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Hi, I have a set of 2015 26er 150mm pikes, which I've used since March, I last rode them about a month ago and noticed they were rebounding too fast,pretty much topping out, I hadn't changed any settings, just mid ride they started doing it.
Anyway, I sold my frame a couple of days later and ordered a 160mm damper kit, I stripped the forks and replaced the foam washers but left the old seals as they looked okay put the damper in and oil and rebuilt them.
My new frame arrived today (2016 Banshee Rune) and the forks still feel like crap, i turned the lsc knob all the way clockwise and it's now stuck it went 11 clicks but will only turn back 4. When I stripped the forks I didn't touch the charger damper side so my question is what the hell do I do now!
Change the seals?
I'm not psyched on riding my new bike when my fork feels like total crap!!!
Thanks!
Anyone understand that last sentence?
?
So your damper wasn;t working, you got a new damper, replaced the damper but didn't touch the danper, and the damper's not working?
No I changed the air damper, the charger damper is in the other leg.
If you put a longer air spring in and didn't touch the damper then you wont have enough oil in there. Not sure why that would cause the LSC knob to get stuck though.
I would have sent it in for a warranty before doing anything to it.
If you put a longer air spring in and didn't touch the damper then you wont have enough oil in there. Not sure why that would cause the LSC knob to get stuck though.
Are you sure about that one.
Give him a break. Try to be helpful.
Rob Leonard
The charger damper is faulty. You changed the air spring to adjust the travel it doesn't have any function as a damper.
A bleed of the charger damper might fix this but if lsc is sticking it probably needs a rebuild. Seen as though they are still new put the original air spring back in and try a warranty fix or pay for a tuning company to fix them.
Just send them back!
Are you sure about that one.
Maybe not with a Pike. You'd (or at least I'd) think that if you made the stroke longer you'd need more damping oil, but maybe the Pike damper can cope.
I'll try bleeding the charger damper, from what I can see it just uses a 3wt oil.
Thanks!
Hi, I'd suggest returning the forks to place of purchase for them to return to SRAM for a warranty inspection as you have issues with your damper that are likely to require it to be stripped and rebuilt or the forks replaced.
This is pretty much why RS will never see my £££ ever again that and various out the box faults.
I bought Mattoc's a couple of days ago rather than Pike's. I've always had RS forks but the tales of problems with Pike's are too many to ignore.
Given the number of Pike's out there, you don't see many other brands of enduro/trail whatever forks out there, the amount of faults that show up are proportionally the same as any other manufacturer.
The 2016 model has addressed a couple of the weaker points of the design too, for the price (online/price matched ( 😉 ) they're available for you really can't beat them.
It wasn't so long ago nobody would buy Mantiou due to their woeful reliability 😉
PS. I have 36s, they still have all their anodizing on the stantions 😉
^^^^^^
I'm aware of Manitou's past reliability reputation. I used to consider RS to be the most reliable brand of forks and I've had many sets over the years, however as you in a round about way pointed out things change.
I'm not convinced by the reliability of the Charger damper, so rightly or wrongly I chose to spend my money elsewhere.
I'm on my second new RS Reba fork after a warranty replacement from Sram Tech. I'm going to give it a few more days but basically it's as piss-poor as the first one was.
God knows what's going on because I've just ridden it back to back with another Reba of virtually the same spec that was spot one.
Third time lucky?
Seriously...if you think it is wrong...don't swallow it and live with a fork that is bouncing you all over the place...send it back.
And I did totally get your last sentence. I feel exactly the same way.
I'm not convinced by the reliability of the Charger damper, so rightly or wrongly I chose to spend my money elsewhere.
The main issue with the charger was the seal head at the bottom, this has been completely redesigned with a new housing and seals, so should solve the problems that some of the dampers had.
Billyboy, what is the issue with the Rebas exactly?
Edit: on the theme of things that nobody bought a while ago, Cane creek shocks, before they got Ohlins to design them the CCDB Coil? 😉
Loco...... No matter what set up I try they are kicking me around rather than taming the trail for me. At 40psi and rebound all the way to the slowest they start to feel reasonable but then they are traveling way down in the travel. I've ridden them back to back with an OE version of the same model (about four months since purchase-indentical except it had a bar lock out rather than my fork mounted lockout, but I can't see that would be the problem????) and that felt lovely. It had 75psi and 8 clicks from slow on the rebound and it ironed out the trail for me. I tried that on my latest warranty Reba and it is just kicking me about when I hit the rough stuff.
Sram Tech warrantied the first one for me, but they didn't answer my question about what was wrong with the first one.
I rang TF Tuned to see if they could offer a fix and they suggested fitting the tokens and running it at lower pressure.
In my first conversation with Sram Tech I asked if there was some remedy I could apply and they said no.
If you think you have an answer I'd welcome it.
Sounds to be an issue with the rebound damper if you can only get them slow enough at 40psi, which is really low, the damper should make slow the rebound to too slow at 100psi plus.
Although without looking at the forks it's hard to diagnose the potential issue/issues as the solo air spring may also have a bearing on the problem.
The control of the compression damper (remote or crown top) won't have any affect of the rebound performance either.
Have you checked there isn't high pressure in the lowers? Happens to a lot of people with RS forks. You can release it by tapping the air shaft out the lowers carefully or carefully sliding a small zip tie down the dust seals. Google 'pike burp' for lots more info. Someone will be along shortly to say it is a myth, but it happens to me and many others.
Your symptoms sound a lot like high pressure in the lowers anyway, you get a very harsh initial stroke and the fork just feels terrible.
This is why I simply lock out my forks and ride them rigid. That way there's nothing to go wrong and no expectations to be dashed. Of course some know it all will suggest that I might as well buy riding forks, but the advantage of most suspension forks is that they have a blow-off so if you accidentally ride off a really huge cliff, they will prevent your front wheel from breaking.
I bled the charge damper yesterday and the fork now feels like new! The LSC needle was a bit stiff so I cleaned it and sprayed some wd40 on it and it's turning nice and free again, hopefully this has sorted it!
Thanks guys!