I’ve had my Pike for about 6 months now. (2018, RCT3 with Luftcappe). Been very happy with them but I’m hoping to get them a little smoother over small/medium chattery bumps. They’re not as buttery smooth as my previous XFusions (but the Pike is stiffer and WAY more supportive).

I’m about 82ish kg with gear. Running about 70psi for 30% sag. Zero volume spacers (but the Luftcappe counts as 1). LSC fully open/soft. Currently using about 80% travel on most trails, and a little more on narlier stuff.

Any advice for getting them smoother? Perhaps take out 5-10psi air and add a little LSC? Put in a volume spacer to make up for the lower pressure?

Any suggestions from those who have perfected their Pike?
Thanks.

Do the maxle up less tightly.

Yep. That made me laugh. Good one.

Incidentally @Geex, Ive taken your advice. Filed the quick release and am now using near zero torque (just taking up the slack).

Extra tokens and less pressure will make small bumps nicer. Will ramp up more at end of stroke as a trade off

I did a lower leg service on mine and used sram butter around the fork leg seals. Improved them no end. I also use Fenwicks suspension spray after I’ve cleaned by bike post ride. Mine are the 2019 debonairs too.

service the lowers.

Serviced the lowers straight out of the box. Used Sram butter. 😀

Have a look at my Lyrik thread. It could be you need more LSC.

Nice work. Thanks @rickon
Some great advice on that thread.

Take luftkappe out and put the new air spring in. In know I’m in the minority here but I didn’t get on with the luftkappe in my 160mm Pike RCT3. I found they always felt harsh and was unable to use all the travel. The RS air spring gives a feeling that I like better.

I find it’s worth playing with tyre pressures too, I have found the small chatter is taken out with slightly lower pressures.
If that doesn’t work, have you considered a coil conversion?

I got some old pikes, took everything out on both sides, put a coil in one side and open bath damper in the other….it’s a magic carpet

Another vote for service them. Mine felt completely different afterwards and it’s simple to DIY. Plenty of videos on YouTube showing the steps for a lower leg service.

Not sure if it’s any help, but mine are great on bigger hits but awful on the chattery stuff. Might as well be rigid for all the good they do. I’ve noticed that, if I lean on the bars and gently push down it will drop to around 40% easily then kind of stick. A sharp push will get it past this point where it is smooth again, but if I just gently push it won’t move past this point. Not sure what this means, but it’s an easy test to do.

I took the preload ring off the shim stack, that helped them feel more reactive on the fluttery stuff.

Look at fitting some low/ultra-low friction seals. I’ve used them on a couple of pairs of forks and found them to work very well.

The current ones I’ve got fitted are the Push ULF ones and they transformed my Fox 32’s.