The damper is not the only upgrade that RockShox are offering aftermarket, they’ll also be selling the new Solo Air spring. This should cost less than £150 and you’ll be able to fit it into any World Cup fork going back to 2011 (although you’ll need to double check your serial number if you have a 2011 fork). Would I also do this upgrade? To be honest I can’t really give you an answer because I didn’t get to try it out in isolation, I only got to try it with the new damper, and I’m convinced that the vast majority of the increased performance can be attributed to the Charger. Only more time and experimentation will give a true answer to that question. Basically though the spring rate has been altered slightly, and to adjust progressivity the fork now uses ‘Bottomless Tokens’ rather than an external adjuster. We’ve already seen these plastic spacers in Pike forks and they do their job whilst being lighter and simpler than the old external adjuster. It’s quick and easy to change the number of tokens, and interestingly the RockShox mechanics at World Cups now find they spend as much time, if not more, tinkering with riders spring rate as they do damping.
There will of course be a load of riders who prefer the feel and reliability of a coil spring, and for them there are the Team or RC versions to choose from. Both get a slightly tweaked coil spring to improve bottom out performance, and whilst the former gets the Charger damper the latter gets Motion Control IS. If you opt for the Team then thanks to the 100g weight saving that the Charger damper provides you’re not even paying much of a weight penalty compared to the previous World Cup fork, and at just 2890g for the 26” version it’s lighter than some other air forks anyway. Of course the new World Cup is even lighter still at 2585g for the same size wheel. That’s crazy light.
So there you have it, the new BoXXer. It’s a fork that’s been in development for some time and was raced by the likes of Stevie Smith during the 2013 World Cup season, and it’s a noticeable step up from previous versions. If I had the money and was in the market for a new set of forks then a set of these would definitely be fighting it out at the top of my list, but as I’ve said before I think the wise money may well be spent by those choosing to upgrade their old BoXXers instead. It’s no doubt apparent by now that I think a huge amount of the performance increase comes down to the Charger damper, and if you still don’t believe just how good it is then you need to get out there and ride one…
For more from Rockshox, try these links:
Dirt 100 2014 – RockShox Reverb Dropper Post
Dirt 100 2014 – RockShox Monarch Plus RC3
ROCKSHOX VIDEO | PROVE [CAN’T] WRONG
Prices: Exact UK pricing is still TBC but it looks like it will be the same as in previous years.
BoXXer Charger Upgrade kit Available: June
BoXXer World Cup, Team, RC and Solo Air Upgrade kit Available: August
www.fisheroutdoor.co.uk
www.rockshox.com
