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I have a 2019 Revelation fork that came OE on my Whyte S150-s.
At the point of sale the shop upgraded both the damper to Charger 2.1 RCT3 & the air spring to the latest debonair.
So basically, given they share the same chassis, I think it’s pretty much a B1 pike.
They feel nice and plush on the “car park test” but as soon as you hit the trails (particularly repeated hard big high speed hits) they feel like they virtually lock up - almost like they’re packing down.
I’ve played around with air pressures, tokens, different damping settings etc. but they feel crap.
I’ve always found them a bit Mleh… but since I started using some Helms I’ve realised how bad they are.
They’ve been serviced etc.
So, what is the best bang for buck upgrade/tuning option out there for this fork? I’m very tempted by a coil conversion but I’m a bit strap for cash, so this would need to wait.
make your rebound faster if they are packing up. LSC adjuster doesn't really do much
Use a shockwiz
Rebound is 2 clicks from fully open. Winding it fully open makes no difference. Winding it in slows it down to unusable.
This is with the sag set at 25% & no tokens.
I had some lyriks that did this and no amount of fiddling and servicing the damper or spring solved it. Tf tuned said the bushings were binding about half way through travel for some reason. Ended up getting rid of them. They felt worse than a pair of basic rockshox recon forks.
Tf tuned said the bushings were binding about half way through travel for some reason
You see, this makes more sense to me; they’re incredibly active and plush off the top but seem to stiffen up through their travel. Not in a a ramp up kind of way, where they would normally have energy that rebounds back. It is like they’re packing down, but they’re not packing down - they just don’t feel like the “want” to go deeper into their travel. It’s a weird feeling and very tiring on the forearms
If I was to use one word to describe them, I’d say they’re easily “overwhelmed”. Pretty much how journos described these forks with the motion control damping.
take the air out of them and then push the fork gentle through its travel. you should be able to feel if it is smooth all the way down.
What Poah said. I got some cheap revs off the back of the PSA on here a few months back. Changed the air spring to the latest debonair as I reduced the travel. Think I have two bottomless tokens in there, maybe three as I weigh about 90kg.
Overall I'm really happy with them. Even with the MC damping cartridge they're good enough for my needs. Not the most sophisticated but repeated hits on rocky downhills (think the beast by Ladybower) are fine. Certainly don't pack down and I get full travel, based on the orange o-ring.
Sounds like they’re not set up right. I’m not super knowledgable on these things, but perhaps not the right weight or volume of oil in the damper. When you say they’ve been serviced was it lower-leg only, or did you get the damper done too? That would be where I’d start before spending on further upgrades.
+1 shockwiz
and record the settings it suggests for different terrain
It's useful for showing how changing one setting can effect others
I didn't like 2018 Pikes - debated upgrading them, but decided to replace with Helm coils instead and get money back selling the Pikes. I love the Helms.
Lower leg service only. I’ll have a play around with removing air and seeing if there’s any stickiness throughout their travel.
I bought the recent 2019 CRC bargin 140mm Revelation, mine were brand new and the air chambre had seized, when air was put in the fork it became stuper stiff and basically a ridgid fork past 30 PSI. I sent it to SRAM and they put a new air chambre in, been a fantastic fork since, very happy with the Revelation.