---

The Rock Shox Boxxer Program for 2005 Words and photos Cam McRae

---

The Boxxer fork was once the standard for downhillers.  In fact they are still found on an amazing amount of race bikes.  At the 2003 World's in Lugano over half the riders were on a Boxxer.  There were some hiccups when SRAM purchased RockShox and the first round of SRAM owned and produced Boxxers had some spiking issues.  The engineers went back to the drawing board and put together a Black Box upgrade kit for the compression circuit.  The upgrade pushed the performance of the fork back to the high level Boxxer owners were used to but it was pretty clear that it was time for a change.

The change isn't a dramatic one though.  Like a Mercedes or a BMW, a Boxxer has always looked like a Boxxer and this year is no exception.  The three levels of trim remain - Race, Team and World Cup - but a fourth model has been added; the Boxxer Ride which is aimed at the freeride market.  More on that below.

As riders continue to redefine what is possible on a bike the demands on suspension forks becomes more intense.  Rockshox wanted to squeeze more travel out of the Boxxer, improve rigidity, turning radius, strength and allow for a larger tire to address this evolving market.

---

Besides the more rigid lowers - RockShox discovered there was significant independent leg movement in the previous generation - a new longer lower bushing contributes most to the robust, solid state feel of the new Boxxers.  The original bushings were 25mm and the new guides are three times that at 75mm or three inches.

Unlike the original Boxxers the new models have some external damping knobs.  Both the WC and the Team have external rebound and low speed compression adjustment (high speed is an internal tweak) while the Race and Ride only have a rebound clicker.

---

---

Performance - first the World Cup

For me the best measure of how well a fork works is how well I'm riding.  No single element comes close to influencing the ride of a downhill bike as much as the fork and if you have that dialled most other issues will fall into place.  Whistler is becoming the place to debut new gear and Rockshox invited us along during the Crankworx Festival.  The weather was perfect, the park was buffed and the atmosphere was all stoke. It would be tough to ask for a better testing environment.  I hooked up with HB and Jeremiah Boobar to do my riding and first thing in the morning a World Cup was mounted to the Specialized Demo 9 I have been riding.  Rockshox was savvy to mount the forks on the bikes we are used to.  I would have had a more difficult time reckoning the qualities of a fork on a bike I have never ridden before.

This fork is one of the first I have heard of to come stock with titanium coils.  I know some Manitou team riders have been bouncing on ti but that's about it.  Titanium is obviously substantially lighter for this application and it will also keep the springs feeling springy much longer and be more resistant to coil binding  (because less coils are needed for the same spring rate.  This is a very nice touch.

---

---

We started out on Garbanzo, ripping down No Joke at a good clip.  HB mentioned that he thinks most riders run their rebound damping too slow.  After a couple of sections I cranked the return up and the fork felt even better.  Much of the ride reminded me of my beloved cherry red Boxxer but there was more to love.  Eight inches of travel is welcome on Whistler and I didn't manage to feel the bottom of the WC - although a look at the stanchions indicated that I did use all the travel.  It felt buttery right to bottom out though.  The other difference I noticed was the smoothness and rigidity of the Boxxer WC. I think I appreciated the fork most on the stuttery sections were brake bumps can make you wonder if you are riding on bare rims with no  rubber.  The quick rebound setting I had chosen gave me new confidence through these sections - I was impressed by how active the fork was.  Everything was predictable and free of drama.  In the tight stuff the stiffness of the fork was most noticeable.  There are several sections on Original Sin where you need to dip your inside shoulder and make a hard turn into a steep section.  These are the kinds of situations where I really notice a sloppy fork but the WC was tidy as can be.  I didn't notice the additional 22 degrees of turning radius though - that is I never found myself in a situation where I couldn't turn as sharply as I wanted to.

---

Freeriders will want to know how the fork handles drops.  I didn't launch anything too big on the day but on the A-Line rock drop and the Schleyer drop the fork sucked up everything I asked it to. As I mentioned, when I feel good on the bike that tells me the fork is doing its job.  Before lunch, riding the World Cup - I was feeling like Nicolas Vouillioz. I wasn't riding quite as fast as the perennial champ but I felt supremely confident and occasionally I could keep HB in my sights.  All in all I was very impressed with the WC on Whistler mountain.

Jeremiah Boobar feeling the knobs on his rear tire.

Performance - Boxxer Ride
I should have done it the other way around - and ridden the Boxxer Ride first. Following the Boxxer World Cup when you are a US$700 fork with adjustable travel is like following Green Day when you are Michael Bolton.  I guess I should go into the adjustable travel feature a little.  Rockshox has been offering their U-Turn Travel adjustment on single crown, all-mountain and XC forks for some time now but a dual crown with this technology is ground-breaking stuff.  Twisting the dial will have the fork move at infinite increments between 5.25 and 7 inches.  With more riders using larger bikes for all kinds of riding this makes great sense.  You can dial it down for climbing or dirt jumping and pull out the big cushion when you need it.  This would be a wicked fork to mount on a freeride hardtail because of this versatility. More good news is that it tips the scales (according to Rock Shox) at 7.2 lbs.

With the bike mounted on a Demo 9 in the Whistler bike park I didn't spend a lot of time in 5.25" mode but I did have a chance to check it out.  It's pretty impressive that the fork can dump 2" of travel without affecting the preload.  It doesn't just push  the spring down - it disengages a portion of it.  It remains plush and responsive all through the adjustment range. 

While it was certainly a competent fork - the Ride wasn't able to handle the mountain the way the World Cup did.  I expected as much considering the WC retails for almost twice the coin. It wasn't as responsive on the high speed stuttery sections and in I found it more difficult to keep the front wheel stuck to the ground and pointed where I wanted. I liked the way it handled larger hits though and it was nice and stiff though and for the price it will be a tough fork to beat.

Cam McRae