RockShox Pike RCT3 Fork

Probably the first fork I ever drooled over was the original RockShox Pike; perhaps the earliest light, longish travel, thru-axle fork to reach the market, it both created the category of hard-hitting trail forks and dominated it for nearly five years. After being essentially replaced by the Revelation it’s had a brief absence from the RockShox range, but for 2014 the Pike is back with a ground-up redesign that sees it lighter, tougher and more controlled than ever before. As the showcase for a range of new RockShox technology, the Pike RCT3 is intended to up the ante in the 150-160mm all-mountain bike category, and up the ante it certainly does. The price has also gone up and you’ll be looking at $1,195-1,295 depending on the variant, but this is not unreasonable for what is very much a premium fork.

Available in either 26 or 27.5 variants with 150-160mm travel, or as a 140mm 29er version, you can choose from either a fixed travel Solo Air spring or a Dual Position Air version, which lets you drop the front end by 30mm for climbing. The all new Pike features much larger 35mm stanchions and redesigned lowers to improve chassis stiffness whilst still keeping the weight down; our 27.5 Solo Air version came in at just 1,860g (including the thru-axle) with a 180mm steerer and star nut, which makes it the lightest mid-sized fork we’ve yet tested and puts it in the same weight range as many 32mm-legged forks. Stiffness on the other hand is in a totally different league to a 32mm fork and we can’t imagine needing anything stiffer that the Pike unless you’re riding World Cup DH tracks. On account of its resistance to twisting forces it tracks extremely well and there’s also virtually no fore/aft flex under braking; whatever line you pick, the Pike will hold it.

Old Name, New Tech

The most significant change to the RockShox line-up in recent years is undoubtedly the Pike’s new ‘Charger’ damper, which will make its way onto other premium RockShox products in the near future. Previously RockShox used an ‘emulsion’ type damper called Motion Control in their forks; in principle it’s a pretty primitive system from which the folks at RockShox somehow managed to extract very good performance. The Charger, on the other hand, is a much more high tech sealed damper with shimmed valving; it’s the most expensive but also the most controlled type of damper on the market, similar to the FIT cartridge used in premium offerings from Fox. By keeping the damping oil locked in the cartridge it can’t be contaminated by crud entering the fork, nor can damping be adversely affected by the oil mixing with air on prolonged rough descents, both of which are very good things. The settings of the RCT3 damper remain the same as on the earlier Motion Control units; there’s a fully open setting with adjustable low speed compression, a non-adjustable ‘pedal’ setting for better efficiency and a full lockout for smooth roads.

In conjunction with the new damper, RockShox have also changed the design of their air spring for the new Pike with the aim of giving better support in the middle of the stroke whilst still resisting harsh bottom out. Unlike previous RockShox ‘Dual Air’ forks the new air spring does not allow you to internally adjust the travel; if you buy a 150mm fork and want to increase it to 160mm, you’ll need to buy a new air spring assembly. We’ve been assured that these will be relatively affordable, however no pricing was available at the time of going to print.

The design of the Maxle has also been updated making it both more reliable and easier to use. With the new design, the lever angle is pre-set by pressing the ends of the axle together and turning the handle. Once adjusted for a given wheel, all you do is screw the Maxle in and flip the lever to the position you’ve set; it’s a much better system than the one it replaces.

Pike’s Peak

Once out on the trail, all the hard work put into the Pike really starts to pay dividends. The new air spring is excellent, allowing you to run reasonable sag levels without it feeling unsupported on mid-sized impacts. As mentioned the new Pike is plenty stiff, and it’s supple to boot. There’s minimal stiction and once moving the action is very smooth; we love the look of the black stanchions too.

The fully open damping setting is excellent, to the point that we used it as the default option for 80% of our riding. Riding familiar and often rocky trails in this setting, the Pike felt as controlled as or better than any other similar fork we’ve ridden. The high level of ground compliance doesn’t come at the cost of excessive bob, and with a twist of the small low speed compression dial you can tune out all but the worst of pedalling squares or brake dives. We saved the middle damper setting for more groomed and rolling trails; whilst it still worked well on medium impacts, we felt that it transferred more of the smaller trail chatter through to the rider. Perhaps this factory-set pedal mode would be better matched to heavier riders, but for our 65-70kg test riders it wasn’t as supple as we’d like. The lockout setting is essentially for shuttling on smooth roads.

The long and the short of it is that the Pike may have been absent for a few years, but it’s spent that time in Rocky-esque training. It’s not a cheap fork but Rockshox have done their homework well, and the new Pike is probably the new benchmark fork for all-mountain riding. It’s low weight, high stiffness, range of options, and most of all its level of composure and control make for a package that’s hard to beat; barring any unlikely long-term reliability issues it’s an absolute keeper.

Monza Imports (03) 8327 8080 / www.sram.com