RockShox Yari RC Solo Air £647

The Yari has a super-stiff chassis, a naturally supple, traction-rich action and excellent reliability. Simpler damping than RockShox’s flagship Lyrik fork means it feels rough when you start pushing hard though. With exactly the same taper-walled, 35mm stanchion chassis as the Lyrik, it’s rock solid, even in its longest 180mm travel format. At the longer stretches it’s a reasonable weight too, though it’s arguably overkill below 150mm unless you’re a regular nose diver. If you haven’t got a SRAM wheel with stiffness-increasing ‘Torque Cap’ hub ends, the cutaway dropouts make axle location a pain. It comes in a vast range of formats, including 29+ and a ‘Dual Position Air’ version with external travel adjuster. The long negative spring and SKF seals mean a really sensitive initial stroke, and ‘Rapid Recovery’ rebound damping helps it stay alert without topping out harshly. It’s stiff enough to stay fluid under heavy braking too, and reliability on countless sets we’ve used has been excellent. The Motion Control compression damper can slap and spike on bigger, faster impacts though, and adding volume spacers or air pressure to increase progression makes it harsher under hammer. The Charger damper of the Lyrik will drop straight in though.