Pike RCT3 vs Lyrik RC2 DH (170mm Coil)

felix.london

It's time to start thinking about upgrading the Domain 318 on the Votec...

Benefits of Lyrik RC2DH 170mm Coil;
- in my (limited) experience coil forks are plusher over small, kind of fist-sized rocks than the air forks I've used
- a coil fork 'seems' more suited to bombing down steep, rocky alpine descents and occasionally hitting up the bike park (the Session will usually be the weapon of choice for this but these mountains take their toll on bikes and it's not out of the question for the Session to be OOO for one reason or another)
- The 170mm fork and an external bottom cup would let me pretty much keep the bikes existing front-end geo, BB height etc

Benefits of Pike;
- Weight; the coil Lyrik would save me 0.5kg over the Domain, the Pike would knock another 0.5kg off that, bringing the total weight of the bike down to a more Alpine-friendly 13.5kg
- dual air tweakability (although once I have my suspension set up, I'm pretty much a set and forget type of rider)
- rave reviews everywhere (interwebs, trails, bike parks, mags, bars etc)

Anyone ridden both these forks in similar terrain? Is the Pike that good?

ilovedirt

The lyrik is an excellent fork, predictable and reliable, however it is a little on the heavy side. I'd say if you're not going to be doing much pedalling, get the lyrik, as it's more of a 'mini dh'/freeride fork, whereas the pike is more of an enduro fork. The lyrik can dive a bit on steep slow tech stuff too, whereas the pike apparently rides higher in its travel. I'd quite like the pike personally as I do a fair bit of pedalling, but I've not ridden one. You can't really go wrong either way though.

Thewaylander

Both are great,

Just depends on what you want to use the bike for, if its not for pedaling up Lyric, if its for both Pike simpals. Love my pike closest an air fork has got to coil so far that i've experienced!

poah

pike doesn't have dual air, its dual position.

rockmonkeysc

I had the Lyrik RC2DH for a couple years and its great. A properly set up RC2DH won't dive as mentioned above.
It's a very nicely controlled fork and feels very similar to my Boxxer R2C2. It's also very stiff.
For what you want I would say the Lyrik is perfect.

supersonic

The pike damper is great - easy to set up for 90% of people. The rc2 is harder to tweak, but that works two ways, there is more to tweak and get dialled to your preference. Lyrik also stiffer, especially in 20mm format.

felix.london

I do a huge amount of peddling...up very big mountains. But I'm managing it with the Domain so any weight saving off that is a benefit I guess.

My head says the Lyrik will serve me better for what I want but it's hard to ignore all the comments and reviews that the Pike is getting. Plus the £100 saved could go towards carbon bits

Just don't wanna shell out £400-£500 then realise I made the wrong choice. If it's only the weight - then I'll take the 500g hit for a more suitable, stiffer fork I reckon.

supersonic

Stiff, however, is relative. What do you weigh?

felix.london

supersonic wrote:

Stiff, however, is relative. What do you weigh?

80kg on the bike

felix.london

...plus, with the Domain I've developed a certain riding 'style' which I'd rather not change

rockmonkeysc

The Pike is going to drop the front end and sharpen up the steering.

felix.london

Well for anyone interested I've decided...

Seeing as these things always have to be done on a bit of a budget, I've found a French site that has a 170mm Lyrik RC2DH Solo Air in matte black for £380 (and I can pay in 3 or 4 instalments, interest free which will help soften the blow) the fork has 20mm maxle so no additional hub adapters required and a 1 1/8" steerer so no additional headset cups required. Then when funds allow I can send them off for the coil 'upgrade' for another £100

So for £480 I get the fork I originally wanted before all this Pike hullabaloo started up. I think for the 160mm Pike with adapters and Cane Creek 110 bottom cup I'd need I'd be looking at over £600

Think I'll be happier with the Lyrik - I'm sure the Pike is great but there's nothing like the plushness of a decent coil fork IMO.

Thewaylander

you can do the coil conversion yourself, rockshock are so easy and nice to work om.

felix.london

Thewaylander wrote:

you can do the coil conversion yourself, rockshock are so easy and nice to work om.

Didn't even think of that! More money saved...nice one

CitizenLee

Good choice! Love my coil Lyriks!

Keep getting tempted by Pikes for the weight saving but as soon as I'm on the bike I forget all about them!

felix.london

CitizenLee wrote:

Keep getting tempted by Pikes for the weight saving

This ^^

CitizenLee wrote:

but as soon as I'm on the bike I forget all about them!

That's what I'm thinking/hoping. Good stuff

pesky_jones

ilovedirt wrote:

The lyrik is an excellent fork

Good to hear