Review: RockShox Domain RC Fork - Affordable Performance
$1,000 is a whole lot of money for a fork, and for riders on a budget, or product managers trying to keep a bike's price below a certain threshold, it can be a prohibitive price tag. $549, on the other hand, is a much more reasonable figure, one that makes it possible to spec a bike with things like brakes that actually work and a drivetrain that shifts reasonably well without driving the final cost up into the stratosphere. It's also the price of the new Domain, which sits in RockShox's lineup as the more affordable counterpart of the Zeb.
Like the Zeb, the Domain has 38mm stanchions, and is available with up to 180mm of travel. It's air sprung, and uses RockShox's open bath Motion Control RC damper, rather than the pricier Charger cartridge damper found in the Zeb. It also uses 6000 series aluminum in order to keep the costs down, although that does bring the weight up to a fairly hefty 2540 grams.
Like the Zeb, the Domain has 38mm stanchions, and is available with up to 180mm of travel. It's air sprung, and uses RockShox's open bath Motion Control RC damper, rather than the pricier Charger cartridge damper found in the Zeb. It also uses 6000 series aluminum in order to keep the costs down, although that does bring the weight up to a fairly hefty 2540 grams.
Domain RC Details
• Wheel Size: 27.5", 29"
• Travel: 150, 160, 170, 180mm
• Offset: 44mm
• Stanchions: 38mm aluminum
• Damper: Motion Control RC
• Adjustments: low speed compression, rebound
• Weight: 2540 grams (170mm, 29")
• MSRP: $549 USD
• rockshox.com
• Wheel Size: 27.5", 29"
• Travel: 150, 160, 170, 180mm
• Offset: 44mm
• Stanchions: 38mm aluminum
• Damper: Motion Control RC
• Adjustments: low speed compression, rebound
• Weight: 2540 grams (170mm, 29")
• MSRP: $549 USD
• rockshox.com
A lower price for a for a fork or shock typically means a few less external adjustments, and that's the case here. The Domain RC's adjustments consist of air pressure, low speed compression, rebound, and end-stroke ramp up via volume spacers.
The Domain will accept RockShox's higher end Charger 2.1 damper, and riders who decide to take that route will be able to purchase an upgrade kit for $330 USD. There's also an $42 upgrade kit that can be used to upgrade the base model Domain R to the RC version, which adds external low speed compression adjustment.
Low speed compression is adjusted on the top right side of the fork...
..and rebound is adjusted on the underside.
SETUP
Once the air pressure is set (RockShox's chart provides a good place to start) all that's left to do is adjust the rebound and then turn the low speed compression dial until everything feels like it should. In my case, that meant running 60 psi when the fork was installed on a 'regular' bike, and 70 psi on an eMTB.
It’s possible to adjust the amount of end-stroke ramp up by adding or subtracting volume spacers, but I found that for my 160lb weight there was more than enough progression without any spacers installed.
I tested the fork on both a non-motorized Commencal Meta TR, and on a Specalized Turbo Levo e-bike. On the Commencal I typically left the compression dial in the fully open position, and on the Levo I’d add a couple clicks to gain a bit more support. The compression clicks all make a noticeable difference, and in the fully closed position the fork is almost totally locked out.
On the rebound side the adjustments weren’t as defined – there are a lot of clicks without much difference between them, and the amount of damping seems to be on the faster side. I was able to find a setting the suited my needs, but a slightly narrower range with more of a difference between each click would make setup easier.
PERFORMANCE
The last Domain that I tried was on a bike with 26” wheels, and my memories of that fork aren't exactly warm and fuzzy. Thankfully, it didn't take very many miles on the new Domain for those old memories to fade away, replaced by new impressions that were much, much more positive.
The Domain feels very smooth throughout its travel, free of any traits that immediately distinguish it as a budget-oriented fork. It's easy to forget about, and I mean that in a good way - it's a solid, no fuss type of fork, one that didn't require much fiddling to get it dialed into meet my needs.
There are a couple quirks worth mentioning, though. The first has to do with the substantial ramp up towards the end of its stroke, even without any volume spacers installed. Despite my best efforts, I was never able to fully bottom it out – the biggest nosedives or hucks to flat always ended with around 10mm of travel left on the table. It was only once all the air was let out that I could I get it to go through all 170mm of travel. It’s not the end of the world, but it would be nice to have a better range of ramp-up tuning available.
WEIGHT & PRICE
The Domain replaced a Fox 36 on the Commencal, and in that case the extra weight was noticeable, at least initially. The Domain is over a pound heavier, and while a pound may not seem like that much in the grand scheme of things, when that weight is hanging off the front of the bike where you'll be lifting it over and over again, it does add up. On the e-bike that extra heft wasn't an issue, and realistically I can see the Domain being a good way to bring the astronomical price of e-bikes down without negatively affecting their performance.
As far as price goes, the Domain sort of sits in its own category when compared to offerings from other major manufacturers. At the moment there aren't really many direct competitors with 38mm stanchions that hit a similar pricepoint , which means you'll need to spend $200 more to get a fork like the Manitou Mezzer Expert or Marzocchi Z1. Suntour also now offers a Durolux 38 in the $750 price range - we'll work on getting one of those in for review in the near future.
RockShox Domain: 2540 grams, $549 USD.
Manitou Mezzer Expert: 2040 grams, $750 USD
Marzocchi Z1: 2210 grams, $729 USD
RockShox Zeb: 2250 grams, $1,019 USD
Fox 38: 2430 grams, $949 - $1,199 USD
DOMAIN VS ZEB
How much of a performance difference is there between the budget-oriented Domain and the top-of-the-line Zeb? Not as much as you’d think. They both have great small bump sensitivity, although the Zeb does feel a little slipperier, requiring less breakaway force than the Domain.
Where the Domain does falter a little is on sections of trail with repeated impacts – imagine a steep run with a bunch of big braking bumps. In those instances the Domain didn’t feel as composed as the Zeb – it felt like the rapidfire impacts caused it to choke, making the final hits in a series harsher than expected. The Zeb also has a more effective rebound adjustment, along with low- and high-speed compression adjustments. Less weight, more adjustments, and a better damper are the reasons why the Zeb costs nearly twice as much as the Domain.
SERVICE
Just like with their other forks, RockShox recommends performing a lower leg service every 50 hours, and a complete damper and spring service every 200 hours. A lower leg service is a simple procedure, and can be performed at home in well under an hour. After five months of regular use my test fork remains leak- and creek-free, and is still operating smoothly.
A bolt on fender is available for an additional $20.
Pros
+ Great price vs performance ratio
+ Effective range of compression adjustment
Cons
- Very progressive air spring makes it difficult to make use of all the travel
- Heavy
Pinkbike's Take:
 | The new Domain is an extremely worthwhile option for anyone who's hunting for a stiff, capable fork at a fairly reasonable price, as long as light weight isn’t too high up your list of priorities. |
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Thanks for listening
And if you run a 29 wheel, you just added 19mm more under the axle. So that is another degree. If I ran mullet at 160mm, bike would be 63.5 HA and 71 SA. That is a heck of a compromise. Plus you would lose a significant amount of reach and higher bb.
I think the work around is angle set headset. That way you steepen up the seat angle with the slacker front end. Drop the bb back down and add some reach.
The work around to slacken front end and steepen seat angle is great BUT reduces reach.
that's all.
IF you add an angle set without changing anything else you lower the bb and rotate to the front.
@vapidoscar started out with heightening front AND bb by adding a 29inch fork to his 27,5" setup. That way rotates his bike backwards around the rear axle by around 1° (slackening all angles and reducing reach)
by adding an angle set (-1°) he slackes ou the front further BUT rotates the bike slightly to the front (again around the rear axle) and reduces reach minimally because while his front axle is even further away from the bb his steerer/stem/bar is (irrelevantly) nearer to the saddle.
Its a fat Yari then?
Because it looks like a Domain is to Zeb, as Yari is to Lyrik?
The Yari is a simplified budget built Lyrik; as the Domain is a simplified budget built Zeb.
The Totem I upgraded to was waaaay better though.
yari has the complete identical chassis and material as the lyrik. Just another damper and wipers.
Domain has way cheaper and heavier materials as well as the worse damper.
When you are on a budget take depending on stiffbes preference a
Yari
ZEB R
And upgrade both with a good tuning damper as the M Suspensiontech upgrade for 149-220 euro, which is better than the rs ultimate damper (do not know about the avalanche 700 dollar upgrade) and worth the good price
Or a mezzer expert
Wrong.
Yari=lyrik with other wipers and better damper
Relates to ZEB R to ZEB ultimate
Domain is like the Rs 35 series. Heavier and cheaper
Upgrade from yari Mico to charger R? Charger is mit worth the money. Take a charger rc with shim tuning or directly a tuning cartridge instead.
~2060g with an uncut steerer for the 29in/44mm offset version.
Which means I saved 1.05lbs right there. And, as an admitted non-weight weenie (my bike is 37lbs) ... that is a pretty large difference for a single component.
It’s not insignificant! I probably will swap at some point just to try it out. They are both fantastic forks
For lighter riders I weight 140 - 145 lbs....not finding this chassis too stiff at all, just glorious smooth squish
Please try an aftermarket air spring with bigger volume (novyparts, vorsprung, etc) on the lyrik
Sure the ZEB's great for the ones who "all the gear no idea" which is most of PB commenters.
i've Personally owned 3 ZEB's 2 ultimates and 1 select + - none felt as nice as a lyrik.
On our compression device the ZEB's Graphs are nothing like the lyrik other than in damper control. Chassis stiffness and Air spring ratio just doesnt provide the "plush" feel you are talking about.
Maybe you incorrectly setup a Lyrik but on our machine we use to graph how the fork performs the lyrik offers a much more nicer curve and on trail feel.
I regularly see ZEB riders running way more sag... wonder why.. When we first starting with the ZEB's and asked others we got the same answers "its stiff and my hands/arms were feeling it so i dropped the pressure"
Love the comment sections on here, nobody agree's with facts just their own ego opinions.
Im back on lyriks and have no regrets about it. - so in reality unless your full blast all the time then whats the point of it?
I've only had one Zeb Ultimate and it's been set at 190mm - and I haven't noticed any of the excessive harshness described in certain reviews and comments. I wonder if it works best at longer travel settings.
It really unleashed the potential of my 170mm super-enduro bike, which frankly had been held back a little by a Lyrik.
But I also have a Lyrik Ultimate on my 150mm trail/enduro bike. It's set at 170mm and it's the perfect fork for an all-rounder bike IMO. I think it does have the edge over the Zeb in pure performance.
Interesting you mentioned about travel, friend of mine with a 190 zeb aswell has said it feels really nice but it does make me wonder if hes actually got lower pressure.(this is kinda like when we were running 10mm longer air shafts in the lyrik to get the fork to actually stand up to its "set" travel)
People seem to miss the fact im talking about feel, not overall performance which ive noted in several comments.
it's hard to perform over a long period of time if the fork is beating you up.. i never said it was a bad thing, it just has its place.
Theres a very small percent of people who will actually benefit from 38mm sanctions, most of which will be Heavy riders... and im talking more than 200-210lbs.
Clearly you have no idea what you are talking about. Even when Im with our team at the DH Races alot of Pro's personal enduro bikes are running the 36/lyrik.
I believe @noideamtber 's has it about spot on.
I would say his comment with 27 up and 3 down votes is correct as per those voters agreeing. your a minority commentor who probably cant bike for horse poo thinking your opinion is valid when your onboard a super enduro bike because you think your skills are pro.
Maybe you should go Apply for the PB race team with BC, you'll get told you suck and go back to the skills area. Come join us at the UCI DH events next year, but you wont, just anther arm chair PB mtber.
sorry everyone else, im sick of seeing these cowboys on here thinking they know sh1t when they are just an onlooker.
Im happy to provide via DM/PM
Before I bought the Zeb I'd heard on the grapevine from an EWS team that some of the racers were finding it harsher than the Lyrik, but I had a hunch the increased chassis stiffness and insulation from the trail would suit my needs anyway for my big bike.
And as I said in my previous comment, I've not noticed any harshness at all and find it more comfortable than a comparable Lyrik, but not as "sporty" and responsive. I think there's something that needs a bit of work - and TBH it's not very secret that there's an update in the pipeline and likely to be revealed soon.
What maes actually said was that he didn’t want to change his fork mid season and then came back the following season with a bigger fork like everyone else because it’s superior. Your just spitting random pinkbiker conspiracy theories and I ride hardtail with a lyrik most of the time down stuff you probably couldn’t even ride, I only pull the enduro bike out on special occasions because I get bored of riding on recruit difficulty or you can find me doing laps in the bowl on my bmx.
so now you have resorted to attacking my riding which in this case has nothing to do with the subject?
Cya mate "LOL"
Leave the suspension stuff to the suspension people, dont need your fuzzy head exploding.
I couldnt really care any less about what you think as I have our EWS riders telling me the same thing as I feel and that the dyno shows.. soooo.... what again?
Go ride your bike and less getting yourself cranky over stuff you are clearly uneducated about. im sick of the notifications but watching you lose your marbles is hella funny.
Also, looking forward to meeting your new pup on Tuesday
I am aware the overall level of damping can be adjusted with oil weight, and that the blow-off point can be adjusted via shimming the poppet to have less free stroke before contacting the rod. I think most people buying a 180mm travel fork would be happier if their fork didn't require "guess and check" internal adjustments to perform adequately. Rockshox has the ability to make a better performing more robust product without leaving the "entry-level" price point, and for the Lyric/Boxxer/Zeb, I believe they should.
There is no special tools needed.
The cassette nut needs a hole in the middle, which many of those for 10-15 bucks have
Switched the MoCo to a charger 2.1. in my yari, because the damper was not working that well.
You can see an exploded diagram of the Charger R here: www.pinkbike.com/photo/21540239. And the Domain RC here: www.pinkbike.com/photo/21540242.
The ZEBs performance is inferior on so many levels, that every time I look at it, I can't help but think that my money should have gone to the top tier Mezzer instead, for the same price. The ZEB is not the worst fork in the world, but it is, without a doubt, a step back from where I was. The fork is super rigid, I'll give it that. But mid/heavy fast impacts make it feel overwhelmed pretty fast. I've tried it with one, two and no tokens, messed with the air pressure, but it always feels off. I'm thinking about giving it one last go, with a luftkappe. But unless that works like magic (which I believe it will), you might aswell go to a better ZEB, or to a different brand altogether.Just my two cents, obviously.
The Yari flexed more than the Zeb on big landings - but it didn’t strictly need to be stiffer. I prefer the Zeb’s stiffness though.
Damper wise, the lockout was great for those road miles I do I the way to the trails. Plus the motion control compression adjuster actually adjusted the compression, unlike the charger in the Zeb which does literally nothing from full open to full closed.
Rebound damping wise, the Zeb damper squeaks at certain settings (3-4 clicks from fully slow). I also find myself running it one click from fully closed in hot days in summer, despite being an very middle of the road 80-83kg kitted up. On the motion control, I was always on the lighter side of the middle setting.
Air spring-wise, I find the Zeb to be a bit better, a bit plusher. Both forks were 170 travel 29ers with the short offset.
I wish the Zeb had the motion control damper in it.
Guve the rc damper a custom tune ie only shimstack adjusted to your weight and needs. Depending on tuner that will cost you around bucks
Just googled it and the old Domain 180 coil weighed 2800g (6.2lbs.)
Next in line for the bin: the footlong sub, because it makes men who don’t have a 12” feel sandwich anxiety.
Yes, they should have called it the Totem. I would have bought one. I bought one anyway, but I would have preferred it to be called the Totem (and have the galvanised lowers)
Only of you fit inside that smaller range. Very light and very heavy riders will just have to crank it open or closed and deal. And what is easier? If you mean faster with less clicks to try, then maybe: you could always count by 2 or 3 clicks at a time. If you mean easier as in able to actually find the close-to perfect clicks, then not really. With bigger changes between clicks, you might spend more time trying the 2 closest clicks to figure out which one is closer to ideal, instead of just splitting the difference as you would if there were more clicks and you bracketed in by counting multiple clicks at a time.
Can the industry stop with inventing new stuff and stock on existing stuff?
Voila, high performing fork on a budget
It could be a bit spikey but it was bombproof and the Motion Control damping seemed to work better in that than in some of the RS trail forks of the time.
I'm curious how much the MC damping has actually changed in those 13 or so years.
It says DebonAir... Is it _not_ the same DebonAir as the Zeb? In the Zeb First Ride it was said that "even without any volume spacers there's a nice smooth ramp up at the end of the stroke". Did RS really change the spring that much on this fork? If yes, that's stupid.
Shame because I never take it off, but it’s pretty annoying.
Turns out the air springs between the ZEB and the Debonair aren't the same exact ones (can't swap between them). Because the lower quality aluminum they used to save costs, can't have the same wall thickness for the stanchions. So the Domain has a slightly smaller inner diameter, and needs its own part number.
So the air spring is the same tech/type, just... you can't borrow your buddies ZEBspring to try a different amount of travel.
In case anyone else was wondering
Especially for a lighter rider (which was the case in my example).
But anyways you're right
The bike started with a 36 Other than weight, how does the Domain compare to the original 36 that was fitted?
That piece cost less that a dollar to make!