Travel: 115 or 160mm/Spring: Solo Air/Damping: Mission Control/Stanchion diameter: 35mm/Lowers: magnesium/Disc mount: Post 6in/Weight: 5.45lb (uncut with Maxle)
Contact: www.fisheroutdoor.co.uk

This is the second RockShox Lyrik 2-Step Air that we’ve had the pleasure of testing. The first one worked great for about four rides before the 2-Step adjuster packed up. We hadn’t used it much so we just kept riding it — performance was impressive for an air fork but available travel eventually started to creep down and there was no way to get it back to full extension.
All the other features worked fine but the fork was starting to mess up the geometry of the bike, so we finally called RockShox about the problem. The guys were aware of the issue and informed us about an assembly problem where a small piece of swarf was nicking the seal on the one-way valve of the 2-Step adjuster, causing the fork to creep down. We returned our test fork for analysis and promptly received a fresh one. The new
2-Step adjuster worked fine and even though we haven’t felt the need to use it much, we’ve been fiddling with it more than is really necessary just to see if it breaks. It hasn’t, so we’re happy enough to write off our initial problem as a pre-production glitch.
The 360-degree Maxle system is heavier than a standard 20mm bolt-through set-up but it’s very easy to use and is by far the best 20mm quick-release system on the market.
To say that this flagship fork has a lot of adjustment is an understatement: spring rate, rebound, low-speed compression, high-speed compression and floodgate, which gives you everything from locked out to fully active in either the 115mm or 160mm travel setting. If you struggle with the concept of sag, you’ll find it difficult to get the most from the adjustment on offer.
Doing the obligatory car park test on the RockShox Lyric it didn’t feel anything like as good as the Fox 36 Van that it replaced. Hit the trail though and it’s a different kettle of fish. Steering precision is on a par with the Fox, as is damping performance. And RockShox has finally got its recommended pressure setting in the ballpark, so setting the spring rate was easy. The biggest surprise is that the air-sprung Lyrik feels every bit as plush as the coil-sprung Van it replaced. That’s no mean feat and it makes the Lyrik 2-Step Air a better fork than its direct competitor, the Fox 36 Talas. With the Lyrik RockShox has a fork that not only outperforms the Fox 36 Talas RC2, but is also marginally cheaper than an equivalent specced Fox unit.

MBR RATING: 10/10