Let's offroad / mountain bike / mtb / ride dirt

Pedalling comfort and cooling are priority

Neither of these are traits I've found in any kneepads

Yeah, not in any I’ve had anyway. I still wear mine for 3+ hour rides in 35 degrees with 80% humidity mind, as I’ve come off without them before and I really don’t want to do that again.

I have 7idp Sam Hill ones.
They where the nicest with side protection that I tried.
They do not exactly cool your knees though.

Any interest in my Ragley Marley before I try to sell it properly? As much as I like it a friend has ridden it more than me in the past 18 months, and he rode it once. Medium frame I think, 140mm Xfusion McQueen forks (not much use but overdue an oil change just due to time), 12 speed SLX drive chain, on it's first chain and loads of life left, XT brakes (M8000 I think), DT XM551 rims to XT rear and generic front hub, brand X dropper, tyres are 2.8", bars and stem are renthal, I'll probably keep/sell the DMR vtwin pedals separately. Even with the chunky tyres it's weirdly light for what is meant to be a pretty hardcore hardtail. Was thinking £750 plus postage.

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Any Rock Shox experts?

I bought a fork on ebay and I'm trying to figure out what it is. It was sold as a Pike but it's been painted up to look like a Judy DH so all original graphics etc are gone.

There's a serial no on the crown which comes back as a Revelation RC but it's meant to be 27.5" and a 29 x 2.6 fits in it so I don't think the crown matches the lowers.

It came in a box for a 27.5 Pike so I'm thinking that the seller has a load of forks and has made this one up with bits and bobs from here and there.

I asked the seller about the paint as I was putting the fork on a bike I was taking to Brazin and they didn't respond so I doubt that asking them what's going on will help much.

Ebay listing said 160mm travel but the serial number says 130mm. Guess I should let the air out it and see what travel I actually get?

This is the fork that comes up when I put the serial no into Rockshox site - https://www.sram.com/en/service/models/fs-rvl-rc-a1?t=48T76598488

This is the listing for the fork from ebay - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/256084938925

I found an article on a website that shows a few 2018 forks side by side and I think the lowers look more like the Pike, around the arch? That could just be the rendering though. https://enduro-mtb.com/en/rockshox-updates-pike-lyrik-yari-and-revelation-for-2018/

Edit: There's this photo/rendering of a Revelation RC where the arch looks much more like the Pike from that enduro-mtb.com article.

Would the lowers be shared across the range of 35mm forks?

Looks like the stanchions are marked for 130 or 140mm? I don't think you could get the revelation with the Charger damper, so maybe the seller is assuming Charger = Pike?
I would trust the SRAM serial number search to be honest, but as you say, the lowers could have been swapped.

Spare parts suggest 35mm lowers are shared... https://www.tradeinn.com/bikeinn/en/rockshox-lower-leg-pike-b1-b2-select-select-plus-b3-revelation/137670435/p

Travel will be marked on the stanchions, no?

I think there’s other markings around the leg. Not with the bike so can’t check but in this photo you can see there are more sag scales sort of on the inside of the leg.

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It looks like whether it’s a Revelation or a Pike I need the same 10ml of the same fluid in the lowers so I think I’ll get some seals and fluid and do a lower leg service and tomorrow I’ll let the air out them and work out what travel they actually have.

That enduro-mtb article says they share the lower casting. From the specs, I think Pike has internal tapered stanchions to shed a bit of weight. My final answer is they upgraded air spring and damper and called it a Pike even though it began life as a Revelation. Travel you'll have to work out as you say by letting the air out.

So for all intents and purposes I have a Pike with slightly heavier weight (and therefore stronger?) stanchions. I can live with that.

I think I need to let the air out my Fox forks and see what travel I’m actually getting out of them too. The ring has been pushed up to about 130mm but I’ve not done any huge jumps/drops so not getting all the way to the 150mm travel they’re meant to have might not be the end of the world.

Would a 130 fork have a shorter a2c than a 150? Or does it just not compress as far?

When do we get to see the full mad bike?

I’ve still not taken any decent photos of it but here’s one of our sitting on my stand at Brazin’.

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Yes, on factory forks, the travel should go almost all the way up the stanchions. Both Fox and Rockshox publish A2C heights for all their forks. e.g Fox and RS

Turns out the other markings on the Rock Shox stanchions are just the 130 and 140mm sag scales repeated.

That said, I got the full 160mm travel when I let the air out.

That said though I then took the bike with them out for a ride and barely made it past 100mm despite dropping the pressure to the bottom of the range for a rider of my ‘girth’.

Either need to drop pressure even more or just htfu and hit some bigger stuff!

Might try swapping the forks around. The Pike (or whatever it actually is) seems a bit plusher and I want the Honzo to be the A bike and the GT thing to be the B, if that makes sense.

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A few more photos of the GT thing.

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This looks amazing :-)

Did you check if there are any tokens in the air side?

Of the Rock Shox fork?

I've not had it apart yet. Would they be visible when I do a lower leg service? I've got stuff coming to do that.

Do the tokens alter the travel or just ramp the spring rate right up as you get through the travel?

Yep, you just need to unscrew the top cap on the air side and they’d be fixed to the underside of it. Like you said, they don’t limit travel, just cause a ramp at the end. So if they are installed it would be normal to run lower pressure than recommended.

Cool. IIRC it's a splined fitting on that top cap so probably need a specific tool?

Edit: Quick google and it looks like its a cassette tool. Have that.

If it’s splined then it’s a cassette tool, otherwise it’ll be a 32 or 34mm socket (knipex work ok for this if you don’t have a flat faced socket)

We need more details on the GT thing?

I took a late 90’s steel LTS5000, chopped the front triangle off and rebuilt it to have modern geometry and the ability to take a modern fork.

Couldn’t quite get the reach I wanted as the downtube I wanted to use wasn’t long enough so had to pull the front end back in a little.

44mm headtube to take the tapered fork.

I had to spread the seatstays a bit and rebuild the lower shock mount in order to squeeze a 2.4” tyre into it. It’s a 29 front/26 rear mullet.

I steepened the seat tube angle so it’s now got a 79deg sta and 64deg hta.

It’s certainly no lightweight but it’s a lot of fun to ride!

I held the old front triangle up against it once I’d brazed the new stuff up and difference in where the headtube sit is quite bonkers.

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That's crazy