[Closed] Best place for 29er Pikes (120mm)

The air shafts are under £30 if you see a longer travel Pike going much cheaper.

That's not a bad shout, I've seen a few 150/160mm going for the £300 mark. I wouldn't have a clue what to do though.

Really easy. Follow the instructions for a lower leg service and swap out the air spring shaft during the process. You use a couple of bits from the old shaft on the new but it might even tell you this in the instructions if I'm remembering correctly. Only added expense is the odd spec oil the pikes use.

Seems reasonable and i don't mind tinkering but suspension is something I've always paid an expert to do. Too clumsy and I would probably do more harm than good!

I just found this on reducing the Pikes. My interest is now piqued as well.

http://blahblahbikeblog.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/reducing-rockshox-pike-rct3-solo-air.html

Best place for 29er Pikes

The front of your bike?

Seems reasonable and i don't mind tinkering but suspension is something I've always paid an expert to do. Too clumsy and I would probably do more harm than good!

2nd hand set for about £300, a new air shaft and a service from Loco Tuning/TFTuned etc. and you're away... Fair bit less than the cost of a new fork, and it'll be fully setup and ready to go to your requirements.

Would it be daft to run the Dual Position version at 120mm?

Merlin have some 150/120mm forks in stock http://www.merlincycles.com/rockshox-pike-rct3-dual-position-air-forks-29er-67871.html

Dont know if it would be daft but wouldn't want to void the warranty on the frame if anything were to happen if it got accidentally put in 150mm mode.

I've settled on some Reba's from the european brothers. Half the price of the Pikes with a full warranty etc and if i dont like em, can always give them to the Mrs.

Rutland cycling doing them at 400 for either 150 or 160mm rct3 (can't remember which) grab your new air shaft and all done for 450 ish

cheers for the heads up on about Rutlands pricing.. even cheaper than my last set

PS: Anyone got a 130mm 29er air shaft? (150mm for a 27.5/160mm for a 26... happy to swap the original 150mm 29er 😀 )

Loco had some 29er 130mm air shafts a couple of months ago. Fishers still had them on back order at the time.

[quote=z1ppy]PS: Anyone got a 130mm 29er air shaft? (150mm for a 27.5/160mm for a 26... happy to swap the original 150mm 29er

If you know a friendly machinist you can just cut it down and re-thread it..

Has anyone worked out a way of changing the DPAs to 120/140mm yet? (i.e. 30mm travel difference to 20mm travel difference)

Make sure you get the right offset.

Saw some 650b Pikes on ebay last night with an offset of only 42mm. Ones I ordered from Germany are a much better 46mm. 51mm is the norm for 29er I think.

The Rutland ones say there 51mm offset in the question & answers, will be confirming when they arrive. There are still 46mm(?) 29er versions still for sale 'discounted'

What's the ride difference in 46 or 51mm offset?

Tbh I never tried both types on the same bike myself, but ppl who have report the 51mm being better.. Lots of explaination about offset & why 51 is better than 46 for 29ers on the web so I won't repeat them. Basically the majority of 29er frame over the last couple of years are based around 51mm, & lots of the sale 29er forks tend to be 46. That said I doubt you die if you bought a really bargainous set of 46mm's

I've ridden 46mm and 51mm offsets on a 120mm Trek Stache. Go for the 51mm offset, with 46mm the steering was sluggish and the bike wouldn't corner anywhere near as well.

I found this article very interesting, writer is on a 29er...
http://www.bikeradar.com/mtb/gear/article/pushing-the-limits-of-fork-offset-an-experiment-45343/

Thanks had a quick read.
So for a frame with 69deg head angle, fairly steep by todays standards?
Would the 51mm offset make steering a bit too quick?

Sorry for slight deviation OP....

I have 51mm offsets on both my slack-ish (68deg) 120mm hardtail and my 100mm XC bike (70 deg)

Have ridden 46mm on the XC bike I wanted consistent handling on both...

As I understand it 51mm grew from early 29" adopters wanting to make their bikes handle more like 26" bikes. This was possibly before head angles got slacker and stems got shorter, so thinking has evolved, but 51mm feels natural to me

My riding is less DH oriented and than the riding in the article

I read that article but one thing is confusion me (I might be missing it entirely)

If the 51mm offset put the wheels further forward, why would it feel like it's tucking in under the frame?

Surely the smaller offset is already putting the wheel nearer the frame in the first place?

When you increase the offset you get an effect where in tighter turns the contact patch falls inside the arc of the turn, and thus cornering forces pull it round further, hence the tucking under thing.

Reading this with added interest now, checked the rebas I've ordered and they have a 46mm offset, quite tempted to just send them back and plow some more money into some pikes just for the 51mm offset (and better fork), unless of course that's an absurd statement and wasting money...i just don't know yet.

Reading this with added interest now, checked the rebas I've ordered and they have a 46mm offset, quite tempted to just send them back and plow some more money into some pikes just for the 51mm offset (and better fork), unless of course that's an absurd statement and wasting money...i just don't know yet.

Considering at the start you stated you didn't want a small stanchion, light weight fork, I'm not quite sure why you bought the Rebas in the first place.

I'd go with the Pikes tbh.

You purchased exactly what you didn't want to purchase?

😆

In hindsight, I should have mentioned the last 32mm stanchions I had were fox 32s @ 150mm, the rebas were a great deal from ze germans and for the type or riding/my skill level etc, they will be fine.