RockShox

Pike RCT3 Fork - 29in 130mm Solo Air

The premise of the long-travel 29er was great — big wheels roll faster and smoother, so give them more travel and make it even better. Easy to say, not so easy to do, and most of those long-travel, wagon-wheeled bikes have found their way out of the lineup. But the short-to-mid travel 29er is a hell of a lot of fun, and the RockShox Pike RCT3 130 fork is just the upgrade your XC steed needs. The RCT3 damper that’s in this one allows you to tweak low-speed compression while also having three ride-oriented options at your fingertips.

The Pike’s 35mm stanchions offer stiffness unmatched by most XC-leaning forks, which is a huge benefit to larger, more inherently flexy wheels. This stiffness is backed up by RockShox’s preset damper; with locked out, trail-tuned, and fully open options, you can hammer up the climbs, and still keep the pack away on the descents. It’s a good weapon to have in variable terrain, and if you’re the type who enjoys the down just as much as the up, the Pike’s the fork for you.