Pike - Dual or Solo?

[pureantigravity]

RockShox Pike RCT3

Dual vs Solo?

That is the question.

[pureantigravity]

The ability to change fork heights for different riding modes seems like a nice feature to have.

My bike is designed for a 120 mm fork, but I'm using a 140 mm Revelation. I like the 140 for the way down. But for XC trails and the way up, a dual mode would seem like a bonus.

According to Rockshox ...

If you want to ride up and walk down, a fork that only does one thing well is great. But you love epic ascents, technical descents, winding single track and everything in between. So you need a fork that tackles it all. Like our Dual Position Air. It changes your fork’s travel up to 30mm without changing its small bump performance. So, with a simple onboard turn and a click you can switch from climbing like a demon to bombing downhill with confidence.

Are there any downsides to the dual air, other than a small weight penalty and perhaps a more complicated maintenance?

[bsavery]

Have a 29er Stumpjumper evo. Came with a 140mm solo pike, changed to a 150mm dual pike.

Cons: Slightly heavier? I didn't get the actual numbers.
Not as tunable, the solo pike has tokens. For me I never changed them or wanted to.

Pro: Well I got 10mm more travel downhill plus lower front end for climbing. Nuff said.
No other performance differences I could tell.

[reynolds.trailrun]

I have an older RS Revelation 150mm on my 575 with the Dual Position Air and rarely use it. I generally am able to clean most things on climbs that other guys I ride with struggle to clean. And they are usually on more XC type full sus bikes. They usually beat my ass up long fire road climbs but the techy stuff not so much. There have been issues in the past were the DPA forks can be stuck in the shorter travel position. That is probably a maintenance issue and may have also been addressed with an updated DPA design. I would rather put the extra weight of the DPA towards a stiffer chassis instead of a 20mm decrease in travel. Just my $0.02

[kidwoo]

The weight difference is like 100 grams (sprung weight FWIW)

I've got a dual position and I use it. I also have a 95 cent rubber stopper in there to act as a volume reducer/token. I consider the massive performance hindering weight difference worth it.

[bsavery]

I have an older RS Revelation 150mm on my 575 with the Dual Position Air and rarely use it. I generally am able to clean most things on climbs that other guys I ride with struggle to clean. And they are usually on more XC type full sus bikes. They usually beat my ass up long fire road climbs but the techy stuff not so much. There have been issues in the past were the DPA forks can be stuck in the shorter travel position. That is probably a maintenance issue and may have also been addressed with an updated DPA design. I would rather put the extra weight of the DPA towards a stiffer chassis instead of a 20mm decrease in travel. Just my $0.02

Pikes aren't stiff enough? And for the record it's 30mm decrease.

[JeffreyJim]

I'll run cross grain...

Though the travel adjust Pike is the best travel adjust fork I've ever had I wouldn't chose to ride one. The solo air is smoother, stays "stiction free" longer and just plain less prone to issues in the longer run.

There is a reason nobody on their team is running travel adjust stuff...

[D(C)]

I'll run cross grain...

Though the travel adjust Pike is the best travel adjust fork I've ever had I wouldn't chose to ride one. The solo air is smoother, stays "stiction free" longer and just plain less prone to issues in the longer run.

There is a reason nobody on their team is running travel adjust stuff...

A (slight) derail but how is the performance on the newest Fox Talas iteration? I haven't seen much in the way of long-term reviews, but it is claimed to be actually trail-useable in the short travel setting, and has the ability to chance both max travel and travel adjust range.

[Roxtar]

I have a DP and use it all the time. We have a lot of very technical hr+ climbs here and it helps a lot. Dropping the travel lets me leave the damping open to keep the suspension active.
Another unexpected bonus was the ability to use it to change headtube angle.
I was on a tight twisty trail and the front end was feeling pretty loose (Bronson w/ 67* HTA). I dropped the travel, steepening the head angle, and the bike felt like it was on rails.
Now I use it all the time on these type of trails.

[reynolds.trailrun]

Pikes aren't stiff enough? And for the record it's 30mm decrease.

I have not ridden either version of the new pikes so no comment on stiffness. I mostly commenting on my RS Rev. The DPA is nice, and I use it on occasion. I just would not miss it if it was not there. I stand corrected on the travel adjust.

[pureantigravity]

Some great responses. It's a crap shoot what to get sometimes.

There does not seem to be much downside to the Dual Position. I was concerned about fork performance and if the Pike DP is going to be *almost* as good as the Single, then I'm sold.

Who knows, can the DP be changed down like 150/120 down to 140/110 ? Or is the length it comes in fixed?

I am also wondering if the DP forks have them 'bottomless tokens'?

[mfa81]

Who knows, can the DP be changed down like 150/120 down to 140/110 ? Or is the length it comes in fixed?

I am also wondering if the DP forks have them 'bottomless tokens'?

1 - you need to buy the right travel fork

2 - not by rockshox, there are some aftermarket around, but not sure how and if they work

[kidwoo]

this is the bottomless token I have in my dpa pike

https://images.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=...913daL.jpg&f=1

it works great

[jm2e]

I like my DPA Pike. It does the forkey stuff that I ask it to do and has never let me down. I rarely adjust it though. My body gets used to the 160mm position and does not like the way the 130 position feels regardless of whether I'm going uphill.
Have not ridden the Solo. Have heard from naval gazers that the Solo is "better". Don't care. There are fantastic deals to be found on DPAs right now, probably because enough nerds are crying about how much better the Solo is. I'd buy a DPA again just because of that. $200 price difference > 1% performance difference.

My wife demoed a bike with a Float 36 on it. Says it's 1000x better than any fork she's ridden. Put that in your pipe and smoke it.

[Roxtar]

My wife demoed a bike with a Float 36 on it. Says it's 1000x better than any fork she's ridden. Put that in your pipe and smoke it.

I've put a couple customers in the new 36 and they love it.
It's stiffer, better, and now, even lighter, than the 34. Basically, the 34 has no reason to exist anymore.
That said, the Pike is still my first choice. I still feel it has the best plush-to-big hit, all around, performance and about an oz or two lighter.

[mfa81]

Have not ridden the Solo. Have heard from naval gazers that the Solo is "better". Don't care. There are fantastic deals to be found on DPAs right now, probably because enough nerds are crying about how much better the Solo is. I'd buy a DPA again just because of that. $200 price difference > 1% performance difference.

true! a lot of hearsay about solo >> dpa, but I haven't found conclusive reviews or tests and sure dpa can usually be found cheaper than the solo!

Some people don't even use the tokens, others say it's night and day, some people don't use dpa others say changing travel is night and day climbing!

^^^this is perfect advice, get whatever you find a good deal on!

about the 36, it's hard to justify the ~$300-$400 with the good deals around for the pike! same for the deville, would love to try but not at the $1000+ price tag!

[kidwoo]

If you're riding a bike with a 65-67 degree headangle, I think the DPA is totally worth it if you find yourself even thinking about it. Just dropping the front end that little bit, helps with uphill steering, rear wheel traction......which let's be honest, really does go to shit on a bike that slack when you're trying to pedal it uphill, especially where traction sucks.

I rode a solo air for most of a summer, and then converted it to a dual position. I even switched it back to a solo air while I had the DPA assembly out, trying to figure out how to do some volume reducers. The biggest difference I noticed between two different bikes has nothing to do with friction or weight, but the fact that you can't get token equivalents for the dual. Both systems are a little divey in the midstroke, the DPA slightly less than the solo with no tokens. That's just typical air spring stuff. You can easily get away from it with the solo and some tokens, or get creative with some things in the dual. If you're not comfortable with that, just be aware it's going to be a limitation. Maverick suspension sells some dpa tokens but they're like 70 bucks for something that's probably mind bogglingly simple. Or you can pay avalanche suspension way too much money to deal with it through damping with a stronger midvalve system.

But that to me is about the only real performace difference I've noticed. This newer system RS is using has pretty much made performance differences between the two essentially a moot point IMO. The only thing rubbing in the DPA that the solo version doesn't have is a concentric pair of tubes that are about 7mm in diameter and lubed up. It's really not much.

[Lindahl]

Totally agree on the difference in climbing performance with travel adjust on the slacker bikes. It's not so much the extra travel that's the problem, it's the slack angles. Travel adjust alters the head angle and makes it much easier on those steep climbs, especially ones with switchbacks. I've ran a Lyrik coil U-Turn for a few years and love being able to drop it to 130mm on my Nomad with a -1.5 angle headset. I don't do it for every climb, but it makes a big difference on the long ones.

[joetron]

What if, by chance I happened to ride a Trance 27.5 with -1.5deg headset to achieve a 63.8deg HTA. I don't want a DP, so I would run a -5deg 80mm stem, slammed, for the climbingzzz.

[kidwoo]

What if, by chance I happened to ride a Trance 27.5 with -1.5deg headset to achieve a 63.8deg HTA. I don't want a DP, so I would run a -5deg 80mm stem, slammed, for the climbingzzz.

I'm waiting for that verdone guy to just mount some grips to the outside of his front axle.

Then he'll bitch about inferior top tube designs because they hit his chest with this setup.

[joetron]

I'm waiting for that verdone guy to just mount some grips to the outside of his front axle.

Then he'll bitch about inferior top tube designs because they hit his chest with this setup.

Haha. I'm just not sure how he expects to ever clear a top tube if he is gonna slam his negative stems?

[frorider]

I'm sorta over Fox FIT SC forks for any bike that gets ridden frequently. The service intervals to keep things smoove always end up more frequent than others I own from SRAM, xfusion, manipoo. Anecdotal reports from pike owners supports that. I don't see the 36 as fundamentally changing that equation. Feel free to disagree.

[kidwoo]

Gold stanchions are ugly.

That's all I know.

[joetron]

FWIW, I've been riding a '15 36 float fit rc2 cashmere since late august and have not done shit to it until I gave it to the Fox van last weekend in Moab. He rebuilt it and said it wasn't too bad. Stanchions were fine, the little bit of splash oil in the lowers was kinda nasty, but he didn't heckle me or anything.

It still felt great before the service, but have not ridden it yet to feel the fresh gooooosh as I snapped my hanger while trying to straighten it while my fork was in the van. Spare was in my vehicle, which was not with me. Dammit.

[grskier]

Where would one find a 'great' deal on a dual pike for a 26" wheel bicymical?

I'd be interested in dropping some weight off the front end of my covert... have a revelation on there now.