An excellent 160mm fork for the money — stiff, reasonably light and you couldn’t set it up badly if you tried.
RockShox Yari RC 160mm fork review
The Yari is basically a more affordable version of the Lyrik and, as such, uses a Motion Control IS damper rather than the flagship Charger unit. The rest of the fork is identical, including the chassis, spring assembly and even the tokens.
Above: RockShox Yari first look
>>> Best 160mm suspension forks
To increase stiffness, the 35mm stanchions (upper tubes) in the Yari have thicker walls than those in a Pike, and the Yari also has a deeper crown.
It also features RockShox’s new Torque Cap dropouts, which are designed to work with the 31mm oversized end caps on most SRAM hubs. These also work with standard-sized end caps, but we found the deeper recess does mean you have to fiddle about getting the Maxle aligned.
To improve small-bump sensitivity, the Yari uses RockShox’s Solo Air spring, but it has a much stronger negative spring than the Pike too. The upshot of this is you can run the fork hard, for increased support, but still have loads of grip and compliance.
![Adjustment is simple but effective](https://keyassets.timeincuk.net/inspirewp/live/wp-content/uploads/sites/11/2016/09/xrock-shox-yari-5.jpg)
Adjustment is simple but effective
On the damper side there’s a rebound adjuster and a simple twist-style compression lockout.
With these basic damping adjustments, sag gradients on the stanchions and a pressure chart on the back of the left leg, setting up the Yari is an absolute doddle — you simply set the sag and start ripping. We didn’t need to add any tokens because the amount of progression felt spot-on, and even dialling in the rebound was easy, in fact it was almost impossible to get a bad set-up.
>>> How to set up mountain bike suspension
![Bottomless Token is included and feels spot-on](https://keyassets.timeincuk.net/inspirewp/live/wp-content/uploads/sites/11/2016/09/x13_07_2016_0405x.jpg)
Bottomless Token is included and feels spot-on
While rigidity was on a par with its high-end stablemate, as you might expect, the Motion Control damper isn’t as sophisticated as the Lyrik — when we were slamming it down the trails at BikePark Wales there was a bit of harshness through the bars.
The fact that you can buy it online for less than £400 make it even better.