Product Image:
Product name: Rockshox Yari 29"
Price paid: Came with Haibike 3.0
Score (out of 10): 7
Review: Not a review as such, but felt this the best place to put my thoughts regarding my Yaris which were supplied as new on my Haibike and have now done 700 miles but the stiction (subjective I know) hasn't got any better IMO. So I decided to pull them apart for a second time (1st was to fit a 180 airspring). Bear in mind my comparison of stiction is based on Fox 34 Ryhthm GRIP damper.
Everything appeared fine on stripdown (as per the 1st time) with suitable lube and no excess. So with the lowers off I actioned the airspring and it felt really good - very little if any stiction noticed and smooth throughout the travel. So then to the damper, where there was slightly more stiction than the airspring but nowhere near enough to cause what I was experiencing. Also smooth throughout travel.
At this point, given the damper was isolated, I thought I would check out the differences that adjustments made. I found that compression damping was pretty poor - no difference between click 0 and 6, at 7 there was a marked increase and at 8 and beyond it was virtually locked. So pretty much only 3 useable positions - 0, 6 and locked.
Rebound damping was similar to compression at the beginning adjustments - very little difference between 0 and 6 clicks, but actually quite a nice progression from then onwards and given the amount of clicks available compared to the compression side its actually quite useable. Overall not a problem for me as I ride open for most things, but for hardcore riders the limited damping adjustments especially for compression could be an issue and one where I believe swopping out the Motion Control for the charger damper would be a good move.
So with no real culprit yet found, I reinstalled the lowers without bolting up either internals and again the stiction was back. So off they came again and just to rule it out, I removed the wipers and refitted the lowers to check it wasn't the bushings - nope they were OK - lowers slid nicely and without any play.
So by my Sherlock levels of deduction, the vast majority of stiction had to be coming from the wipers. I had ordered some of the SKF green wipers in advance, suspecting the wipers from the beginning, plus knowing they fit them to the Lyriks I thought it would be a good shout. Prior to fitting them to the lowers I tried them on the stancions and they did indeed feel a little better than the stock ones, but not night and day. Oh well, I had them anyway so fitted them and everything else back up, sticking religiously to the RS service manual.
The upshot is that they do feel slightly better, but still not as good as my old (2016) totally stock Fox 34's, and especially given that the Fox haven't been serviced for an awfully long time. So I don't really know whats going on, I can only assume that the Yari's are working as they should be as I haven't found anything untoward. I would have hoped for better from them tbh, I appreciate they are not a top end fork but neither are the 34's.
I am left with thinking that the only real difference may be be the stancion coatings - the Fox have a bronze appearance (but deffo not Kashima) and maybe the black coating on the RS simply isn't as slippery. I don't know, but I deffo know that the 4 year old Fox's feel better than these brand new Yari's. Shame the Fox isn't a 29er.
In the meantime, I will see if the new SKF's ease up a little (possible) and update if this occurs.
I have given the Yari's a 7 rating. I was going to go for a 6, but apart from the stiction they are actually a nice fork, smooth once travelling and take hits well considering the 'lowly' MC damper. I actually have zero issues with them apart from the stiction.
Product name: Rockshox Yari 29"
Price paid: Came with Haibike 3.0
Score (out of 10): 7
Review: Not a review as such, but felt this the best place to put my thoughts regarding my Yaris which were supplied as new on my Haibike and have now done 700 miles but the stiction (subjective I know) hasn't got any better IMO. So I decided to pull them apart for a second time (1st was to fit a 180 airspring). Bear in mind my comparison of stiction is based on Fox 34 Ryhthm GRIP damper.
Everything appeared fine on stripdown (as per the 1st time) with suitable lube and no excess. So with the lowers off I actioned the airspring and it felt really good - very little if any stiction noticed and smooth throughout the travel. So then to the damper, where there was slightly more stiction than the airspring but nowhere near enough to cause what I was experiencing. Also smooth throughout travel.
At this point, given the damper was isolated, I thought I would check out the differences that adjustments made. I found that compression damping was pretty poor - no difference between click 0 and 6, at 7 there was a marked increase and at 8 and beyond it was virtually locked. So pretty much only 3 useable positions - 0, 6 and locked.
Rebound damping was similar to compression at the beginning adjustments - very little difference between 0 and 6 clicks, but actually quite a nice progression from then onwards and given the amount of clicks available compared to the compression side its actually quite useable. Overall not a problem for me as I ride open for most things, but for hardcore riders the limited damping adjustments especially for compression could be an issue and one where I believe swopping out the Motion Control for the charger damper would be a good move.
So with no real culprit yet found, I reinstalled the lowers without bolting up either internals and again the stiction was back. So off they came again and just to rule it out, I removed the wipers and refitted the lowers to check it wasn't the bushings - nope they were OK - lowers slid nicely and without any play.
So by my Sherlock levels of deduction, the vast majority of stiction had to be coming from the wipers. I had ordered some of the SKF green wipers in advance, suspecting the wipers from the beginning, plus knowing they fit them to the Lyriks I thought it would be a good shout. Prior to fitting them to the lowers I tried them on the stancions and they did indeed feel a little better than the stock ones, but not night and day. Oh well, I had them anyway so fitted them and everything else back up, sticking religiously to the RS service manual.
The upshot is that they do feel slightly better, but still not as good as my old (2016) totally stock Fox 34's, and especially given that the Fox haven't been serviced for an awfully long time. So I don't really know whats going on, I can only assume that the Yari's are working as they should be as I haven't found anything untoward. I would have hoped for better from them tbh, I appreciate they are not a top end fork but neither are the 34's.
I am left with thinking that the only real difference may be be the stancion coatings - the Fox have a bronze appearance (but deffo not Kashima) and maybe the black coating on the RS simply isn't as slippery. I don't know, but I deffo know that the 4 year old Fox's feel better than these brand new Yari's. Shame the Fox isn't a 29er.
In the meantime, I will see if the new SKF's ease up a little (possible) and update if this occurs.
I have given the Yari's a 7 rating. I was going to go for a 6, but apart from the stiction they are actually a nice fork, smooth once travelling and take hits well considering the 'lowly' MC damper. I actually have zero issues with them apart from the stiction.