New RockShox BoXXer Fork Will get 38mm Stanchions and “Coil-Like” Air Spring
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RockShox has up to date its BoXXer dual-crown fork with a bigger 38mm stanchion diameter, with the general bundle stated to ship the absolute best steadiness between stiffness, compliance, and luxury for max management.
Housed inside these 38mm stanchions is new twin tube DebonAir+ air spring and the Charger 3 RC2 damper providing impartial adjustment of excessive and low velocity compression damping. And, either side profit from the high-frequency vibration-damping ButterCups carried out beforehand on RockShox Final degree single-crown forks.
Right here’s a better look the 2024 RockShox BoXXer.
2024 RockShox BoXXer Downhill Fork
The newest BoXXer must be one of many worst stored secrets and techniques within the bike business this 12 months, what with quite a few Downhill World Sequence athletes having been noticed racing the BlackBox sticker-clad prototypes all season. Two of these athletes are none aside from Trek Manufacturing facility Racing’s Valentina Höll and Loris Vergier, each of whom had been concerned within the improvement of the brand new fork.
Below Vali, the 2024 BoXXer has been piloted to 2 excellent victories this season; firstly in Leogang, in her residence nation of Austria, and secondly on the notorious Black Snake of Val di Sole. Vergier goes effectively, too, having stood on two podiums this 12 months additionally.
The BoXXer gives 200mm journey in each 27.5″ and 29″ wheel dimension fashions, with up to date offset choices of 44mm and 48mm for 27.5″, and 48mm and 52mm for 29″. Shorter-travel air springs for 180mm and 190mm are additionally obtainable aftermarket.
As talked about, the brand new fork sees an elevated stanchion diameter of 38mm, up from the 35mm boasted by the earlier mannequin. Nonetheless, that’s 2mm shy of the Fox 40. On this, RockShox says, “We might have made the stiffest fork potential, however we didn’t. Two years of in depth improvement specializing in the crucial mix of bending and torsional stiffness ratios resulted within the all-new 38mm BoXXer chassis”.
Markings are added to the stanchions above the decrease crown to permit for simpler setup that takes away guesswork, or the necessity for a measuring tape. The lowers see a brand new arch design that’s, aesthetically not less than, extra just like the RockShox Zeb than it’s the outgoing BoXXer mannequin.
The brand new mannequin is subtly completely different within the offset choices obtainable, too. Whereas the earlier 29″ mannequin was obtainable in 46mm and 56mm offsets, the 2024 iteration will get offsets of 48mm and 52mm. The brake mount is designed for a 200mm rotor minimal, however can take an adapter to spice up that to a most of 220mm.
Shifting swiftly on, it’s the know-how inside these chunkier lowers that has the most important influence on efficiency. Which brings us to the…
DebonAir+ Twin Tube Air Spring
RockShox say their new DebonAir+ air spring is in contrast to any air spring they’ve produced earlier than, providing a really linear spring curve that provides an motion that’s “so coil-like, it’s uncanny”. They’ve achieved that by implementing a twin tube air spring development whereby the optimistic and detrimental air chambers are nested inside each other, with the bigger 14mm hole shaft growing the detrimental air quantity for improved off-the-top small bump sensitivity. The brand new air spring can also be stated to present a taller journey top for extra confidence when the terrain will get steeper.
We don’t have a cutaway render to indicate this, sadly, but when one materializes, we’ll you’ll want to share it.
As ever, the DebonAir+ air spring is tuneable with air strain and bottomless tokens to dial-in end-stroke ramp. Notable is also the addition of a jounce (jolt and bounce) bottom-out bumper for a much less harsh expertise if and while you do make it to full journey.
Each decrease legs see the addition of oil move ports that encourage steady lubrication of the bushings by the Maxima Plush Dynamic Suspension Lube. That helps cut back friction within the system, and sure additionally retains the froth o-rings beneath the wiper seals moist, too.
RockShox say, “These oil move ports have an additional benefit when the fork goes by its journey on a depraved G-out. This new design evenly distributes air quantity above and under the decrease bushing, leading to a constant spring fee you may belief on the gnarliest drop-ins”.
Lastly, the brand new BoXXer advantages from so-called Decrease Leg Plugs, an in depth picture of which we don’t have handy. Nevertheless, this has an equal perform to the Strain Aid Valves carried out on the newest Zeb, Lyrik and Pike forks, permitting a launch of air strain that will have constructed up within the lowers throughout using. It’s potential SRAM switched to the tweaked design with the intention to circumvent any potential patent infringement.
Charger 3 RC2 Damper
On the damper aspect, the 2024 BoXXer is upgraded to the Charger 3 RC2 damper. To permit for fine-tuning from track-to-track, the damper delivers excessive and low velocity compression changes over 15 and 5 increments, respectively, in addition to rebound adjustment over 18 increments. We’re instructed the Charger 3 RC2 advantages from decreased cross-talk between the HSC and LSC changes, as in comparison with the Charger 2.1 that preceded it.
As seen on the DebonAir+ air spring, the damper too will get the vibration-damping ButterCups, stated to take away as much as 20% of path chatter that would in any other case contribute handy and arm fatigue on lengthy runs.
Pricing & Availability
There are two fashions of the 2024 RockShox BoXXer; the $1,899 USD // 2,279 €, £ 2,029 BoXXer Final possibility, and a extra primary model merely named, BoXXer. The previous is accessible aftermarket with the selection of two completely different crown lengths to swimsuit completely different head tube lengths, whereas the latter is OEM solely.
Whereas the BoXXer Final advantages from all of the top-end tech such because the ButterCups and the Charger 3 RC2 damper, the BoXXer goes with out the golden-colored vibration-damping gadgets, and runs the much less tuneable Charger 3 RC damper. The latter permits changes of Rebound and Compression damping, however lacks impartial adjustment of LSC and HSC.
Nevertheless, those that will go on to buy a BoXXer-equipped downhill bike will be capable to buy aftermarket upgrades for the each the DebonAir+ air spring and the Charger 3 RC2 damper. These have an MSRP of $104 USD // 113 € // £101, and $358 USD // 399 € // £356, respectively. The ButterCups themselves should not obtainable individually, so if you’d like them, it’s a must to purchase the upgrades. That stated, you don’t need to run a pair of ButterCups with the intention to profit from their vibration-damping qualities; you may run a single ButterCup in both aspect.
There’s a delicate distinction in weight between BoXXer Final and BoXXer, too. The previous is the heavier, weighing a claimed 2,840 grams for the 200mm journey 29″ possibility with a 48mm offset, whereas the latter weighs a claimed 2,680 grams within the equal spec. Other than the abovementioned particulars, and the graphics, the 2 forks are equivalent.
A bolt-on fender (not proven), particular to the 2024 BoXXer, is bought with the aftermarket forks, however must be bought as an improve in any other case.
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