RockShox Lyrik RC2 Fork: Customer Review

While the 2018 Rockshox Lyrik was already a solid fork, the 2019 version now features a Charger 2 Damper, updated DebonAir, and increased adjustability. Our customer Matt has seen his fair share of forks and is here to share his thoughts on the 2019 Lyrik. He decided to go with the blackout decals to go with his sweet Santa Cruz Nomad. Check it out!

Overview

It's been about a month since I purchased the 2019 Lyrik RC2. It's the 27.5" model with 160mm of travel. My weight is right around 150lbs and I installed the fork on a Santa Cruz Nomad 3.

Previous forks rode:

2016 Pike RCT3 - felt alright, had to run low psi to get a plush feel, lost mid-stroke support, LSC made big hits harsh.

• with Luftkappe - small bump felt better, but still lacking mid-stroke, definitely an improvement.
• then with Avy Cartridge - tons of mid-stroke support, small-bump went out the window, I really did not like this cartridge, I found it very harsh. 

2018 Lyrik RCT3 - really good small bump, ran recommended pressure and found mid stroke was reasonably supportive, cranking up LSC made small bump worse, overall I did like the fork, I just thought 2019 would be an improvement.

MRP Ribbon Air - damper was awesome, felt very controlled, great mid-stroke, lacking in small bump, had to run 10-15 psi under recommended to get the feel I wanted, it actually felt pretty good overall, but the 2019 Lyrik was too tempting.

First Ride

Almost right from the get-go, I could tell that the small bump compliance was the best of any fork I have ridden. On the climbs, the fork was glued to the ground over every root and rock and sucked them all up no matter how slow or small. The downhills were more of the same. Every bump disappeared as the fork silently sucked them all up. No spiking, no clunking, no pogo-ing, no weirdness whatsoever. It felt like I could cruise right through everything and no matter what the fork would suck it all up. The fork felt active yet stuck to the ground. Every click of LSC made a noticeable difference. On my previous Pike and Lyrik, the fork would start to get harsh on bigger hits as LSC was added. Not on this fork. Now that LSC and HSC are separate settings, adding in LSC doesn't make the fork harsh deeper in the travel. 

My fork came stock with 2 tokens. I have since ridden with 1 and 0 tokens. With 1 token, the end of the stroke felt a little harsh for my liking and it was really difficult to use full travel. Once I removed the final token, it opened up slightly more travel and removed the harshness. I believe the increased negative air volume has increased the progressiveness of the fork. Even with 0 tokens and HSC fully open, at my light weight, I rarely use over 90% travel. This also contributes to much more mid-stroke support compared to previous versions. The fork rides higher in its travel while remaining plush throughout the stroke.

Settings

As far as my other settings go; I am running 70-72 psi which is right around RockShox's recommendation, rebound is 9 clicks in from open, LSC is 2 clicks in from open, HSC is fully open. I have experimented with various psi and rebound settings. On most other forks I have ridden, I've run air pressure lower than the recommended settings. When I tried going 5 psi lower on this fork, it very noticeably lost a lot of support and became dead and saggy. I think their recommendations are spot on. I am not running much LSC, because I prefer the fork to soak up the chatter and the bob is barely noticeable. The fork naturally provides good support, so more LSC isn't really needed. 

Final Thoughts

Overall, I highly recommend this fork for anyone seeking great small bump compliance, above average mid-stroke support, and settings that are easy to fine tune.