The Pike was really the warning shot across the bow. For a few years prior, the products coming from the RockShox camp were not to hot, especially in the freeride area. The Pike changed that. Since then, the gear from RockShox has been a full on attack of killer toys, and it doesn't look like its going to end soon.

There are 9 pikes to choose from. There are 3 models, and then three spring choices. All the Pikes feature RockShox's motion control damping, which works very well. The base model is the 409, with the 426 adding an external adjuster for the floodgate, and the 454 adding a hollow crown and aluminum steertube on top of that. Then you choose your spring. You can get either the coil-sprung U-turn fork, the Dual Air, or the Air U-Turn. If you can, opt for the Air U-turn model. The adjustable travel comes in handy, albeit at a slight weight penalty.

   

The Pike features some pretty intelligently designed construction. The lowers are 32mm 7000 series aluminum, witha bunch of stuff annodized to them to make them feel slippery. With the U-turn models, you get fancy travel gradients on the legs too, to let you know exactly how much travel you are using. Crowns are 6061 t-6 aluminum, with a hollow one on the 454. Lowers are magnesium, with IS disc mounts and 20mm dropouts. They also feature RockShox's absolutely brilliant Maxle system, which I wish would become an official standard. There is simply no easier 20mm system on the market.

Something to note. While it is small, and inevitably has nothing to do with the ride of the fork, RockShox includes a little cable guide, alcohol wipe and a zip tie to keep everything nice and tidy. Its a tiny little touch, but its a nice one.

The Motion Control system sounds tricky, but its actually fairly simple. You have your basic rebound control at the bottom. The motion control is, essentially, an adjustable lockout. You use the blue motion control knob to set how your compression feels. All the way open, fork is super plush and fluid. Crank it up a bit, and the compression ramps up. Go all the way, and depending on your floodgate knob setting, you can lock it out. The floodgate controls how much force it takes to "break through" the lockout. Set it firm, and you'll have to hit a wall to get it moving. You can set it soft enough to use as a pedaling platform if you like too. There is also a handlebar mounted lever available to control everything, called the Poplock, if you are into that sort of thing. On the Pike 454 we have, the poplock seems to be a necessity, as the motion control knob is spring loaded.

Choose your Pike accordingly. If you are a hard hitter, park rider, or just one big bastard, take the 426. We aren't saying that the hollow crown and alloy steerer of the 454 is weaker, but steel has a more favorable failure action, should the unfortunate occur. If this is going to be your trail and "all mountain" fork, the weight savings are significant enough to pony up.

   

A word to the wise. Take your time, and play with pressure settings. RockShox has included a very good and very accurate chart on the back of the Pike's leg, which definitely helps as a starting point. However, with the dual air system you can control both positive and negative springs, which can give you an extreme range in performance. Play around with both, and understand what each does. WIth the air-sprung models, be careful letting the air out of the bottom too, as doing it too quickly will give you an oily surprise, and could cost you some brake pads.

As a trail fork, the Pike is wonderful. Its very smooth through its stroke, although not quite Bomber smooth. The Pike Dual Air has a great spring curve, and ramps up smoothly and evenly towards the end of its stroke. Bottoming it out takes quite a hit, as the last little bit of travel is very firm. Fully open, the fork pedals very well. Adjusting the floodgate and motion control settings can make this into a pedalling fork that nobody can complain about. With the floodgate you can set the breakaway super light, or all the way, or anywhere in between. I will admit to missing the U-turn adjustment on my personal fork. While climbing a 5.5 inch fork isn't impossible, being able to crank down the fork definitely makes long climbs easier. If you can afford it, get it. To RockShox's credit, the price jump between each platform is very reasonable.

       

The dirt jumpers and park rats are going to love this fork. While its definitely not intended for this sort of riding, the Pike easily holds it own. Crank the travel down, and giv'er. Again, choose your model correctly here. I have personally seen the Pike take a considerable amount of Park abuse, and hold up. Remember though, this is an all mountain fork. If you are going to use it strictly fork park, instead consider the new Argyle lineup.

In all applications, the Pike is nice and stiff. The Maxle system, combined with the Pike's fairly beefy lowers, gives you a nice stiff chassis to bomb around on. Even at full travel, the Pike stayed appreciably stiff, making corners and rougher sections much easier to handle.

Issues with the Pike seem to be completely random, and fairly sparse. Reports of leaking out of the top of the motion control knobs are the most common complaint; RockShox is aware of the problem and to my knowledge have addressed it. Our fork had a Pop-lok specific Motion Control system, but didn't come with the Pop-Lok. A quick call to the LBS fixed that issue though.

Performance and price combined, there is really not much on the market that can compare with the Pike at the moment. The Pike is a solid fork that performs much better then its cost would indicate, and has all the features necessary to tackle most anything you are going to encounter, from nasty rock gardens, to the occasional drop, to high speed single track. 

You can get your very own Pike from :

www.cycle-solutions.com

www.sweetpetes.com