2023 Rockshox Pike, Lyrik and ZEB completely reinvented: stiffer, smoother and lighter

Over the past four years, Rockshox has made great strides in reducing friction, improving spring indexes, and creating both its plush and support mountain bike suspension forks. These changes took place gradually over several years of modeling, first with the Charger 2.1, then a revised air spring design, followed by a DebonAir air spring on its forks.

Now, they are reviewing the interior parts again, introducing new designs of shock absorbers and air springs and changing the chassis and organization chart of the model, all at the same time. The goal? Even better forks, of course, and lots of new technology transfers to the new rear shock absorbers, too!

2023 Rockshox Pike, Lyric & ZEB

The changes come for the Pike, Lyrik and ZEB forks. So far, the travel ranges of these models have overlapped, with the Pike all the way from a light trail to a full trail model, and the Lyrik intervening on the road to take things a little further. before the ZEB made sense.

Now, the Pike is limited to a distance of 120-140 mm, the Lyrik is in charge of 140-160 and the ZEB is in charge of 160-190 mm. No more overlapping, but with the option to switch to a thicker option at the top end of the travel range.

This allowed Rockshox to optimize the chassis, shock absorber, and air spring for a very small range, rather than having to build one or add a range for another. Conveniently, this new range starts right where the SID SL (100 mm) and SID (120 mm) forks come out, giving Rockshox very specific models for each bike category.

Internally, the big changes are:

Charger 3 shock absorber with truly independent high-speed compression (HSC) and low-speed compression (LSC) settings
Silent rebound damping
ButterCups to dampen high frequency vibrations
DebonAir + air springs for a consistent feel on all three fork platforms
Pressure relief valves eliminate unwanted air pressure buildup at the bottom of the fork
Maxima Plush Dynamic Suspension Lube

New Rockshox Charger 3 Damper technology

There are two major changes to the charger damper: independent high and low speed compression damping and a coil spring IFP.

We will start with the IFP (Internal Floating Piston), because it is a key part of running the new shock absorber. So far, Rockshox has used an IFP shock absorber (Charger RC) with nitrogen gas or a shock-based shock absorber (Charger 2.1 RC).

The problem with an IFP with nitrogen is that you need very tight seals to prevent the gas from escaping, and these watertight seals create friction, so the piston cannot move so freely or react so quickly. And a bladder-based solution is great for preventing air and oil from mixing, but it doesn’t take long to push the oil back down the bounce circuit … it’s more aspirated, which provides that soft sound.

The new Charger 3 shock absorber uses an IFP with coil support, which does not require such a tight seal (less friction). And it doesn’t require as much force to push and has no ramp because there is no gas to compress. The result is a much freer flow of damping fluid at all speeds, allowing them to design more different high and low speed compression circuits.

RELATED: Read more about Bladder Damping and VET in our Suspension Tech articles.

The illustration on the left shows different low (green) and high (blue) speed oil flow paths for the separate compression damping circuits. Low-speed damping is managed through ports, high-speed with piles of panties.

You’ll find 15 clicks of low-speed compression damping, 5 clicks of high-speed damping, and 18 clicks of bounce adjustment. And Rockshox says each click has a different effect, with a wide range, allowing you to really adjust the fork to your driving style and terrain.

The new Charger 3 is on the MY23 Ultimate and Select + forks. Select and Base forks carry the existing Charger RC shock absorber. Bladder-based design is not used in these MY23 models.

Smooth up, ButterCups

Following the bike (and chainsaws), Rockshox has added small rubber cups to the bottom of the new DebonAir + air spring and Charger 3 shock absorbers. They absorb between 20% and 28% of high frequency vibrations. of the “trail talk,” helping make the trip “smooth as butter,” hence the name ButterCups.

By dampening these vibrations before they reach your hands and arms, Rockshox says you’ll feel cooler and drive longer without fatigue. Only Ultimate forks come with ButterCups installed, but you can add them to lower level MY23 forks (and to previous ZEB forks).

What’s new in DebonAir + air spring?

With positive and negative air volumes adjusted specifically for each trip option, Rockshox was able to get the exact curve of the air spring it wanted for each individual trip.

That is, if you want to change the path of your Pike from 130 mm to 140 mm, you will need to change the axles of the air spring. Each trip length has its own axis, with its own positive and negative volumes and a hole position designed specifically for this trip.

They also switched from a plastic piston to aluminum, which can be made thinner, allowing a very slight increase in the total volume of air … which is usually equivalent to a larger fork.

For the MY23, all fork levels (Ultimate, Select +, Select and Base) receive the new DebonAir +, but only Ultimate level forks come with ButterCups pre-installed.

For Pike and Lyrik, the new travel intervals are shorter than before, tighter for trails and mountains, respectively. Not only do they have new air springs, they also have …

Brand new floors built specifically

To further optimize each fork for its intended use and further reduce friction, the three forks are completely redesigned. Inside, the new Ultimate level forks have 53% longer cushions. This maximizes the overlap of the vessels with the struts and, combined with a custom Maxima Plush Dynamic suspension lubricant, helps the forks slide much more freely along the entire range of strokes.

The new basses are also lighter and stiffer, with a saving of up to 30 g while achieving 13.5% (Pike) and 20% (Lyrik) more torsional stiffness. And these savings are even though the ButterCups add up to 39g per fork!

LEFT: Screw torque cap separators also allow you to run standard 15mm shaft hub hubs. RIGHT: Internal view of the bushes at the bottom of the leg, with much longer overlap than previous models.

The forks have screwed Torque Cap adapters, which allow you to operate compatible or standard hubs.

The Pike and Lyrik Ultimate basses are different enough that the new air spring and shock absorber are only compatible with these MY23 models.

However, the bass of the ZEB is similar enough to make the new DebonAir + air spring compatible with its MY21 launch. So if you have an older ZEB, you can install the new air spring with ButterCups.

Pressure relief valves too

Altitude changes can cause changes in the attitude of the fork, so they added new pressure relief valves for a quick decompression of descents caused by large ascents, descents or even just temperature changes. . They will be available in Ultimate and Select + models, and other MY23 models can be upgraded to add them.