Blink, and you could easily mistake the new Lyrik for a Pike. That’s because both forks use 35mm Fast Black upper tubes, 15mm Maxle lowers and the excellent RCT3 Charger damper.

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Extra material in the crown, lowers and stanchions make the Lyrik a burlier proposition than the Pike, though. Not only do these subtle changes to the chassis make the Lyrik a stiffer fork, it’s stronger too, which is how RockShox has been able to extend the travel range up to 180mm. Even with the extra muscle, the 160mm travel Lyrik is only 115g heavier than the equivalent Pike.

Stiffness of the Lyrik can be increased further by using a 15mm front hub, equipped with oversized 31mm Torque Caps, the idea being that increasing the contact area with the dropouts reduces twisting in the lowers.

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Lyrik uses the same RCT3 Charger damper as the popular Pike

Obviously, you can still use a standard 15mm hub on the Lyrik, but because the shoulders on the dropouts are now bigger, it’s trickier to locate the front hub and Maxle. Hopefully that will change as more hub and wheel manufacturers get on board with the Torque Cap design.

Thanks to the increased volume of the negative air spring, the Solo Air Lyrik is much easier to set up than the Pike. There’s no need to add extra Bottomless tokens for additional support, or for maintaining small-bump sensitivity when running higher pressures. And lighter riders may even need to remove the single, stock, Bottomless token to achieve full travel.

15mm Maxle can be bolstered with Torque Caps

Calm and composed under fire, outright grip on the Lyrik was on a par with the Fox, while offering much more support and stability than the Bos or DVO.

Smash it through repeated hits at speed, however, and the Lyrik strikes a slightly different chord, where the front wheel isn’t able to react as quickly as the Fox 36. We really are splitting hairs here, though, the difference being that you feel the impacts more in your hands than your forearms.

Given that you can pick up a Lyrik online for around £600, it’s a total no-brainer. So while the Fox 36 inches ahead in outright performance, it’s far easier to get a good baseline setting on the Lyrik. Add air and low-speed compression and you’re good to go. Solid, reliable and easy to set up, the new RockShox Lyrik offers first class performance at a knock-down price.