they are great forks, im only moaning due to the CSU, apart from that the damping is by far the best ive owned, and stiffness is absolutely worlds apart from the 32’s Ive run before, so let me just say if I hadn’t had this issue with the CSU’s or whatever the hell it is creaking/clicking on the forks then I would be absolutely over the moon with them

id say take the risk, I had my first set on a bike from November to march and they were absolutely faultless, they endured all of the winter slop and Id not even taken the lowers off once when I sold the bike

its just a shame im having these issues, but to be fair to sram they replaced the first set no questions asked and confirmed it was exactly as I described (didn’t try to fob me off etc etc) with the creaking/clicking CSU

im sure if/when I send this set in they will do the same again, or fix them, dependant on parts….its a hassle for me personally as I only have the one bike, but if I had a spare bike to ride id probably not be that bothered at all tbh

to sum they are superb forks, I guess ive just been super unlucky with the 2 sets ive had on the new bike

would love to try the new 36’s, having seen them in the flesh on a nomad, they are absolutely beastly compared to the pike and marginal weight gain….the thing that massively puts me of course is the price, they cant be had any where near the same price as a pike unless you can get them in the USA 🙁

ps hobnob, how you getting on with the nomad? what height are you and size frame did you get? seriously tempted by one of these instead of a Bronson for the next frame I buy

RCT3 Solo Air Maxle Lite Taper 650B 2015 or 150 or 160 are 500…

should I go go for it?

There is a 26 option- I suppose I could run my current 26 front wheel with 650b for now.

This morning I also asked another stw’er who I trust on his opinion (who has had problems with his Pikes) and he still said Pikes all the way.

For 500 – should I go for it/150mm or 160mm?

Nomad is great. It’s a very different bike to the Bronson though, so you probably want to try one first.

I’m 6’1″ and I went for an L. I was on the fence between a L&XL, I’d have to had run the XL with a very short stem I think, and despite what Chris Porter says and a few short stem designed brands, they do make you have to ride a bike a certain way to ensure you get a decent amount of front end grip, and not wash out everywhere. I ride too far off the back of the bike to make that work, so it’s a large with a 55mm stem for me.

Thumbs up so far.

i was thinking of trying some loctite, maybe green(?) around the steerer, assuming it would seep in. someone above tried it. anyone else?

well my 2nd pair defo creaked – ive now swapped for 34’s and they are deadly silent!

so it was definitely the CSU or something around there creaking/cracking!

thought I was going insane and imagining it, but nope new forks and silence again

im done with RS for now, probably bad luck im sure, but 2 brand new pairs done the same thing, and one with a split bladder too… cant be arsed with the hassle of sending back every month for the same thing

fingers crossed the 34’s don’t do it, construction wise the fox’s do seem better/made, thick materials etc, whether that’s true not sure, but weight would suggest they have a bit more material

i was thinking of trying some loctite, maybe green(?) around the steerer, assuming it would seep in. someone above tried it. anyone else?

Loctite won’t cure a steerer bond that’s come away. If it creaks then it could be a problem. Send them back.
Plus, RS should be sorting the problems, not the customer.

It’s a real shame but I now seem to spend pretty much every ride monitoring my Pike forks for clicks, clunks, creaks and other general performance issues, and slightly less just enjoying the performance for the best part of £600 I spent…
😐

kayak – Im sure its just bad luck/bad batch ive had, the performance of the damping is great, make no mistake, I just cant be arsed with clicking and creaking on my bike and I certainly cant be bothered sending them back in every month or two just for the same thing to happen again

theres a few reported issues, but im sure the majority of the forks are fine

I tried some penetrating oil just to alleiviate the noise, and it worked for about 30mins then it was back

I was convinced it was headset or something on mine as I just simply couldn’t believe id be that unlucky to have the same issue twice especially on another brand new set, but I did so there it goes….

at the minute the fox’s are silent (which is nice treat given the clicks and creaks on the pikes have been there pretty much from day 1 on a new bike, so it feels finally like a new bike again!), I went out for a quick testing spin last night and attacked where I know it usually clicks and creaks and it was gone

there will be issues with stuff and sram were great just sending a new pair out, but I don’t want the worry of that happening

back to fox for now, and hopefully back to just having them serviced once a year like the good old days of my old reliable 32 floats fit kashima!

construction wise the fox’s do seem better/made, thick materials etc, whether that’s true not sure, but weight would suggest they have a bit more material

If there was a nodding head smiley I would’ve clicked on it. I could be wrong but I don’t think my Pikes are going to wear as well as my 2 year old 34 Floats have. When I strip them for servicing the 34’s definitely look and feel better made. Maybe someone like Loco, who will have stripped quite a few can comment.

well after a year of abuse -a winter of filthy mud and rain spent at swinley, surrey hills, aston and south wales trail centres 5 3x 3day UKGEs , a week of EWS, a week of muddy death at the Megavalanche, 2 (dusty dry:-) QECP enduros, uplifts at antur, bpw and probably some other stuff my Pikes have needed one oil change and dont creak or leak and are still working perfectly.

maybe ive jinxed them and they will explode on my next ride but they seem plenty well made enough to me

I still just put it down to bad luck, but tbh they have now been out long enough for stuff/people to see them going wrong…which is natural…

ive never had this issue with fox’s before, I always used to begrudge sending them off for a service (due to riding time affected) and with these pikes ive just had issues from day one, again probably just me being unlucky, who knows

but I do stand by the fact I think the fox’s look better/stronger/quality wise on the outside, I cant vouch for the internals, but externally they seem more robust and better built

I hope I was just unlucky and everyone else gets on fine with theres, maybe it was just one of those bad batches I had, I cant fault the damping though, the damper was great when it worked for me, very very smooth and plush, so I have no problems with how they peformed damping wise at all

I wonder if they just have some QC issues, I met a guy at aston whod sent a set back for creaking, the 3 people i ride and race with regularly have had no probs, Pikes seem to be very popular, wonder how many theyve sold compared to 34s?

I guess a major problem *possibly* (no engineer here) is they are very light weight for the travel/chassis size etc, and with them being 150mm upwards (on 650b etc) then maybe just the chassis isn’t strong enough, I don’t know but somethings obviously loose somewhere to be making creaking noises, im not even sure where it was coming from (csu etc) it may well be something else creaking/clicking in the forks themselves, but SRAM confirmed to me last time it was the CSU and a blown/split charger bladder

fox seem to be heavier, but even just standing them side by side you can see there is more material around the csu /crown area than the pikes

It seems all the manufacturers are having creaking CSU issues, I’ve had some 2011 Fox’s do it, and I definitley haven’t been the only one see here I started that thread years ago and people still add to it now, I had 3 new uppers on them under warranty before finally giving in and going back to Marzocchi.
Now my 55’s have been creaking for the last year and are going back for new uppers under warranty also, both Mojo’s and Windwave have said they’re replacing a fair few CSU’s when I spoke with them, both were quite happy to replace them though without any arguments.

I’m a bit bummed out to hear Rockshox now creak also, I was considering a set of pikes but think I’ll stick with the 55’s now

I had heard of the 2011 CSU issues I believe on 36’s, though I think that had been rectified by later models, you are gonna get the odd one that debonds etc

I probably tbh wouldn’t have swapped them out had the 2nd set been fine, and probably not even having a thread on here about getting rid of them, but that’s life sometimes and sometimes things go wrong

I have never ever ever had a set of 32’s floats creak on me and ive owned at least 5 pairs I can think of, straight to pikes and the 1st 2 sets I have done it in the first month of use

hopefully the 34’s will be ok, if they are not at least I know what noise to look out for next time and not keep thinking its a bloody headset (brand new at that!)

plus mojo are truly great to deal with and have you back on the bike in a few days max, I think mojos service is up there with the best of them (hope etc)

just to update this, i sent my 2013 sektors back to bike24, definately a creaking csu, and they sent them off to sram, who replaced csu, no questions asked. it did take about a month in all.
was hoping for a new set of forks but hey, never mind. that little scratch on the stantions’ll be gone anyways : )

I’ve got a Canyon Spectral 2 months old and my RC3 forks have just started creaking 🙁 May have to put up with it while the weather is so good. Anyone recommend any good ear plugs!

Damn this thread. I’m after pikes for my 27.5 trance to replace the 32 floats but this doesn’t fill me with confidence.

Just sent my 1 month old Pike RCT3 160mm 27.5″ off to Fishers/SRAM Tech for a creaking/cracking problem.

After removing them and clamping the steerer in a workstand then twisting the lowers slightly you could actually feel the stantions flexing and cracking where they are bonded into the crown… not good!

Hopefully they will get sorted or replaced asap

danny wouldn’t hold your breath, and the reason I went back to fox is turnaround, fair enough they creak/break etc, but I waited 8 weeks for a replacement for the pikes last time

not good at all, yet if Ive had issues with fox they have been sorted in 2 days max

therefore sram/rockshox im out

8 weeks bloody hell.

Hope not 🙁

Mmmm, im waiting for the 2016 model to come out, hope they’ve sorted this.

[video]https://youtu.be/TVEKlFHevJg[/video]

This is just me pumping the front shock. Took bike to my LBS and they doubled checked headset and no problems there. They phoned either Rockshox or their distributor and they said that they were not aware on any issues!! Fork is being sent back to Canyon on Monday.

^^^ That noise would boil my piss after paying over five hundred pounds for a fork.

Is it fair to assume rockshox are telling a wee fib about not being aware of any issues, going by this thread alone that simply cannot be true.

That noise is different from the creaking that’s a common and known problem on the new Pikes. My fork was replaced for the creaking without any issues. I went through Merlin (place of purchase) who recieved the fork and confirmed the issue and forwarded it to Fisher who instantly sent me a new one. I live in Sweden and I think I was without forks for a total of two weeks.

It’s just too bad the new one developed the same noise almost instantly…

I can kind of sympathise with RS over this issue.

Consumers make unrealistic demands….in the case of the new Pike people seem to want a sub 2kg weight from the fork and yet the robustness required to clatter down a hillside all day long on an uplift day!

If the fork with its larger 35mm stanchions had been released heavier than the 32mm Revelation i dont think that would’ve been unreasonable, yet you can almost predict the wailing and gnashing of teeth that would have ensued if that would’ve happened!….at what point does a manufacturer turn around and say ‘sorry, if you want this on your AM rig and fit for purpose then it’ll weigh a fair bit and your precious steed might not slip under the magical 30lb barrier you idiots pontificate about on forums!’….

It’ll never happen of course but are we reaching the point where trying to get a 1.8kg fork to support a 32lb bike plus a 90kg rider and work faultlessly is now very difficult without said fork costing upwards of £1000 and using all manner of exotic materials?

Consumers make unrealistic demands….in the case of the new Pike people seem to want a sub 2kg weight from the fork and yet the robustness required to clatter down a hillside all day long on an uplift day!

That’s not the unrealistic demand! The unrealism is expecting Pikes to be built with such close tolerance and such amazing QC that not a single pair ever creaks (or fails to perform as designed in any other way). I have no idea how many pairs of Pikes have been sold but just judging by everyone I ride with it’s a hell of a lot. It’s therefore not unreasonable to expect a LOT of faulty ones even if the percentage of warranty claims is tiny.

Sorry to drag this up again but is this what people have been experiencing?

The forks are a warranty replacement as the damper shaft broke on the first pair and these will no doubt be going back too but would like to carry on using them over the bank holiday as this is my only bike but am concerened that they might be unsafe. Has there actually been any recognition from SRAM or Fishers that this is a problem and/or a safety concern?

that sounds like the dual creak I had on mine – I had a CSU creak which was like a click, but that noise in your video sounds exactly like the noise I had when the damper had blown in mine!

so if its not the CSU creak you’ve got im pretty damned sure it will be the blown bladder/damper like mine had, very obvious when descending

@ bgd That’s the exact same noise I get from my Rebas. They’ve been back to Fishers once already who said it was the bushings / lowers and replaced them, but a few rides in and it started up again.

Its fairly intermittent on mine though. Some rides its not an issue while other rides they click like mad.

Mine is more of a click than a creak….just like a headset loose which it most definitely isn’t. I too would like to know if it’s a safety thing as heading to the Alps this summer and running out of time to get them turned around if it’s and eight week job

pedlad – Member

Mine is more of a click than a creak….just like a headset loose which it most definitely isn’t. I too would like to know if it’s a safety thing as heading to the Alps this summer and running out of time to get them turned around if it’s and eight week job

that was exactly my issue, could replicate it just bumping up a curb, which had me changing the headset (waste of money!), they may be quicker now, not sure I was really lucky I got a great deal at the time for some 34 (with newer 2014 internals) and haven’t looked back

although my fox did the same some months on, mojo informed me its likely the glue debodonding where the stanchions meet the CSU, caused by……cleaning it with muc off etc

now I was sceptical about this at first but since ive not used any cleaning products around the forks at all and its not happened again since (touches wood!)

the cleaning products (muc off or similar) left to penetrate, especially if you have the bike upside down to clean which I did sometimes gives it time to soak in the glue and debond it, sounded stupid and a lame excuse but since not doing it they seem to be fine!

Never really used any quantity of cleaner on the forks and certainly not upside down leaving it in to soak…..surely ensuring that stantions don’t de-bond from crown is pretty basic in tnhe ABC of making forks?!

although my fox did the same some months on, mojo informed me its likely the glue debodonding where the stanchions meet the CSU, caused by……cleaning it with muc off etc
now I was sceptical about this at first but since ive not used any cleaning products around the forks at all and its not happened again since (touches wood!)

Did they replace the CSU or has the CSU managed to rebond itself?

they replaced the whole CSU unit, as Ive said ive not had it since and ive totally avoided washing the forks now

will see how it goes, if it happens again ill know its not that story they fed me, though I can see some truth in it as some cleaners (muc off) are quite strong, so although you’d not expect it to debond the glue in the stanchions, you cant rule it out

Just to update on my issue this was the update I had from SRAM

“The fork has been replaced due to a creaking CSU. The fork and crown race will have been shipped to Canyon”

Hopefully I’ll get it back before the weekend.

Another creaky Pike to add to the list…
Must be all that chemical cleaner I never use.

This is currently stopping me from buying pikes for my trance. Seems like a massive ballache and not one I can be bothered with.

Looks like I might need to dig down the back of the sofa a bit more for fox 36.

Just to add.
I’ve also had the same problem with plenty of fox forks too.