So these days, it seems like RockShox can do no wrong. With the
introduction of the Pike and the Reba, RockShox soundly laid the
smackdown and said "We're back."

2007 saw the introduction of a couple new forks from RockShox,
including the massive Totem and our fork, the Lyrik Solo air.

   

The Lyrik Solo Air is an "all mountain" fork. This means that it can
take a ton of abuse, but still manage to climb the hills instead of
relying on a chairlift. The Lyrik comes in three distinct flavors, and
of course three price points. The bottom of the bunch is the Coil
U-Turn, followed by the SoloAir and finally, the 2-Step. I will say
that thikning of each fork as "better" isn't quite fair, as even the
"lower end" coil U-Turn is a great fork. All forks feature a max of
160mm of travel, the updated Maxle 360, a forged hollow crown, lovely
and light 35mm alloy legs, and for a twist, a post mount disc brake
mount. The Lyrik also features RockShox's newest idea, a bulge in the
lowers to accommodate a huge bushing.

   

The Lyriks also feature RockShox's new Mission Control damping system.
Where the Pikes and Rebas have the wonderful Motion Control system,
Mission Control is the next step up. Mission Control gives you both
high and low speed compression adjustments, with extremely smooth and
machined adjusters. This means you can dial in the fork completely to
what you need, from standard pedaling to the big dirty hits. But of
course, thats not it. If it was, it wouldn't get a fancy name like
Mission Control, it would just be high and low speed compression.

Mission Control goes a bit further, and adds the platform control
called the Floodgate (similar to Motion control) to the mix. Push the
low speed compression adjuster down and turn right, and it pops up,
engaging the forks platform. To note, this is NOT a lockout. You can
tune the Floodgate to "let go" on a bump, and you can even tune how
big of a bump it takes to break through the platform. When you do pop
through the Floodgate, the fork returns to its standard settings,
including your compression settings. Pretty neat really. Of course,
you also get control over your rebound, and air pressure settings on
the two higher forks.

     

With a full length steerer and the axle, our fork weighed exactly
2300g. Thats 5.070632 pounds, for you imperial guys. (Thanks Andrew. )

We mounted the Lyrik on a 2007 Kona Coilair, with a DHX air 5.0 in the
back, and put a bit of time in on a Turner RFX too.

The Lyrik is an impressive beast. First step is to get it dialed in.
The fork comes with a very handy and very accurate air pressure chart
right on the back of the leg for the air models, or use different
springs for the Coil U-Turn. We found the fork was a little more fun
at the lower side of the scale for a suggested pressure range, making
it a little more active but still ramping up nicely. Once you get the
high and low speed compression settings dialed in along with the
proper air pressure, you have a fork thats supple over the small
stuff, doesn't wallow around in its travel, pedals very well, ramps up
nicely, and is very smooth. The Lyrik was of course very stiff, as a
fork with 35mm legs and a 20mm through-axle should be. There were no
surprises, no leaks, no weird phantom problems. The Lyrik just rode,
and was happy about it.

Climbs were a varied experience. If the climb was mellow, the Lyrik
was fine. It would just motor along, and go up. However, if we
encountered a steep climb, we were in trouble. The Solo Air Lyrik is
essentially a 160mm fork, and thats that. There is no external travel
adjust, although apparently you can open it up and reduce the travel
via internal all-travel spacers. Not exactly a trailside fix though.
At its full 160mm, the Lyrik was a pain to climb. The bike wanders,
the front end is super high, and the Mission Control platform is
actually a hinderance rather then a help. To be perfectly fair, this
is NOT the Lyriks fault. ALL 5+ inch forks suck to climb, especially
if they can't compress much. Our best solution with the Lyrik was to
stand up, lean over the bars and try and squish the fork lower while
we monster trucked our way up. The same can be said of all the 6 inch
forks we've tried (Fox Float and Vanilla, Magura Wotan, Marzocchi Z1).

   

Downhills were great, as you'd expect. Dial in your high speed
compression and let it go. the fork handles most of what you can throw
at it, but of course comes short compared to a dedicated DH fork.
Remember, this is a do it all fork, so if hucking 30 footers is your
thing, look elsewhere.

A couple things weren't quite so peachy with the Lyrik.

Cranking up the air pressure resulting in a lot of pressure at the
start of the stroke. Going 20 PSi over the recommended pressure (which
is a lot) resulted in a fork that wasn't keen on moving at all, and
felt very sticky. Compare this to the Magura Wotan, which gets firmer
but still retains its smooth starting stroke.

If you are going to buy a Lyrik, get the damn travel adjust one. Yes,
they are heavier. But, since the Lyriks impressive weight still wasn't
enough to actually float the bike up the climbs, the travel adjust
models will make a huge difference on the climbs. Dropping a 6 inch
fork down to 4 really can be the difference between making the climb,
or pulling a wheelie and having a stroke in the bushes. I always
thought that was something that only Mountain Bike Action bitched
about, but it is true.

Having ridden a Pike Dual Air, I can say that I prefer that system to
the Solo Air of the Lyrik. Having the ability to dial in your positive
and negative air chambers separately is a nice feature to have,
especially since there is no travel adjust.

On a personal note, I will admit that I am a bit torn over the Mission
Control stuff. On one hand, its a very useful system, and the high and
low speed adjustments are brilliant, and effective.

On the other hand, I (and the riders who tried the fork) found little
to no love for the platform. We engaged the platform at various times,
from parking lot riding to mellow climbs, and every time, the results
weren't that good. While it worked perfectly fine and exactly as it
should, a partially locked out 6 inch fork just doesn't help with
much. The Lyrik isn't hyperactive like the Marzocchis I have tried, so
it doesn't wallow and bob all over the place like a fatty on a
waterbed. The Lyrik is very controlled through its stroke, making the
platform almost redundant. On the climbs, the last thing I want is a
huge full extended fork, as it makes the harder climbs much more
difficult. I found personally once I had my high and low speed dialed,
I was good to go, and never touched the platform after that.

For an all-mountain fork, the Lyrik is a damn good time. Its supple,
its smooth, its very adjustable, and it performs brilliantly. It does
exactly what it promises with no surprises, and will take a ton of
abuse and keep ticking. The Mission Control system is as brilliant as
you'd expect from RockShox these days, giving you all the adjustments
you need to dial in your fork for where ever you ride. The Solo Air is
a great fork, and a worthy competitor for the Fox 36 Float, which is
about as high an honor as you can give really. Just strongly consider
where you ride, and whether or not you want to do without a travel
adjust feature.