It was ten years ago that RockShox launched the first Boxxer with 35mm stanchions, ushering in the next era in the fork's storied history. Over the course of the years that followed its the internals were upgraded as new technology, namely the Charger damper, emerged, but the chassis remained relatively unchanged. Even with the introduction of 27.5” wheels the overall design didn't stray too far from the look of that 2008/09 model.
Once it became clear that 29” wheels were going to become common on the World Cup DH circuit, RockShox began weighing their options. Would creating new lowers and calling it good suffice, or was it time for a more extensive revision? It was the latter option that prevailed, in order to make sure that the final product was fully optimized for the latest crop of downhill race machines.
Boxxer World Cup Details• Charger RC2 damper, Debonair air spring
• Adjustable rebound, high- and low-speed compression damping
• Travel: 200mm, 190, 180 (29"), 200mm (27.5")
• 20 x 110 Boost spacing
• Offset: 48mm (27.5"), 56mm (29")
• Weight (claimed): 2656 - 2615 grams
• MSRP: $1,699 USD
•
www.rockshox.com The resulting Boxxer World Cup has a new crown and lowers, the new Charger RC2 damper, and an updated air spring. In short, there's not much that hasn't been modified in some way versus the previous model. 29” wheels were the priority for this project, but 27.5” wheels haven't been neglected either – the fork is available for both wheel sizes.
The pewter-colored flat crowns may look like an aftermarket upgrade, but in reality they're the stock configuration.
ChassisLast year a number of RockShox's athletes raced on what was referred to internally as the 'Lyxxer' – a Boxxer that was running 29” Lyrik lowers. And yes, that means some of the hardest chargers in the world were racing with a 15mm thru-axle. In fact, there were serious discussions about using a 15 x 110mm thru axle on the new Boxxer, which would have allowed riders to swap wheels from their trail bike to their downhill bikes.
In the end, the 20mm thru-axle won out, although it is a little different than the 20 x 110 spacing that's been the standard for years. The new Boxxer uses Boost 20 x 110 spacing, but before you pull out too much hair, if you have a non-Boost wheel that you're dying to use, all that's required is a 5mm spacer behind the rotor to make it compatible.
With the new lowers, RockShox spread out the bushings as much as they could in order to increase the amount of overlap. Big wheels, slack head angles, and steep tracks put a lot of force on a fork, and better bushing overlap helps ensure that the fork keeps sliding smoothly even when subjected to high loads.
It was the pewter colored flat crowns that first caught the attention of eagle-eyed observers over the offseason. They have the look of an aftermarket item, some sort of custom upgrade, but that's the stock configuration. The new fork has longer upper tubes than before, which made it possible to create a fully flat crown. For the longer-limbed riders out there who are looking for a taller front end, a drop crown option is also available.
The offet of the Boxxer is determined by the dropout profile, not by the crown shape like it is with many single crown forks. There's all sorts of offset experimentation going on in the trail bike world, but for now the Boxxer will be available with 56mm of offset for 29” wheels, and 48mm for 27.5” wheels.
InternalsThe Boxxer World Cup uses the same Charger RC2 damper that's found in the new Lyrik, although it's obviously longer, and it's tuned for that extra travel. The damper gives riders five potential settings for the amount of high-speed compression damping, a feature that wasn't present on the previous version.
On the air spring side, the fork received a new Debonair spring, again, very similar to what's found in the new Lyrik, but the amount of negative volume has been greatly increased. Compared to the prior Boxxer World Cup, the negative volume has increased by 91%. That was done in order to give the fork as close to a coil-like feel as possible, which is a good thing, because there's no longer a coil sprung option in the Boxxer lineup.
According to Jon Cancellier, RockShox's product manager, “Coil is the buzzword right now, but I think we can really make an air spring that rides like a coil, but then you have the ability to fine-tune it in one, two psi increments, and play with tokens without needing to play with oil volumes or complicated bump stops.” Only having air sprung options also makes it easier for shops, especially ones that do a high volume of rental traffic, to ensure that customers have a proper setup.
Boxxer RCThe RC is the slightly more affordable counterpart to the World Cup version. It's still air sprung, and equipped with the Debonair air spring, but it uses a new Charger RC damper. Rather than having an expanding bladder to compensate for the displaced oil that occurs during compression, the Charger RC uses a spring back IFP, a design that seems to be experiencing an upswing in popularity – multiple suspension manufacturers are now using it throughout their lineup.
I was able to get in two days of riding on the muddy, slippery, and extremely entertaining trails in Windrock, Tennessee. My arrival coincided with one of RockShox's tuning camps, where World Cup and EWS athletes were getting accustomed to their new suspension in preparation for the upcoming race season. It was a little intimidating heading up in a shuttle packed with some of the fastest riders in the world, but it was also interesting to witness the dynamic between riders and their mechanics as they discussed settings after each run, and collaborated to figure out what would work best for the first race of the year.
As for myself, with the air pressure set to my liking (the new air spring does require more pressure than before, somewhere in the neighborhood of 40 psi higher, a necessary step due to the altered spring volume), and the rebound and compression dials twisted to where I wanted them, it was time to start knocking out some laps. For the most part, I stuck to the same three trails in order to keep the things consistent – as fun as it would have been to explore every single offshoot, that would have meant I was focusing more on learning a new track, rather than on how the fork felt.
So, how did it feel? Very similar to the new Lyrik, which is a good thing. The 200mm of travel is well managed – it's nice and supple off the top, but even when I was dropping into wheel-sucking, goop filled ruts there was plenty of support to keep the fork from diving too deep into its travel. I ran the high-speed compression dial one click in from fully open due to the super soft conditions, and a few clicks of low speed compression, which left plenty of range left to stiffen things up for higher speed, more hardpacked trails.
The wet and sloppy trails made it a little tricky to see how the fork handled fast, really high speed hits, but on the whole, the new Boxxer's performance was extremely consistent, and it didn't take much fiddling to get the fork dialed into a place that I was very happy with. The level of small bump sensitivity and overall grip that the fork provided was excellent, and nicely complemented the Intense M29's overall performance. I'm sure there will be riders who will bemoan the lack of a coil-sprung option, but I honestly never found myself thinking "If only this fork had a coil spring..."
We'll be spending more time on the Boxxer to really dive into its ride characteristics, as well as overall durability - stay tuned for for a more in-depth report later this year.
15x110mm Boost has a 15mm disc offset.
But why does the 20x110mm Boost have a 10mm disc offset?
Are you engineers legitimately retarded? You think placing flanges 5mm wider is worth an entire new "standard"? Why don't you offset the way the hub is mounted in the lowers and give it better spoke triangulation? Holy shit
But loving the new Boxxer.
Side note — is it possible to create some kind of reducer shim to go from 20x110 to 15x110 to allow wheel swapping?
YO, why not make single crowns 20x110, so riders can swap wheels too, but still mantaining the stiffness?? f*cking genius, I know.
I'm open to job offers, industry
I feel like we are going round in circles. What about the weight? SAVE THE GRAMS! No, you want stiffness. 15 was meant to replace QR, not 20. Aargh!
SRAM are to blame for a lot of silly stuff, but not 15mm.
Let's all take a moment just to recognize how much better bikes and forks are now. Thruaxles are the norm front and back. 35 or 34mm stanchions are expected. You don't have to go a size up and buy an aftermarket short stem to get a long bike, and you don't have to buy a free ride machine to get something that is at home hitting the jump line.
you mean having a bike that actually fits you is not fun and overrated? you know what cost me so much money? buying xxl frames that are too small for me
It is unfortunately very dead. The used market for 26" has tanked. Similarly spec'd 27.5 bikes will easily bring $1,000 more than it's 26" counterpart.
Gonna sell them and buy some tanked 26 price wheels.
They did say I could trade in my bmx wheels now that I had some real wheels. Made me giggle.
Just like Ti cranks have come back around and so forth I know 26" will be back around and I'll be awash in profit.
That is exactly what I'm saying. I wish I was a kid now getting my first Dh. There are wicked deals out there.
Just walking into a lbs for a wheel / tyre when you need one out on a trip, getting a spare from a friend or being at a race and needing a replacement there and then?
Pretty tough when the majority are on 27.5 and 29.
You've never seen a 29er on the trails? I really hope you are joking. Seriously?
On my Dh bike I will always have spares, I even have some new Kaiser project 2.4's in the shed for one day in the distant future when the current ones are too worn out, no bike parks here and its all push up so tyre on the ground time is reduced compared to if I lived somewhere with uplift and a season pass (oh I can dream).
It's mind boggling that a $1700 MSRP fork requires zip ties if you need to run a fender. There's got to be a better way.
Not even sure if it's on life support anymore. I think it just hasn't been buried yet.
Here you are, grey crowns, red leg, black stanctions and 26".
Maye aggressive as trowing your bike around when you dont get your KOM
200lbs on a yellow spring, enough said really.
I like my bikes to ride certain way, sorry if that offends you.
Same as Fox then, apparently also available but impossible to get one unless you're name is Greg Minnaar!
Keyboard MTBers riding at half the pace: "Coil is so much more sensitive! I need a coil fork! Now!"
Also, they get paid to ride. Wonder why none of them publicly complains about the shortcomings of their suspension components.
My sissy hands need all the comfort they can get to survive a weekend on a rough track. Again, i´m not getting paid to do this shit, i am paying to be able to do it and i wanna do it as comfortably as possible without needing physical therapy on monday.
I never get why people are so fond of spring, i tried a fox 36 van long time ago and it felt like shit. It was on a bike of a guy that was maybe 6 kg more than me, (so the same spring should have been ok ?), and at least at the time, oil had to be changed quite frequently ?
Did coil fork improve since ? What fork should I test to change my mind ?
Well, i'm 100% sure Loics fork being the best performing is only an assumption on your part and not based on any facts.
Coil being better is based on simple physics. Less friction and a linear spring. There's however a lot more to a fork than only the spring and if the damper is f*cked then of course the fork is gonna suck. I can't comment on the fork you tried. For what it's worth it may just have been bad setup or just not how you prefer your setup or maybe even bad maintenance.
In my personal experience every coil fork i tried had always noticeably better small bump sensitivity and better midstroke support.
The subject of maintenance isn't about oil changes. If seals suck they suck on coil and air just the same. It's about no extra seals in your spring which need maintenance. Just something more that can potentially fail.
If you wanna see the difference try identical forks with coil and air. Like Boxxer WC and Team. Do not compare an old damper design from manufacturer A with a new one from manufacturer B because the results will most likely be irrelevant.
Let's agree to disagree.
Omg noone can even fly to the moon rofl. Obviously the moon landing was a hoax. Look into it sheeple.
The weight of the bumpstops will obviously slow down how fast you can turn the fork and bars due to heightened inertia. SRAM most likely will release boost bumpstops with a 0.019 smaller diameter to reduce weight and gain a quicker steering response.
The thing is, the people in charge of those telescopes know what´s up. They´re not the ones requiring proof. The nutjobs who deny it are the ones asking for proof, but even if you were to show them a guy up there waving back at them they´d just go "yeah, obviously fake. You guys probably drugged me while i wasn´t watching."
Also, i´m pretty sure footsteps are not something you can spot with a telescope. Those pictures you´re probably referring to are taken by probes i think and those are not as easily available i guess.
Wait, how did we get from bumpstops to space travel?!!?
Haha,i can support that. Bumpstops are the one thing holding back progression on downhill bikes for sure!
@BEERandSPOKES: At 160 lbs, I now understand why you might feel that way.
Nice chamfers though
This is for DH bikes no mistaking that.
You need perhaps seven speeds with a short range for DH.
So the boost is compleatly useless!
Obviously the marketing team tells the engineers what to do for Rock Shock.
Must keep the stock holders happy.
SRAM is rapidly loosing all my respect.
A Ten mm wider hub is not going to be significantly stiffer.
SRAM loves people like you now go buy that new and improved fork!
BTW they make a 15 mil axel too.
Stiffer ???@codfather1234:
Wider hubs should allow wheels to be stiffer
But user experience may differ
Boost isn't just for drivetrains
Or for marketers to make it rain
Yes, it can be frustrating
But there are probably more important things to be hating.
Pros (ie the people that push the gear to its limits) don't want it...
Maybe that's the answer.
I didn't read your comment. I thought you were someone moaning about no coil option. I need the riding season to start so I can get off the internet.
>but ask the guy who tracks a McLaren how it feels to get blasted by a guy with a Honda.
couldn't care less, thats my bike/car, my fun, my performance and my budget
and what target? someone gonna shoot at me because i have nice bling bike and i cant ride as fast as pros? seriously i dont get why would you ever care how and what others are riding???
i was poor for good 1/3 of my life now i can afford stuff and it just feels good to own nice things that are the best in the class (not to mention that usually they last a lot longer than cheap stuff)
Rubber side down gents.