Pike Ultimate vs ?

Just thinking about the above – my default choice for a 140mm travel fork that is sturdy enough for a bit of mild uplift action but light enough for some longer mellower routes is the Pike Ultimate. Looking to buy in a few months time in anticipation of my new frame arriving at some point before the end of the year.

Is there anything else I should consider – ideally the same weight ish or less than the Pike, decently stuff stanchions – possibly cheaper if possible?

I can think of the following forks

Fox 34 Performance Elite (I don’t like Kashima stanchion colour but understand this fork is basically the same as the factory other than Kashima)

MRP Stage / Ribbon

Cane Creek Helm

DVO Diamond

Manitou Mattoc

Any of those as good / better and under 2kgs?

Anything I’m missing – X Fusion option?

650b wheelsize / 15mm axle / boost / tapered steerer

Rev’s as you have the option to buy cheap and then add the extra parts to make it a Pike Ultimate later? 2nd hand I’ve seen them advertised for a couple of hundred, straight off new bike… ppl are idiots..

Manitou Mezzer is £720 on CRC right now in 27.5″ 44o/s.

Mezzer is quite heavy though isn’t it? Similar to a Lyrik (which I have on my fs bike). Probably a bit overkill on a 140mm general trail use hardtail.

On the Revs upgrade front I’m comfortable with the work to upgrade it but there’s not much in it value wise to be worth the drama and lack of warranty I don’t think. I haven’t seen Revs going as cheap as £200 – nearer £300. Plus a charger 2.1 damper, plus a new airspring, plus the slippier seals and it’s basically the same as just buying a Pike Ultimate.

Unless there’s a better option aftermarket than the 2.1 rc2 charger like avalanche / fast dampers etc that don’t cost the world?

I’ve just converted a brand new set of Revs into Pike Ultimates using the 2.1 Charger… it only stacked up for me as the Revs came on the bike and I couldn’t be bothered to sell them and then find a pair of Pikes when I could it all myself (it’s quite good fun taking it apart and swapping it over). I now just need to sell the MoCo parts (advertised on here) which will be good for anyone running Revs and needing rebuild spares.

I also have a set of Lyriks on my Canyone Strive… awesomely composed forks, but pretty heavy.I would say that the Pike is your friend here in terms of long-term parts availability, self-service ability and so on.

The Pike is definitely my default option a especially with the nice spangly stickers the ultimate comes with these days 😝

Just want to make sure I’m not missing something blatantly obvious or even less obvious from somewhere else. Without going heavier as this bike doesn’t need a full enduro fork like the Lyrik / Mezzer / 36 etc

On the Revs upgrade front I’m comfortable with the work to upgrade it but there’s not much in it value wise to be worth the drama and lack of warranty I don’t think. I haven’t seen Revs going as cheap as £200 – nearer £300. Plus a charger 2.1 damper, plus a new airspring, plus the slippier seals and it’s basically the same as just buying a Pike Ultimate.

But you don’t need to buy those upgrades straight away, the std fork is fine & should be a load cheaper than a pike ultimate, just buy the upgraded as/when you have spare cash. Admittedly the £200 2nd hand prices were pre-covid, so it may well have changed. It was just a thought, if you were struggle to afford the like of the Pike Ultimate straight away

Mezzer hits your 2kg target weight and can be dropped to 140mm with the spacers that come in the box.

Not ridden one yet but I hear good things. Just thought I’d put it out there as another option.

I ran a Fix Float 36 at 130mm on a Pace hardtail for the best part of a decade. Worked a treat.

I’d personally get something that wont break and then take weeks and weeks to replace under warranty. If I could buy again I think I’d finally ditch rockshox and go for Fox just based on the speed with which they apparently carry out warranty repairs! My pike ultimates have been gone for two weeks now and my deluxe shock has been gone for four, both so far and no sign of a return. One UK service centre and one the German service centre. Even though the Fox cost a tonne more if it meant I didn’t potentially miss out on weeks worth of summer riding I’d be happy with that (can you tell i’m bitter and annoyed!)

I’m with you, reliability and durability are more valuable to me than twiddly knobs.

That’s not good on the Pike issue. I’ve heard that Manitou aren’t always the best service via dealers if you have issues with those either. That maybe something of old but it might not.

I’ve got a Yari converted to Lyrik rct3 spec that I haven’t had any issues with and had an older Pike RC that was equally reliable. But I have seen a few comments about creaky csu’s on Pikes (bit alsonon 36’s) creep in recently.

On the upside my fs bike is 140f / 130r so will be my all round bike until I get the hardtail up and running so I’d be unlucky not to have one of them being rideable.

It looks like a 36 performance elite is 1950ish grams so lighter than I thought (but not as light as a Pike or 34 Performance Elite) – it’s just Fox are so expensive.

Ideally £700 is my top budget for the fork – I’m happy to pay that out in one chunk rather than buying cheaper and upgrading.

f I could buy again I think I’d finally ditch rockshox and go for Fox just based on the speed with which they apparently carry out warranty repairs

I wouldn’t count your chickens – 8 weeks & waiting for a friends 36 CSU replacement, was 6 weeks last time.

Given how often they have to do it, you think they would carry enough spares!

Whaaaaaaaaaat?!?! Seems everybody is snookered right now then. One thing I’ve always found with rockshox and the pikes/revs I’ve owned is that although at first they feel great I never find that sensitivity and plushness lasts and always find their long term performance disappointing. Maybe I just need to do lower leg services even more often. I’ve never tried fox just because of the eye watering price difference but I think next time I’ll compare them.

Hey Joe, I’ve got DVO Diamonds and Suntour Aurons if you want to have a bounce and see if they cut the mustard. I still wince at the thought of riding Suntour forks but have been pleasantly surprised by both the ride and built quality. Happy to catch up with you if you want to try them sometime.

That’s not good on the Pike issue. I’ve heard that Manitou aren’t always the best service via dealers if you have issues with those either. That maybe something of old but it might not.

Manitou owners the other side of the pond rave about their customer service but yes, in the UK, the importer come across as more of a box stacker than a service centre. However, Hayes bicycles do pledge on their website, to support a fork design for a minimum of 5 years.

love my Ribbons, so smooth and easy to adjust etc.

DVO Diamond is a couple of hundred grams over your limit I think.
I’ve heard a lot of very good things about them though, the OTT spring is a neat feature too. Should be getting one on my bike and super keen to try it!

Ok DVO Diamond is out on weight grounds as are the Suntour forks mentioned above.

X-Fusion Sweep HLR is 1905g so fairly ballpark with the Fox 34 Pe and the Pike U.

Any experiences with the X-Fusion?

Intend Edge fork? Mine are set up with 140mm travel and are under 2kg with Ti axle.

I’d be getting the mezzer.

Poah – what makes you say get the Mezzer – bearing in mind it’s heavier / bigger stanchioned / only needs to run at 140mm travel?

Bomber Z2 looks a very worthy contender.

Given your criteria, Pike Ultimate all day. 34s are ok, but RS forks are stiffer and unless you lash out over a grand for a Grio2 34, they’re better performing. DVO Diamond has really impressed me over the short time I’ve owned it so far, but they are that bit heavier.

Z2 is just the bottom of the range Fox 34 isn’t it – plain grip damper and quite heavy stanchions?

The Intend Edge looks a bit too niche for my liking being upside down / not a decent size manufacturer.

Formula Selva looks interesting – 1940g – all the dials look very nicely machined and premium. Might be interesting getting it setup with all the adjustments but I really like the look of it.

chakaping

Bomber Z2 looks a very worthy contender

A heavier 34 with a low end damper that costs as much as a Pike Ultimate? Nah.

what makes you say get the Mezzer

because it is an amazing fork. the air spring is better than the current mattoc, damping is very effective and the IRT is so much better than tokens.

I would have suggested the mattoc but the air spring isn’t as good off the top as the pike IMO.

Its slightly heavier than a pike and it gives you the option to change travel if you swap it to another bike without buying a new shaft. Easy to service and tune if you want. I fancy an identiti AKA and I’ll be putting a mezzer on it at 140mm.

That was my view on the Z2 – I think it’s basically a Fox 34 Rhythm but in a shiny red Marzocchi exterior?

I think it might come down to Pike vs Selva S. The Selva R sounds better with the negative air spring rather than negative coil but it’s probably out of budget.

Can you get a pike ultimate for £550?

If so, just get one of them.

Probably get a Like ultimate for around £650 depending on various sales. I’ve seen them a bit lower and a bit higher but never below £600 so far.

Formula Selva (original one) £650 ish. Mezzer on CRC (only 1 left and I’m not ready to buy yet) £719 and it looks like you can use their sale discount code on it so could be a bargain for someone.

Of the Selva is on the table, get one of those, for no other reason than I’m curious.

Onzadog
Member

Of the Selva is on the table, get one of those, for no other reason than I’m curious.

This is my thought tbh – the dials on the top of the fork legs are a work of art.
Mind that’s when they’re clean – but the time I’ve plastered them in mud and not cleaned them they’d look a bit more sorry for themselves. It seems a cool
Idea you can change the compression damping circuit with a small drop in part.

I’m curious about exactly how that CTS works though as it doesn’t look big enough to be a shim stack.

The current Mattoc Pro 3 is probably the best fork I’ve ever tried. I went for that over the new SID or Pike and didn’t regret it one bit.

Was getting rid of my hard tail though so it was only a short affair. Next time I purchase an aftermarket fork, it will probably be a Mezzer based on my short experience.

Rockshox always feel like a good all rounder though.

R2bike have Pike Ultimate for 630 euro which can’t be far off £550, code TAXRETURN takes 3% off too.

That’s a decent price – although 630 euros is probably about £600 using the kind of rates I’ve bought stuff at recently (exchange rate of 1.05 Euros per pound on the hubs I bought from Europe – that was my bank’s exchange rate when I sent the Sepa payment). I suspect PayPal / Credit Card co’s are going to be similar.

And their customer service is top notch too but it’ll take a week for your forks to get there when they need warranty work. But yeah totally awesome communication when you constantly nag to find out if they’re fixed yet!

Current world situations is meaning long lead times on warranty stuff sadly for almost all brands.

I bought my Pike Ultimate from R2-bike using a Euro Card (as they insist you use Paypal for currency conversion which offers a rubbish exchange rate). Paid £540 delivered. It feels like a mini-Lyrik. A big upgrade on my last set of pikes from a few years ago.

They replaced a set of DVO Sapphires which are STILL with Windwave six weeks after they were returned with a warranty issue.

If I end up looking to buy perhaps I’ll have a look at Revolute or some such currency based card where you get a better exchange rate. A few people at work have mentioned that particular one but I guess there are a few options out there.