MRP Ribbon Air and Coil - Honest Longterm Review

[@jobyparkes5442]

A custom tune on the Ribbon air is a must, run more pressure and make use of the compression settings and it’s a great fork. It’s all personal choice i guess..

[@WheeliamWallace]

Thanks for the no BS review. I've tinkered with this fork a lot but it always seems unpredictable and harsh on medium to bigger hits. I'm healing up from an injury and like Killian I'm trying to figure out if I should sell the air or do the cheap upgrade to the coil and see how I feel about it.

[@trailtalkmtb6603]

Sorry for the late reply. Appreciate the comment. Tbh swap over. Yes you get more support but the chassis and damping is flawed. Heal up mate!

[@blockhaus2512]

Hey there, thanks for the review. I got a Ribbon Coil about 2 months ago and really like it. Issue I have is I weigh in about 86kgs as well and I'm on the soft spring. I initially went with the medium but couldn't get it to a decent sag and also was only using about 65% of the travel. As an experiment I went with the soft spring and could get the sag without preload and use a good 90 - 95% of travel on most rides. It's a 160mm on a Ibis Ripmo. My thing is I had a Mattoc that rode a lot higher in the travel and was firmer (which I liked) than the Ribbon as it does ride quite deep from the go with the lighter spring. Not sure there is a way of balancing it out on the MRP. It's not overly divey with the soft spring (and is super plush for about 75% of the travel) but being a longer fork that uses a lot of the travel so rebound speed is quite key. I do like the fork a lot and I'm not a massive tinkerer but it would going firmer just reduce the overall available travel and reduce the super plush nature of the fork? No point having a 160mm fork if you're only using 140mm odd.

[@George-Kliavkoff4Big12]

What's happening wirh my MRP when my MRP feels like its locked out? I have to push down a little harder on the hard to get it to "break" the lock out feeling. Like it gets stuck. I weigh 350 Lbs and have my top chamer aired up at 120 psi and bottom chamber at 130 psi. My compression is wide open and Ramp Up is set to the missle setting.

[@Paulmtb]

Is the fork your using the one with the updated internals ?

[@markkligerman6861]

Owned the Ribbon Air for 10 months. At 165 lbs/75 kg. SE USA with rocks and roots. I found the Ribbon Air (RA) to be best when freshly serviced. The small bump compliance was superb which I think has a lot to do with slick honey. I end up with no low speed compression to be best for my terrain. Every time I add LS it gets harsh. I also backed off the ramp all the way to make the fork more supple. Tried adjusting the travel from 140 to 130 to 150. 150 made the fork less harsh but I did not like how this changed the seat tube angle (we have to pedal in the SE USA) and I did not like how this unweighted the fork in the turns (yes I lowered the stem to try to compensate for the increased stack). My air spring has failed and I sent it to MRP for rebuild under warranty. Got it back and it felt great for a few rides then got harsher. I noticed harshness as the squish-squish sounds disappeared (if you own this fork you will know the sound). Then the air spring failed again. I worked out a deal with MRP to send me the coil conversion, at some cost to me. The conversion was easy and I went with the soft spring. Now this fork feels amazing. I am finding the fork better in low speed roots/rock tech climbs and better in fast sections too. To be fair I have never ridden a modern Pike or Fox 34, 36. I went with the Ribbon to support a USA company and because of the problems I have had with Rockshox and Fox also blowing up. When I need another fork I'll probably go with something other than MRP.

[@trailtalkmtb6603]

Thanks for taking the time to write up your experience. It seems like you had a bit of back and forth there. I agree the coil feels great but at the price and stiffness it really is a tough sell compared the lyrik and 36 and now the Marzocchi Z1 coil.

[@hangnrashr]

Great review. I've had my ribbon air for nearly a full season of riding. You hit the nail on the head about the performance of the air. Im not sure whether to convert to coil or sell it for something else. I'm reluctant to add weight though. Its gone for a service and a custom tune now so hopefully this might sort it but I'm not holding my breath tbh.

[@trailtalkmtb6603]

Thanks mate! Good to hear I wasnt crazy for my opinions on the air! Hopefully a custom tune will help a bit. The coil is a good for but as I said there's a few issues that carry over. Tbh I'd sell it and go for a pike if you want something that's still pretty light.

[@WheeliamWallace]

Did you sell it or convert to coil? If so did you like the coil more?

[@hangnrashr]

OK so I got it back from servicing and I got it tuned too. I went for a weekend riding in Wales, and collected the fork in Wales when I got there. Honestly it feels great. I also demoed Propain bikes in Revolution Bike park that had lyrik ultimates and selva s, and the ribbon felt as good as them both. I'd like to test it on more familiar trails to really compare. Feels smoother off the top, More supportive. The guys got the tune fairly spot on, only had to go up 2 clicks of ramp. If it starts to feel crappy again I might throw a coil in...

[@WheeliamWallace]

@@hangnrashr Thanks for the update, I'm probably going to give the coil a shot.

[@RD1R]

@@trailtalkmtb6603 a custom tune has been HUGE for me. I rode it for 3 months, meh, 3 more months after a custom tune it's one of my favs ever. It has a ton of adjustability... Maybe too much. You or I could probably nail the right combination of settings to have it at least feeling decent, but there are literally hundreds of tiny tweaks that add up more than I would have assumed. To agree with you, that shouldn't be the case. Average bike mechanics couldn't get it dialed, and MRP should probably be offering custom tunes before they ship them. Getting the ramp control range and damper BOTH tuned to my weight, by the same people at the same time, makes it feel like a different fork. Imo, there's so many moving parts and the relationships between them haven't been very refined. You have to refine them. Then it will perform well. That is a ridiculous ask for the average buyer. It is certainly a bit less "burly" feeling than a 36, but that's the riding I happen to do. Slow-medium speed tech and lots of rock gardens and climbing. And it excels at that, I'd put it about on par with a factory 34. In bigger hits, lyriks and even base level 36's certainly have it beat.

[@williannathan4823]

i have a stage now that i bought an used bike and I can confirm e everything you're saying about how hard it is to set a good support/flushness setup on this fork.

[@Thebirdemoji]

I love the manitiou markhor fork it's so light and it is very nice for long term and very comfortable If your looking souly for comfort air is the way to go

[@demetrius8594]

I straight up hated the ribbon air that came on my knolly. Absolutely could not get it to work for me, felt like crap, especially compared to the amazing frame it was on. Decided to just replace it with a fox 36 and am very happy I did. Felt great right out of the box. Bike feels balanced now, and no more fucking with that stupid negative air spring that would always leak and never filled consistently to the same pressure.

[@kfcnotthechicken]

Having the same issue with my air as well. The neg loses pressure SOOOOO fast.

[@bullionsean456]

Wow, thanks for the review. I was about to pull the trigger on one of these but you changed my mind. Gonna go with a Pike Ultimate I suppose.

[@trailtalkmtb6603]

From my experience thats a good idea :)

[@cosmicheretic8129]

Great review. Thinking I'm going to go with a 2020 Lyrik Ultimate for my Pivot Switchblade.

[@trailtalkmtb6603]

Thanks mate! You wont be disappointed with the lyrik! So smooth!

[@briangc1972]

Totally worthless review. This guy knows nothing about suspension set up. He said the fork packed down (6:00) and he would normally correct that by increasing rebound. Packing down is caused by too much rebound damping, so if the fork packs down, then the correct adjustment is to REDUCE rebound damping; not increasing rebound damping..

[@trailtalkmtb6603]

I apologise for jumbling up my words. I am aware of how rebound works and shouldnt not of interchanged speeding up with adding. It happens sometimes. But you know what I was trying to say. I hope the rest made sense other than this mistake here.

[@schofell84]

That was an eyebrow raiser for me too. Suspension is complicated but I have a hard time taking reviews from people that don't understand how to compensate for certain conditions (pack-down). I will say though- my experience with the fork hasn't been amazing, but it was nothing like this review.

[@cellphonenut]

Excellent review. The big boys got shadowed a couple years ago by some of the new players out there but have not rested on their laurels. Big brothers have definitely stepped it up a notch. You know what they say "we can make anything you want as long as we have the dough. Fox and Sram have the dough.

[@trailtalkmtb6603]

Yeah 100%. The new charger damper and debonair air spring on the RS side and Grip 2 and evol airspring on the fox side have really left nothing to be desired. Tough to beat the big money in he industry. I feel like a lot of the smaller companies have the right idea but lack the execution. Glad you enjoyed the review!