Toying with some 160mm Pikes for my Five but was just wondering about peoples real world experiences? I’ve not read a single bad thing about them and in terms of VFM (against stuff from Fox and Bos) they look pretty good.

And is bike-discount etc still the cheapest place to buy from?

Cheers
Dave

I’ve not got these forks myself, but I know that a few mates whose opinions I trust are running them, and without exception they’re all very impressed indeed (one of them’s an alpine guide). Which year Five have you got? Matter of opinion, but a 160mm Pike might spoil the geometry unless you’re on the latest 650b model. Pikes will defo be my next forks.

I replaced a set of Solo Air Lyriks on my Alpine 160 with these Pikes and have been very impressed. No noticeable loss of stiffness and they seem to track the ground better for the kind of riding I do. Can’t wait to take them to the Alps/Pyrenees…

wl – its one of the last 26″ Fives so should take a 160mm fork ok. Currently running a 150mm Revelation and I feel it just needs that extra bit of travel up front for silly stuff and to slacken it out a touch further.

Will have a look about at prices at lunchtime…

In the same position as you DBW, and have just ordered 160mm for my Five. Figured the axle to crown wasn’t massively different from the 36s I had on there, slightly shorter if anything which is good.

Ordered mine from HiBike. A mate and I ordered together and we managed to negotiate a discount for bulk on top of the usual Euro prices. Was the cheapest we could find.

I’ve got the 150mm solo air Pikes on a 5, they replaced an older set of coil Lyriks.

They are very good indeed, they certainly dont feel any more flexy than the Lyriks, the damping seems better (apart from the near useless ‘trail’ setting) and they are a lot lighter.

The only other negative I can think of is the paint is wafer thin, it doesn’t bother me though as bikes are there to be ridden not looked at. 😀

DBD – I’ve got the same frame (2013) and I also run 150 Revs. Mates who had that frame ran 36s fine on theirs, although it did slacken the seat tube and make climbing a bit harder (sure you know this). I think the Pike’s axle-to-crown is somewhere between a 36 and 150mm Rev. I guess you can always run more sag if it’s a bit tall. It’ll certainly be fun on the descents. A couple of the Sweary Northerners have Pikes and they rave about theirs.

Burchy – that a 26″ wheeled Five?

wl – It is indeed, 2012 model. Personal opinions and all that but I thought the Lyriks at 160mm ruined the handling on anything other than motorway straight boulder fields so used to wind them down to 150mm and felt that was the sweet spot.

I think Merlin still have 10% off at the mo.

Burchy – cheers. I’m tempted by Pikes but don’t want to spoil the handling by going too long on the front. Sounds like the Pikes work well.

I guess you’ve got a window before everyone starts raving about the new new thing (Fox 36s) 🙂

I have been riding the pikes for 5 months now, came from a set of Fox 34’s and X-Fusion Slants.
I think the Pike is a good fork and I am certainly very happy with it.
I don’t feel it is as plush in the first part of the stroke as the Fox was.
The Fox is very smooth over small repeated hits, not that the Pike is bad but I cannot get it to feel as good as the Fox.
Where the Pike is much better is in the latter part of the travel, it stands up so much better and you do not feel as if it is diving rapidly on the larger hits.
As said above the trail setting doesn’t do much and they do not feel flexy at all. tend to ride with them in the descend setting all the time, using the climb for road or fireroads.
Would definitely suit a bike where you spend a lot of time in the rough.

I think they’re very good. Bear in mind that you can always reduce the travel by fitting a new Air Shaft which costs around 30 quid, so if you find the extra 10mm or so makes the bike crap on climbs, you can always shorten them to 150mm

Yes. Having gone from coil Lyriks to Pike Dual Positions I would say they are up to the hype.

I have coil lyriks with the floodgate removed, 20mm axle and 1.5 in steerer.

also 150mm pikes

pikes make the front end considerably lighter. no lack of stiffness but not quite as supple over small chatter. They do sit in the the travel nicely and not divey at all, I only run 1 click of LSC.

coil lyriks need more LSC to stop the dive but

Who’s running what – Solo, dual, RC or the RC3? And what’s the difference in the real world, please?

mine are solo rc3, 26in

Cheers freeridenick. Know what the difference is between yours and the more basic RC?

I think the damper (charge) is the same, just not the RCT 3 (lock, trail and open) setting on the adjuster. The RC is just a turn dial between lock and open (no trail setting)

I run mine fully open 100% of the time so would not make any difference at all I suspect..

I’m running the dual position RCT3, run them for almost a year. A lot of people on here seem to get confused with the dual position model and refer to it as dual air- there are no dual air Pikes as far as I’m aware.

The dual position was essential for me as I plan to use the same bike for big mountains and XC racing but I don’t see it being a popular option for many people. Performance feels, IME, to be just about on a par with the standard RCT3 solo air, there isn’t the gulf in performance associated with U-turn or Talas and normal forks.

I’ve no experience with the RC I’m afraid.

Oh, one thing I haven’t tried is putting in a bottomless token. and running slightly less pressure – apparently this can have an can result in even more suppleness.

hopefully this weekend..

Hmm, cheers for this – useful info. I’ve heard the tokens make a significant difference, in a good way. Depends on personal tastes though, I guess. Good luck experimenting.

No tokens in mine either.

will update after the weekend if I get a chance to put on in

installed 1 bottomless token (10 minute job)

dropped air pressure slightly to 65psi, one more click of LSC

3 hours out on the bike yesterday, feel very nice and I would probably say a touch more plush

I bought the 150mm RC version from the Merlin offer last week and gave them their first test yesterday at Kirroughtree. They are fitted to my trusty Ragley mmmbop.

I can only compare them to the 140mm 2010 Fox Float RLC they replaced. First impressions were that the damping is miles better – I had control through fast rocky sections that I never had before. I’m not using any tokens and had the rebound fairly fast with about 3 clicks of lsc.

I was a bit concerned that the increased a2c of the 150mm Pikes would affect climbing but I was pleasantly surprised, the bike wandered a bit on really steep stuff but the front end stayed down.

Forgot to add, the Pikes were actually lighter than the Fox floats which I wasn’t expecting.

Ride mine for the first time today. Rct3 solo air reduced to 130mm. Tf tuned set them up for me with a bottomless token.

I’m really, really impressed. I came from some marzocchi rc3ti forks which were amazing. These felt easily as good and loads lighter.

Interesting to hear that they’re not as smooth early in the stroke as some. I’ve been tempted to get Pikes but one of the main things I’m after is plush action early in the stroke so maybe should look elsewhere?