160mm Fork advise needed

Any of the 4 obvious ones will work well... Coil lyrik, solo air lyrik, float or van. Vans have really poor service intervals IIRC but they're great forks. Lyriks are easier to find cheap in good nick or new, and to me are just as good but easier to set up but Vans have their fans. Both brilliant really. I love the mission control damper, so easy to work with, and even better with the lockout removed.

Floats are lighter than an air lyrik and fairly equivalent in performance... The air springs are surprisingly good these days.

They're all strong but (2-step aside) Rockshox have the better rep for withstanding abuse. OTOH I find Fox a bit fiddlier to set up so maybe I've just never got the best out of them?

Domains come in 160mm but definately don't go with 302- the damping's adequate for a 100mm fork, no use for a 160mm fork that's earning its keep. The 318 is OK, but still not that well controlled, and heavy. Used Lyrik over new Domain, IMO.

There's always BOS, the Deville doesn't really have fans, it has fanatics Or Marzocchi 55? Haven't used the new ones. 66s can be 160mm but too heavy IMO.

Work out what you want and what your priorities are.
If cost and low servicing intervals come high on the list then Lyriks are a good bet, especially when looking on the 'for sale' pages/classifieds.

If you ride hard and/or race (enduros), then support and damping might be your priority. BOS are awesome for support and control right through the stroke but nothing feels as smooth as >2011 Marzocchi's, especially in terms of initial stiction.

If you want something light for general trail riding etc then prob stick to an air fork, in particular a Fox 36. But providing you don't mind the servicing...

If you want a balance across all of the above then I'd recommend the fork I use (fancy that eh!) which is the Fox 36 Float RC2 - best of all worlds but then I like the RC2 controls.

1mancity2 wrote:

Out of them which 1 stands out over the other Coil, Air?

I never lock my forks out so removing the lock out sounds like a good idea!!

Do they do a version with no U turn or step down?

Aye, both. I reckon the air Lyrik is the coiliest air fork I've ever used, but I wanted height adjustment that works effectively at all settings so that leaves no competition, u-turn Lyrik is the only 160mm fork that does that.

You won't go wrong with any of the 4 big hitters tbh, just a case of trying to figure out what's best for you. Though, if you find yourself looking at weight as a number one consideration, might be time to look at a 150mm Rev or Float instead.

marz 55's or lyriks