I’m looking at some Pikes and am pondering between the solo air and DPA. Both are same price and weight, but i’m not sure how the DPA actually works. If you switch it into low travel mode does the fork actually shorted i.e. the A-C length shorten?

My bike is a Transition Covert 29 currently wth 140mm travel revs. the bike rides great but can get a bit light in the front on steep climbs, so if the DPA does shorted the fork length and dip the nose of the bike, then that should be beneficial on the steep climbs. Cheers.

Aye, it is a proper shortener. Though I think not as good when shortened as the old u-turn was, so more or less a climbing mode rather than an uncompromised short travel mode.

As said it works well but I find is a bit softer once short (can be divey). You flick the adjuster and bounce the forks, it returns -30mm or whatever the variant is specified at. With RCT3 you can use the middle threshold setting to firm things up which is pretty handy for climbing/flatter flowing singletrack.

A lot easier in use than U-turn but the character of the fork changes a bit once in diddy mode. It took a while for me to embrace it but I really like it now. Recommended!

Thanks guys, seems like a no brainer then (though they’re white and I prefer the all-black colour) especially since there doesn’t appear to be a cost or weight penalty. I would only use it on the steep technical climbs, so I wouldn’t envisage using it for actual riding so the change in characteristics doesn’t bother me so much.

I’m assuming there are no other downsides such as a more frequent and expensive service interval or they are less robust or anything like that?

The downside for me is you cannot use the tokens in the air chamber to fine tune the ride on dpa

When you say they’re divey in the shorter travel mode, can that be tuned out by changing the damping or pressure?

I’ve been thinking about permanently running a pair in 120 mode (to not mess up the bike geometry). Does that sounds like a daft idea? It leaves more options in future and means I don’t need to get a solo air modified to 120mm. It’s to go on a Trance 29er so I’d rather keep the front as low as possible.

Stu.

@wobbliscott, Bike-discount seem to have black DPAs.

Bump for anyone in the lunchtime crowd who’s been running DP Pikes in the lower position a lot…

Had a quick look at the new Talas, looks like it would do what I want but it’s v expensive!

Quote of original:

When you say they’re divey in the shorter travel mode, can that be tuned out by changing the damping or pressure?

I’ve been thinking about permanently running a pair in 120 mode (to not mess up the bike geometry). Does that sounds like a daft idea? It leaves more options in future and means I don’t need to get a solo air modified to 120mm. It’s to go on a Trance 29er so I’d rather keep the front as low as possible.

Stu.