You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
I’m currently running a 160mm Pike on one of my 29ers, but have always felt that it’s a bit twangy compared to bikes with Pikes at 140mm or 130mm. I’m wondering if it’d be worth upgrading to a Lyrik/Yari. Has anyone on here tried Pike and Lyrik 29ers - if so, did you find the Lyriks noticeably stiffer?
(after trying a friends bike with Fox 36’s, I’d really like to put a pair of those on the bike - but the price is a bit out of my league!)
I have a 140mm pike and a 150 lyrik, both in 29 flavour.
Yes, stiffer. Would I chop out a perfectly good fork just for a bit less twang? Doubtful but it depends how bad you find it I guess.
Hmm, thanks. Yes, the Pike 160 I’ve got is a good one, hence why I am wondering if it’d be a real step up in stiffness.
Depends on how much you weigh and how hard you ride, but a 160mm 29er is a lot of leverage on a Pike from contact patch to head tube. I believe the Lyrik is very close to the 36 in stiffness.
It’s a bit confusing because a Pike is stiffer than a 34 and a 36 stiffer than a Lyrik so the Rockshox options aren’t so clearly differentiated.
Do you notice it stiffening up in rocky turns as it twists and the bushings bind?
Not had a Lyrik, but I've had a 29er 150mm Pike and a 150mm Yari. I found the Yari to be noticeably stiffer.
My 29er 160mm yari is less twangy than my 650b 160mm pike
So id go Yari.
Not ridden lyric, but novyparts damper is a big upgrade over moco in Yari & TFT do Fast version of it, for £130, novy & im sure fast easily as good as charger damper (which is £200)
You'll also find its likely that if you get a 2018+ Lyrik it will be lighter than the Pikes you have... and stiffer.
"Depends on how much you weigh and how hard you ride, but a 160mm 29er is a lot of leverage on a Pike from contact patch to head tube. I believe the Lyrik is very close to the 36 in stiffness.
It’s a bit confusing because a Pike is stiffer than a 34 and a 36 stiffer than a Lyrik so the Rockshox options aren’t so clearly differentiated.
Do you notice it stiffening up in rocky turns as it twists and the bushings bind?"
I'm about 89kg in full riding kit and a fair bit of my riding is on the loose rocky descents in the Peak District, and when I get chance Scotland and the Alps/Dolomites. I think I've noticed the lack of stiffness (or fore-aft 'flutteriness') on the 160mm Pike more recently, as I've been using a short travel 29er over winter, and that has a shorter fork on it. The only time I've noticed the 160 feeling laterally twisty is on steep natural alpine turns. It's the fore-aft twanginess that's more noticeable on rough UK trails.
The frame it'll be hanging off is a 2015/6 S-Works Enduro 29, which feels very stiff. I really like the general fit and handling of the bike, and it climbs extremely well for its travel. I'm wondering if the overall stiffness of the frame is highlighting the twanginess of the fork a bit - and I noticed that Spesh started fitting Lyriks to the 2017 E29's.
Thanks for all the comments - it sounds like a Lyrik or modded Yari is the way to go.
Having only ever used Rockshox, I've been blown away by how good the Fox 36s are on my new Hightower LT. Other than a set of Lyriks from years ago, the Fox blows Rockshox away. My most recent set of 160mm Pikes were a nightmare. Took me about 2 years of fettling to get them feeling ok. Whereas the 36s have felt unbelievably good straight out the box.
I found this with rear shocks recently, swapping out a Monarch plus and putting in a dpx2.
There's palpable difference in quality of action. It's made me question my RS forks now!