RS Lyrik Vs Fox 36

mini-eggs

I'm after a new fork, after trawling through shops, forums, reviews etc I've narrowed it down to...
Rockshox Lyrik 2step / coil or a Fox 36 Float R, both 2010 models

But not sure which would be best. I mainly ride places like trail centres, ie. Afan Argoed and a little bit of very light downhill (the kind of descent like White's Level).

The fork has to be reliable and not too much of a faff to maintain. Easy to setup and adjust and fairly light weight.

Best price i've found so far is
RS Lyrik £500 in merlin
Fox 36 £592 activesport
Are there any better offers out there at the moment? Or should i save up that bit extra and get the 2011 models

Ah decisions decisions

supersonic

Both are great forks, but for me the extra adjustabilty of the damper on the Lyrik makes the difference. Solo Air rather than the 2 step air will be more reliable.

mini-eggs

The Lyrik does seem more adjustable then the 36R and could fine tune it to perform exactly how i'd want it. Howcome the solo air is more reliable? are there more issues with 2step?

Tempted to wait and save up a little extra for the '11 36 RLC, with the adjustability and the fancy kashima coating, but being so new there's isnt many reviews out there or many people have had them long enough to say if they are worth the extra or not.

sniper68

The 2008/09 2-steps were prone to failure.Some early 2010 also seemed to be plagued with the same issues.

hyperman

I've got a set of 2010 lyriks and to be honest I wished I'd gone for fox instead, the high and low speed compression adjustment on mine seem to make no difference to the fork whatsoever, the 2 step function does however work fine..

supersonic

The effects are somewhat subtle. Describe your probs and we'll see if we can help.

hyperman

supersonic wrote:

The effects are somewhat subtle. Describe your probs and we'll see if we can help.

Brake dive for one, can't seem to stop that, it seems pretty bad to me as well, probably diving through three quarters of it's travel...and for instance going down a set of steps today, quite steep so I'm quite far over the back of the bike, and the same happens again diving through most of it's travel on each step. Now I've got enough air in them so that I'm just on the 25% sag marker on the fork, although I am fairly heavy at 17 stone..But like I said the compression adjustment don't seem to make much difference, my brothers got the 2009 lyriks with only high speed comp adjust and that makes a lot of noticeable difference..

supersonic

May be a problem with the damper. I would contact TF Tuned and see what they can do.

hyperman

I think I'll contact the shop I got them from first and see what they say, after all they are only 6 months old..

sniper68

Ratty2k had his "fixed" under warranty 3 times IIRC,he then had them converted to coil....problem solved.

paulmclean85

hyperman - same forks (mine are 08), same problem. I bought the bike new in May so still under warranty, thankfully. I was never able to control brake dive from new, then the high/low compression and lockout packed in altogether so i'm wondering if it was ever fully operational? the forks now leak air, oil, puss and blood, the rebound can be adjusted from slow to stupidly slow and the 2-step knob has turned itself a full 180 degrees and become jammed. On the plus side i'm sure the 2-step would still work if un-jammed and they were superb (briefly) when working(ish). I'm planning on returning them under warranty when i return to the UK and then, depending on what happens, convert them to coil although that isn't going to solve the damper problems...

hyperman

So not just me then? The forks are nice forks it's just the adjustments don't seem to make any difference, well, not to me anyway....anyone want to buy a set of lyriks?

mini-eggs

Interesting reading. Thanks

After thinking long and hard, I'm going to save up that bit extra and get the Fox 36 RLC 2011. I've tried the 36 2010 a little while ago whilst out on a demo ride at White's level and was really happy and suited me well. Mojo is near to me too, so if there was ever an issue I got help right at my door step.

Can try kill off my current Marz All Mountains

ESHER SHORE

having owned Rockshox Lyric 2-step, Lyric Coil U-Turn and 2 pairs of Fox 36 (Float RC2 and Talas RC2)

I would go with Fox every time

the Fox forks are stiffer under hard braking, heavy landings, hard turns, but also lighter (better engineering of the chassis design)

the Fox damper is more capable across the range of speeds and impacts an all-mountain fork experiences, despite lacking the "floodgate lockout" which the Lyric has

in terms of servicing, Fox tend to benefit from a more regular "lower service" but if this is done, I have found them much more reliable than my Lyrics which had several trips back to Fishers for "warranty" repairs

hyperman

I've emailed the shop and arranged to take them back, however, when looking on their site I noticed a difference in the picture of the forks to the ones I was sent, seems to me like a different fork, different markings on the stanchions and instead of being motion control mine are mission control....as far as I was aware I was buying the ones pictured on the site, anyone know how I stand with this as I think I've been sent a set of oem forks which as far as I'm aware are not the same. Only problem is I've had them 6 months!

vikingboy

Stay away from activesport, many neg thread about their shoddy service, they messed me around loads last Xmas some lyrics.

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ESHER SHORE wrote:

having owned Rockshox Lyric 2-step, Lyric Coil U-Turn and 2 pairs of Fox 36 (Float RC2 and Talas RC2)

I would go with Fox every time

the Fox forks are stiffer under hard braking, heavy landings, hard turns, but also lighter (better engineering of the chassis design)

the Fox damper is more capable across the range of speeds and impacts an all-mountain fork experiences, despite lacking the "floodgate lockout" which the Lyric has

in terms of servicing, Fox tend to benefit from a more regular "lower service" but if this is done, I have found them much more reliable than my Lyrics which had several trips back to Fishers for "warranty" repairs

Brilliant, thank you. Exactly what I needed to know

vikingboy

Minieggs - have you tried the plain simple coil lyrik with dh damper....think you might be surprised how good it is, all that fancy u-turn nonsense is just a compromise IMHO and leads to problems in the end.

hyperman

I just thought I'd give a quick update...I returned my lyriks to the shop who sent them back to fisher for repair, I got them back a couple of days ago and they've changed the damper and some other faulty part....and all I can say is wow!!....ermm...they're no different, the adjustments still make no difference whatsoever, they also came back with the rebound adjuster knob missing and a nice air leaking squeaking kind of sound after the fork is depressed and returned to full travel, although it's not leaking any air..which is nice....Looks like another call to the shop..

Anonymous

hyperman wrote:

supersonic wrote:

The effects are somewhat subtle. Describe your probs and we'll see if we can help.

Brake dive for one, can't seem to stop that, it seems pretty bad to me as well, probably diving through three quarters of it's travel...and for instance going down a set of steps today, quite steep so I'm quite far over the back of the bike, and the same happens again diving through most of it's travel on each step.

You'll never fully eliminate brake dive, but low speed compression can help keep it under control.

I have to say though, I found MArzocchi and Fox shocks to stay "up" in their travel much better than Rockshox. It's one of the things that really struck me. They can stay plush, but still at quite an extension.

Anonymous

hyperman wrote:

supersonic wrote:

The effects are somewhat subtle. Describe your probs and we'll see if we can help.

Brake dive for one, can't seem to stop that, it seems pretty bad to me as well, probably diving through three quarters of it's travel...and for instance going down a set of steps today, quite steep so I'm quite far over the back of the bike, and the same happens again diving through most of it's travel on each step.

You'll never fully eliminate brake dive, but low speed compression can help keep it under control.

I have to say though, I found MArzocchi and Fox shocks to stay "up" in their travel much better than Rockshox. It's one of the things that really struck me. They can stay plush, but still at quite an extension.