Pike RC vs RT3

paul.skibum

Been offered a decently cheap, brand new Pike RC.

From what I have read it lacks the same degree of adjustment of the RT3 but is a good fork.

Saves me a few hundred $ over the RT3, its 160mm so a good match for the Bronson on aggressive Whistler trails.

Views?

poah

tried using the pedal setting but TBH I just leave it open all the time. there is no difference between the open setting on the RT3 and the RC. The RC still has low speed compression adjustment, charger damper, rapid return etc etc etc.

paul.skibum

That's pretty much what I read - I think I will snap them up!

Got a guy offering a LL tuned Monarch Plus too so U can shake the Fox off the bike for good!

BloggingFit

I leave mine open all the time the same as POAH. Not sure if you get tokens in the box with the RC but easy enough to get hold of.

paul.skibum

Oh yeah - I was going to ask - what's the deal with these tokens then? You put them in the fork to change the feel?

BloggingFit

If you find you blow through travel or you want more small bump sensitivity by reducing air pressure they help to prevent bottoming out by ramping things up (becoming more progressive) towards the end of the fork's travel. Not felt the need to use them myself but your gnarl may warrant.

poah

paul.skibum wrote:

Oh yeah - I was going to ask - what's the deal with these tokens then? You put them in the fork to change the feel?

its just a volume spacer to ramp up the end stroke of the fork. I have a 150 pike set to 30% sag and don't use one at my weight (80kg all up) where as my bro in law will use up all his travel on drop offs so will have to put one in as he is heavier but with the same sag

Myster101

I use two tokens in mine (160mm set to 25% sag) but I'm just under 15 stone. Prevents me from blowing through all the travel when riding Whinlatter.

paul.skibum

So a suck it and see sort of thing like everything else with suspension set up. I am a shade under 70kgs post ablution and would like to run 20-25% sag maybe 30% on the 160mm fork. The steep tech nature of the trails definitely leaves me wanting a ramping to the end of the travel and support in the travel so will definitely have a play with a token or more.

Myster101

Yep just have a play about with the settings/tokens until you get it just right. Easy fork to setup and well worth it, I've got the RC version and have no problems with climbing.

Angus Young

Myster101 wrote:

Yep just have a play about with the settings/tokens until you get it just right. Easy fork to setup and well worth it, I've got the RC version and have no problems with climbing.

But what do you do if you don't know what a good set-up is?

Myster101

I always go off what feels good to me and and know it's right "for me" when my bike rides as I want it to. Don't most people do this?
Or you could pay somebody to set it up to how they think it should be.

Dayz

Myster101 wrote:

I always go off what feels good to me and and know it's right "for me" when my bike rides as I want it to. Don't most people do this?
Or you could pay somebody to set it up to how they think it should be.

how do i know if my fork/shock is set up to its most compliant for my riding? is there any literature anywhere that says; if the bike is behaving like X...you need to adjust/add more Y

Angus Young

Myster101 wrote:

I always go off what feels good to me and and know it's right "for me" when my bike rides as I want it to. Don't most people do this?
Or you could pay somebody to set it up to how they think it should be.

I think what I'm getting at is, if you're an inexperienced rider like myself, how do you know what's good and what's bad. When I'm barrelling down a run at BPW I'm not sure I can tell what my bike's doing, my focus is overwhelmed by all this stuff that's coming at me at a thousand miles and hour. I'm just happy that I'm alive at the end of it all!

Paying someone who knows what they're doing might, indeed, be the answer. Presumably there must be a sort of middle ground, everyman set-up that you could tune most bikes to that would suit most riders who have yet to develop a 'style'.

Having said all of the above, I was easily able to tell the difference between bikes at BPW quite easily and certainly preferred one over the other. And the one I preferred is likely to be the one that wasn't set up correctly. Mine.

paul.skibum

There is a bit about suspension set up in Brian Lopes' book which talks about Suspension Bracketing.

Basically the idea is you work toward a good set up using pairs of settings.

So step on is adjustment X all the way open and all the way closed - ride both and see which you prefer.

Then ride the one you prefer vs the mid point setting. Decide which you like.

Then ride the better of those two against the midpoint of them and again and again until you get to the best position.

Not a lot to work with on the Fox Evo just rebound in the CTD settings, I ran rebound at either end and the mid setting in trail and worked a favoured position. One of the reasons I hate the Evo is that CTD - this is what you want from your compression idea.

Angus Young

paul.skibum wrote:

There is a bit about suspension set up in Brian Lopes' book which talks about Suspension Bracketing.

Basically the idea is you work toward a good set up using pairs of settings.

So step on is adjustment X all the way open and all the way closed - ride both and see which you prefer.

Then ride the one you prefer vs the mid point setting. Decide which you like.

Then ride the better of those two against the midpoint of them and again and again until you get to the best position.

Not a lot to work with on the Fox Evo just rebound in the CTD settings, I ran rebound at either end and the mid setting in trail and worked a favoured position. One of the reasons I hate the Evo is that CTD - this is what you want from your compression idea.

That makes sense.