If you have an air spring, all you need to do is stick a spacer in the negative spring. That's how all of the travel-adjust RockShox models used to work at least:
If you don't have any proper RockShox spacers laying around, PVC pipe works (but it's not quiet):
If you have an air spring, that's it. If you don't, you're going to have to cut your spring. I used a dremel:
I used a preload spacer to protect my top-cap, but that's about all there is to it:
Picked up my Mezzer Wednesday night. Very excited to get it mounted. Should stiffen things up a bit.
"I know that heroes ride bicycles" - Joe Biden
Kona Hardtail, saint cranks, mavic rims and a triple.
You're pushing the nostalgia button pretty hard there.
Remember when we had sorted 160mm open bath coil sprung forks with dual crowns and 20mm axles...twenty years ago?
Then the push for single crown air sprung forks.
Posted by: Xorrox
Posted by: rwalters
^^^ Nearly all of those ideas were achieved with my setup in the picture above! ;)
Okay, spill the details, you can't just leave us hanging! ;)
- How much travel? A-C measurement?
- As asked above, air or coil?
- What parts / custom work is required?
- Did you do it yourself or did you have someone do it for you?
- What adapter did you use for the headset?
- Are you running a 20mm downhill hub and axle or some kind of adapter?
- Ride impressions versus single crown - was it worth it?
Soooo many questions!
I dropped the travel to 180mm. Any Boxxer from 2019 and later can have the travel dropped to 190 or 180, you just need to order a new spring shaft from Rockshox (they're cheap). Fork is air spring (I think all new Boxxers are now air spring). Did the conversion myself - pretty easy. Used the same headset, just needed to get a different lower crown race to account for the smaller diameter of the steerer tube at the bottom (again, parts are readily available).
I don't know the fork length off the top of my head, but when I was researching this, the Boxxer set to 180mm is actually shorter than the 180mm Lyrik (by a mm or two). The Boxxer lower crown is quite low profile compared to the Lyrik crown, so I'd say this is the main reason the Boxxer is shorter. That said, you have a fair amount of adjustment with moving the stanchions in the crowns. My bike is now sitting a tiny bit lower in the front compared to when I had a 180mm Lyrik. I measured my head angle to be 64*. I believe the offset I had on my Lyrik was 39mm, and the Boxxer is 46 - so my front wheel is kicked out a little bit.
I was building up new wheels anyway, so I'm using a proper 20mm front hub.
Ride impressions: I've taken it out a few times now. Right off the bat - this is a completely new bike to me. The Nobl TR38's combined with the Boxxer make for an ultra-precise ride. It's a pretty wild feeling - I need to relearn how to ride this bike, and in a good way. You don't realize just how flexy a 180mm travel single crown is until you replace it with a dual crown. I don't think this setup will be for everyone though - you really need to ride aggressively to bring this bike to life. It will be overkill for most riders, but I'm tired of creaky CSU's and flexy forks. I ride pretty hard, so this made the most sense to me. I'm still in the process of getting the spring rate right - it's proven a little more challenging than setting up the Lyrik. I think part of that is I've taken a fork that is optimally run at 200mm and lowered the travel. There's not a lot of info on recommended settings at 180mm. I'm currently running the fork at 125psi and 6 tokens (Rockshox claims 6 tokens is max).
Weight gain was very minimal. Fork is a bit heavier, but you lose a bit of weight with a lighter stem, shorter steerer tube and one less brake adaptor. I should weigh the bike, but I don't really care too much.
As far as climbing goes, I've had zero moments so far where the bump stops prevented me from making a corner. In fact, I've found them to be a bit of help when you're really tired and negotiating a tight corner while climbing - you can rest on the bump stop as you make the turn. Laziness FTW!
Biggest drawback so far has been the fact that the bike didn't fit into my stock NSR-4 rack. I think this is mostly due to the new lower Boxxer crown. It's quite a bit different than previous versions. I was able to take my rack into NSR and they made some mods to the cradles that allowed the bike to fit. Joe at NSR was super helpful and is now aware of the issue - maybe this will lead to a design change to allow for the new Boxxer.
Overall, so far I'm loving the new setup. It hasn't gone quite as smoothly as I had hoped (my main issue at the moment is getting the spring rate right. Not quite there yet, but still experimenting. I am also looking around for a more vertically compliant bar - I'm basically running the stiffest front end possible on a trail bike, and it's making my wrists a bit sore after rides. Might look into the OneUp bar).
Any other questions, just ask!
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