RockShox Lyrik [Rider Review]

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Upgrading the front fork not only can save the hands for the long descents, it can also help achieve more traction that wasn't being utilized. Our customer has been riding the RockShox Lyrik, see what they think!

Overview

I purchased the rockshox Lyrik ultimate when my dvo diamond d1 decided to blow a seal right before a planned trip to Brevard, NC. I ride an Ibis Ripmo AF so the 160mm Lyrik was a perfect choice for a heavy duty trail bike.

Initial impressions: the fork is noticeably lighter than the dvo. The adjustments are extremely easy and intuitive to set up. The fork felt extremely supportive and is very solid even on the flats. There is no bob in travel while riding standing up. One perk that I noticed and was not expecting was the sound. The fork is very quiet. The sound is very damped and it is nice to not have a fork that clangs around when running through the chunk.

On mellow Midwest trails: 160mm is a lot of travel for undulating terrain, but due to the supportive nature of this fork, it was not nearly as cumbersome as the dvo diamond d1. The butter cups do help with the small bump compliance and it really damps that out of the trail. There are not as many big hits on my local trails so that wasn’t as easy to test locally. On the few jumps I could hit, it felt really supportive and am very happy with the performance. It makes me reconsider having two bikes, one for nasty rocky trails out of town and a hardtail for the local stuff.

Brevard/Pisgah Trails: this fork performed exceptionally well when the going got rough. Here are all the trails I rode - club gap, Avery creek, black mountain middle and lower, kitsuma, and DuPont (big rock and ridgeline). Due to the large amount of adjustment I was able to firm up or tune the compression for all of these different trail conditions. Ridgeline in DuPont was super flowy and smooth so I ramped the compression down to create a more firm feel. This made the performance better for cornering and pumping through the descent. Avery creek I did the opposite to make sure I was getting every bit of travel available. That trail is gnarly, fast, rocky, with a bunch of side hits in the way of jumps and drops. Throw some rock gardens throughout and that makes up the whole trails. Club gap is the climb that you need to take to hit Avery, and it quite a steep technical one mile climbing trail.

The Lyrik make this a breeze like I said earlier, due to the amount of small bump support and supple feel. It was able to push hard to make it up the root filled climb and still pop up some of the larger rocks.

Final Thoughts

Definitely make the right move in purchasing this fork. There are likely better value options for the money that this thing costs, but if you’re looking for an adaptable piece of gear this is definitely a good option. Have all the adjustments is crucial for my kind of riding variety and would best suit a more experienced rider who is able to understand how to tune suspension to the trails they ride. Overall, great fork and meets or exceeds the fox 36 factory competition.