The Pike is finally here. In 2005 I was super excited for the release of the first Pike, though I think I might be more excited for its rebirth. Needing a fork for our Turner Burner project bike, the 150mm 27.5 RockShox Pike seemed like a perfect addition to the bike. Promising to be super light, stiff, and black, we opted for the Dual Position air RCT3 model for the build.
Details including actual weight after the break.
The 35mm chassis of the Pike uses an asymmetrical lower and a new crown to offer incredible stiffness to weight. Like most of RockShox’ forks the sag gradients are printed right on the stanchion, and the fork features a nice bolt on brake hose guide.
Pike has plenty of adjustments with external low speed compression, rebound, Open-Pedal-lockout, and this model featuring the dual position air adjust which allows up to 30mm of travel adjustment.
Pike gets a big performance boost in the damping department with the new Charger damper. Similar to the bladder concept used in the Fox FIT damper, oil is sealed in an extruded rubber bladder that allows for a bled system with zero air. This helps performance by preventing oil cavitation and improves damping consistency as the shock heats up through cycles.
The extruded rubber sleeve is clamped over a compression tube with ports to allow the oil to expand and contract the bladder. Also new for the Pike is the Rapid Recovery DIG (Digressive tuning) valve. The valve replaces the previous version with an aluminum shaft and offers lower flow rates at lower speeds, though the rate increases as the speed rises. This creates a pedal friendly damping rate at lower speeds and a nice, smooth damping curve on bigger hits.
Like the FIT system, the Charger damper is a cartridge based system with the damping oil contained in the cartridge.
The new Maxxle Lite comes in at 76g and features an internal cam mechanism along with a smaller package.
Adjustments are made to the Maxxle Lite by pushing the axle into the handle and rotating the axle with the lever open to align the numbers to the white line on cam.
The Pike is the bruiser in the line up of new 650b compatible RockShox forks including the Revelation and SID.
4.32 lbs (1959g). That’s for a 150mm travel, burly 27.5″ wheel suspension fork with dual position air, an uncut steerer, and the new Maxxle Lite. Pretty impressive.
We’re waiting on a headset for out Turner Burner Project 650b, and this fork will provide the squish to the front of what’s turning out to be an amazing bike. Stay tuned.
