Understanding modern 29er boost forks?

[ishaw]

Cheers for all the advice. I'd love to be able to stretch to a decent 2nd hand pike for sure, though not yet found any. Yari seems more available but as has been pointed out, don't seem as good. I've seen a few at fairly low prices but once you've read there is better, kind of want to go down that route.

I can probably get away with 130-150mm travel, though ideally 130 or 140mm as that's the frame spec, with 51mm offset.

 

[clubby]

Poor Yari, personally I think it’s a bit of an unsung hero. Not as an advanced damper, yes, but £300 worse than a Charger, no.

Have to watch with newer Lyriks and Pikes as the original Charger in the Select plus version is not as good as the Charger 2 in the posher one.

Have had -

Pike 140mm RCT3
Yari 130mm MoCo
Lyrik 160mm Charger.

Subtle but noticeable differences if ridden back to back. Main difference is in big back to back compressions where the Yari doesn’t feel as composed as the others. For me though it’s on a bike that doesn’t get ridden in that kind of terrain that often. Smaller hits and rooty stuff it’s fine.
On a bigger travel bike it may be a different story. Out of the other two forks the RCT3 was a better damper than the Charger 1.

As others have said, pre this year a travel swap is very easy at home and relatively cheap, although the price of that has gone up.

 

[brocklanders023]

I'd agree that the biggest issue with the Yari (and therefore Revelation I'd imagine?) is that it really doesn't like repeated, hard hits and goes spikey. General riding is fine though.

Given the original brief I'd go Rev over Yari as it'll be lighter. The Yari/Lyrik is a big old fork, made to take proper punishment. To be honest, the original Pike was seen as a hard hitting fork when first out so the Rev will be no XC, twangy whippet.

Don't forget as well that the better dampers can be purchased separately and so if you get a decent deal on Yari/Rev you could upgrade it later as the chassis are the same as the better fork.

 

[ishaw]

Cheers, gone are the days where you could drop in spacers to change travel.

I'd read that the new charger isn't as good as old.

In all honesty I'm not as frequent a rider as I'd like to be, and when I do, it's long ish xx rides so no need for big or repeated hit performance. Moco is probably more than capable of handling me and my rides. Would be nice to get a charger of course, part of my reason for this build is to drag me up to as current as possible with the bike and parts, though doubt 12x as I just don't need it or the premium price it carries. Xt 11x it will probably be.

 

[brocklanders023]

Yeah, 12sp is nice but not necessary unless you desperately need the range. Don't worry about offset either, it makes very little difference to the average rider.

 

[slackboy]

Xt 11x it will probably be

I can recommend an xtr 11 speed shifter - the quality is much nicer than the xt .
I'd also go for an slx crankset - they are much less prone to heel wear.
On my bike I'm running an xtr mech and shifter with an slx chainset and a sunrace 11-46 cassette which was cheaper and had better gear spacing than the Shimano ones .

 

[2manyoranges]

I can recommend an xtr 11 speed shifter - the quality is much nicer than the xt .
I'd also go for an slx crankset - they are much less prone to heel wear.
On my bike I'm running an xtr mech and shifter with an slx chainset and a sunrace 11-46 cassette which was cheaper and had better gear spacing than the Shimano ones .

That’s all good advice - I have some horrible gear spacing on my Shimano cassette (on the mmmBop) in the middle gears….when in single track: spin spin….change….grind grind - just too much of a gap exactly in the place where you want a small transition….

 

[ishaw]

Yeah, 12sp is nice but not necessary unless you desperately need the range. Don't worry about offset either, it makes very little difference to the average rider.

I am certainly an average rider.

 

[brocklanders023]

I am certainly an average rider.

Me too and don't notice any real difference!

 

[ishaw]

Well, thanks to all who have replied, you've been a big help and I mean that. I could have procrastinated for longer before deciding on a fork, but I've taken the plunge and bought a DVO Diamond D1 in green. The frame is green so hopefully will be a decent match. The light green anno adjusters will also be a good match for a bunch of bolts, mech hanger and expander sprocket I've got in the stash.

I decided not to get too hung up on the offset, the DVO has 44mm.

Looking forward to getting the forks and starting to build it all up.

I'm excited, I will for once have a current MTB, looking forward to finding out what all this modern fuss is all about.