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I tested a few of YT Decoys at the weekend; two Race Pro fitted with Fox Factory suspension; FOX 36 FLOAT FACTORY E forks and a FOX FLOAT X2 FACTORY shock, and a Base fitted with ROCK SHOX YARI RC forks and a ROCK SHOX DELUXE R shock.
The Fox bikes were both buttery smooth, even though I felt the forks were set a little stiff for my riding style. The RS bike, on the other hand was horrible; harsh, buzzy and chattery to the point that I actually had to bail from a descent because I couldn't feel my hands. Again, the forks were set a little stiff, but only 6psi higher than I run the Yaris on my Trek (which is 3-4kg heavier than the Decoy).
I was relatively happy with the Yaris on my Trek, knowing they could be improved by a damper upgrade but on the Decoy they were so far away from the feel of the Fox kit it's made me doubt my choice of bike.
I have a few questions and if anyone can offer constructive advice I'd be grateful;
1. How much better are Lyrics than Yaris?
2. How do Lyrics compare to the Fox 36 Factory forks?
3. How is the reliability and consistency of the Fox kit, will it need constant fettling?
Air pressure isn't the only variable in a fork, so whilst the yari on the test bike may have had similar air pressure to what you run your yari at, the damping adjustments could have been set miles off.
Did you try adjusting the damping on the yaris to try and improve them?
In my experience the fox 36 and rockshox lyric are quite close in performance, haven't tried a yari, but I'd expect it to be noticeably worse.
I've had a few different sets of fox 36 over the years and a few sets of lyrics and pikes, they were all similar in the reliability department, ie all good.
I have a lyric on one bike and a 36 on the other, I prefer the fox, but it's pretty close.
The RS bike, on the other hand was horrible; harsh, buzzy and chattery to the point that I actually had to bail from a descent because I couldn’t feel my hands.
Motion control damper. That's why. My Vitus has Revelations with the same damper and on repeated small-medium sized hits it can't cope and is very harsh. The Fox 36 Grip 2 damper is a world apart from the motion control damper, it's like comparing XTR and deore, or XX1 and NX.
There's a section at FOD which is just endless roots, on a slight downhill, I tested the Jeffsy Pro Race with 150mm 36 factory grip 2 forks and it was lovely and smooth over that section, even without much setup (I did take off a few clicks of HSC just before this). My bike with the motion control damper, well my hands were almost being shaken off the bars.
The motion control damper is a good damper, and is nice on big hits, but it's not even in the same league as a grip2 or RC2 when it comes to small/medium hits that come thick and fast.
The damper you'd want on the RS side is an RC2 or RCT3.
Might be worth a watch