and it's noticeably better. More support, better control in really rough stuff and adjustable LSC and HSC is very handy to have.
I always figure you should have a better shock than fork (if you have to choose), as shocks have less travel to play with so damping quality is far more important.
Just my 2p worth
I always figure you should have a better shock than fork (if you have to choose), as shocks have less travel to play with so damping quality is far more important.
Interesting idea and I get where you're coming from.
My thinking is better fork as a priority - as it has to deal with the rocks & roots first and the rear will follow anyway.
To address the OP - the Lyrik would be awesome for a heavy rider, but the price differential is surprisingly high. Is that the Bird prices?
I've got Slants with the roughcut HLR damper and they're a fantastic fork. They easily handle anything I can throw at them. Highly recommended.
I think Cotic spec them on their build as well as they're so highly regarded. Their sponsored riders def use them.
Cha****ng, yes £257 for the Xfusion, £525 for the Lyriks.
That's the cost to upgrade from a different fork I guess, too cheap to be total cost of fork.
Other option is flog the basic spec fork unused and get a Lyrik elsewhere, they were just over £600 on Winstanleys when I bought one last year.
Meh had the sweep for a year, it works fantastic for the first month then it slowly declines. It's no better than a rockshock yari and a pike is most certainly plusher off the top. I also blew the damper clean out of my sweeps.
Tested an Aeris with RS Yari and one with Pikes. Ended up with Sweeps. Best of the three IMHO. Haven't tried the lyrics so difficult to comment on that I'm afraid.
No thats the cost of the fork.That's the cost to upgrade from a different fork I guess, too cheap to be total cost of fork.
In that case the answer is obviously to buy both.
😉
Meh had the sweep for a year, it works fantastic for the first month then it slowly declines. It's no better than a rockshock yari and a pike is most certainly plusher off the top.
Again, is this the RL or HLR Roughcut model?
I have the XF McQueen on my Flare Max with the RC damper. Have a pike on another bike and a Yari on yet another 😉 I'm really happy with the performance of the XF. Mine's set to 120mm and the Pike is 160mm so maybe hard to compare directly but there's not enough difference to make me think I should have paid a lot more cash for the Pike....
The Yari is a great fork for the price. Having said all that, my mate has a Lyrik which he changed to from a pike and he thinks it's a far better fork everywhere except being a bit heavier...
To be fair - a s/h set of fox 36 can be had for around 650 so get the XFusion and upgrade to fox / lyric when you can afford it
That way you get the shock & dropper you want which will make the bike ride better in the first place
I think the X-fusion damper is actually set up better for the "larger gent" seems to get the best out of it. Last time I was using one I found it hard to get the last bits of travel from it.
I have had the rough cut, lyric and 36's. All good but the lyrics were best for me, easy to set up and felt great. The X fusions were nice but extra offset on them made the bike feel more twitchy so I changed them.
oi-you talking about me cummins? 🙂I think the X-fusion damper is actually set up better for the "larger gent" seems to get the best out of it. Last time I was using one I found it hard to get the last bits of travel from it.
Not sure if it's changed but I can easily get full travel on the McQ with some of my less than perfect landings. That's running it at about 25% sag with a couple of clicks of LSC and one of HSC.