RockShox Lyrik RCT3 Solo Air £953
If you’re looking for a massively user friendly, super-stiff, slam-proof fork that’ll take any terrain in its stride without demanding a degree in which dials do what, then RockShox’s Lyrik knocks it out of the bike park. The thick-walled, tapered 35mm stanchions made it the stiffest fork in our workshop torsion tests and it’s rock-solid accurate on the trail. It’s the only fork here that’s available in a 180mm-travel 29er format, which shows how confident RockShox are in its strength. Accuracy is increased further when it’s paired with one of SRAM’s ‘Torque Cap’ hubs, although the cutaway dropouts make it more awkward to refit regular wheels. That aside, the Lyrik is user-friendly bliss.
The large-volume negative air spring automatically balances pressure with the positive spring. Add SKF seals and a stiff, non-binding chassis and it’s luxuriously smooth either side of the sag point. That translates to a seamless cushion of ultra-sensitive, ground-sucking grip even if the trail is falling away or choppy as hell. The Charger damper stops it ever feeling too soft or mushy, so you can always feel the trail accurately. It can dive if you’re really heavy on the brakes or burying your bike into berms, but adding volume spacers to raise the ride height and increase progression is simple. The low-speed compression damping is widely adjustable to suit personal taste, with ‘Rapid Recovery’ rebound damping to regain ride height fast enough even on the most impactinfested trails. It’s also got a really broad bandwidth in terms of settings, so most riders will get better real-world results more of the time.