4 Affordable Trail Bike Forks Ridden & Rated – Pinkbike.com

RockShox Yari RC

RockShox dominates the affordable trail bike market with the Yari RC and its derivatives. Based upon the competition-proven Lyrik chassis and sporting sturdy, 35mm aluminum stanchion tubes, the Yari straddles the territory between lightweight trail forks and over-the-top enduro sliders. The main reason for the Yari’s overwhelming OEM spec, however, is its inexpensive Motion Control damper. It’s been in the RockShox inventory forever and if you pull it out from the right-side fork cap you’ll understand why, until recently, nobody has been able to match the Yari RC for performance and value.

Forget complicated shim stacks and micro-adjustable fluid pathways. Motion Control is the Barbie Bake With Me Oven of hydraulic compression dampers. It’s one dial on top of a tubular, five-inch piece of plastic, with a bunch of slots in it that is plugged at the bottom end. The low-speed compression dial simply rotates a plate that closes off a series of holes until no fluid can pass through the plug under compression. And that’s when the magic begins. Impacts that exceed the flow of your chosen low-speed setting cause the serrated tube to compress and at some point, the end-plug momentarily shrinks away from the low-speed disc and allows fluid to rush underneath it. Motion Control’s high- and low-speed compression circuit basically has two moving parts.

Performance Notes

The crazy part about Motion Control is that it actually works – in part, because the present crop of aggressive trail riders place a high value on mid-stroke support and big-hit performance, which happen to be the two things that its simplistic compression device does best.

Suspension pros, however, will attest that rebound control is the key to a good fork and here, the Yari’s rebound circuit employs a time-proven speed-sensitive shim stack and bypass port. Together with the DebonAir’s self-adjusting negative spring, the Yari RC manages to provide an impressive measure

Marzocchi Bomber Z2

“Your fancy fork may have five dials, each with 20 clicks, but 19 of them are going to be wrong. The Z2’s “less is more” design strategy distills the body of knowledge suspension experts have learned from the recent enduro/all-mountain epoch, then hard-wires those improvements into the fork’s internals. Fewer parts, spot-on damping, and simplified adjustments that provide clear feedback are Marzocchi’s formula for success. That, and the Bomber Z2’s refreshing, $499 USD sticker price are poised to shake up the performance suspension marketplace.”

That’s what the new Marzocchi is all about, and the Bomber Z2 was appearing as an OEM fork only weeks after its debut this year. PB recently reviewed the Bomber Z2 and it fits well in this group. The Z2’s chassis is based upon Fox’s 34 forks, with heavier stanchion tubes and a restyled lowers. The air spring is interchangeable with Fox’s Float 34 as well and it also shares Fox’s smooth acting seals and bushing system. The damper, however, is Marzocchi’s jewel.

The Rail damper operates directly inside the right-side stanchion tube, which eliminates the need for a cartridge and makes room for more fluid. Rebound and compression dampers use shim stacks, or versions thereof, that make for one of the smoothest

Performance Notes

Marzocchi’s affiliation with Fox assures reliability and consistency – equally as important s the Z2’s pro-feeling damping performance for riders on a budget. The Marzocchi name allows the design team to deliver a busload of control and traction at a price point that its parent company has been reluctant to deliver – presumably because such heresy would erode Fox’s prestigious position as the sport’s ultimate racing suspension.

That is, however, exactly what the Bomber Z2 does. After riding it for much of the summer season, I’d need a lot of convincing to spend more than this fork’s $500 asking price. It’s smooth over the

RockShox Revelation Charger RC

RockShox’s Pike has earned many fans for its sturdy, precise steering chassis and sophisticated feel, but its performance comes at a tall sticker price. The new Revelation Charger RC is the poor man’s Pike. If you haven’t already guessed, it shares the same uppers and lowers, but with its internal features pared down in order to hit a more agreeable price point for OEM bike makers.

On the left side, the Revelation Charger RC shares the Pike’s DebonAir spring and air-volume token system. The cost savings are all on the damper side, where the Revelation uses a simpler version of the Charger 2 damper, with a spring-loaded internal piston instead of a friction free bladder to isolate suspension fluid from air bubbles, and it also lacks the Charger 2’s external high-speed compression dial.

The good news is that if you can live with air-volume tokens and standard low-speed rebound and compression clickers, this fork will show you a good time on any trail you have the seeds to hit.

Fox Rhythm Grip 34

Fox debuted the Grip damper around 2016 to offer OEM customers a lower cost cartridge system packed with the key features of its racing forks. High-speed rebound and compression are controlled by shim-stack pistons, and the oil is separated from air contamination by a spring-loaded IFP. Low-speed rebound damping uses a standard needle valve, while low-speed compression is limited to three settings: open, “trail” and near lockout.

The reason I begin with the Grip damper is that without it, Fox’s Rhythm would be merely a good fork. By intention or accident, the Grip cartridge nearly outperforms Fox’s more expensive FIT4 system. The only real sacrifice is there is no high-speed compression feature on the base-model Grip dampers (Grip 2 cartridges have this feature.)

Fox doesn’t sell Rhythm forks in the aftermarket – it’s an OEM only slider. The closest you can get is their “Performance Series” 34, which starts at $749 USD with the Grip 2 damper. Rhythm Charger forks, however, can be found in new condition for hundreds less and are built on a similar, if not the same, 34-millimeter-stanchion chassis.

The visual cue is the Rhythm’s black-anodized tubes instead of gold Kashima – but inside, you’ll

I’ll steal a paragraph from Levy’s review, to begin this ride report:

“With the three-position compression dial turned all the way to the left and fully open, the Grip damper still offers more than adequate low-speed compression control. The front wheel tracks the ground exceptionally well, and this was my go-to setting when it was wet, loose, or I simply needed a more forgiving feel at the front of my bike. The damper’s middle setting is comparable to the middle setting on the three-position FIT4 damper, with maybe a bit more support, and the closed setting is also firmer than the closed setting that the FIT4 damper offers.”

The difficulty, however, is that you’ll have to search the interwebs to find one – and you’ll have to live with the Grip damper’s simplistic low-speed adjustments.