Fork Upgrade

steve_sordy

Wedding Crasher
Nov 5, 2018
8,361
8,586
Lincolnshire, UK
On my Focus Jam2, I have the Rockshox Revelation with the Debonair spring, 150mm travel. I was a bit unhappy with the fork at first and was thinking of going for the Charger 2 upgrade to convert to a Pike. I had the sag set to my liking, but the small bump compliance was not great. Big bump was OK, but the fork never got anywhere near using the whole travel and when it got to about 60% it felt really hard.

So I removed the single token from the air side, using the cassette removal tool. The whole job took easily less than 10 mins including deflating the shock and inflating it again, getting out and putting away the tools.

The effect was nothing short of magical. I'm one happy bunny. I have always added tokens before, never removed one. Try this before spending money on an upgrade. This costs nothing to do! :)
 

Lee Dove

Well-known member
Oct 12, 2018
301
268
Scotland
Anyone upgraded their forks? Thinking about going Fox Factory, but not 100% sure on the fit - presume it's 150mm 110x15 QR 51mm tapered...
If you go Fox get a Performance Elite (not elite) as they are exactly the same as the Factory minus the bling coating that does nothing and are cheaper.
 

BBear

Active member
May 18, 2019
105
86
Bristol
I’ve just replaced my Recon with a Pike. Was going to go for a Revelation but was told that it has been discontinued - not sure if that’s correct (?) but delighted with the Pike. also changed the front tyre to a Minion after reading advice on here.
Both upgrades well worth it and have made a very noticeable improvement to the bikes ride and grip.
 

steve_sordy

Wedding Crasher
Nov 5, 2018
8,361
8,586
Lincolnshire, UK
The old 32mm Revelation has been discontinued and has been replaced by the new 35mm stanchion Revelation. My bike that I bought in Jan'19 has the new Revelation.
 

khorn

E*POWAH Elite World Champion
Patreon
Jul 19, 2018
980
1,054
Denmark
The old 32mm Revelation has been discontinued and has been replaced by the new 35mm stanchion Revelation. My bike that I bought in Jan'19 has the new Revelation.
And as a matter of fact the Revelation shares the exact same chassis as Pike from 2018 onwards. It’s very easy to upgrade the Revelation to Pike as you only need to upgrade the damper to Charger 2/2.1 and Debonair Airshaft(if not already fitted).

Karsten
 

steve_sordy

Wedding Crasher
Nov 5, 2018
8,361
8,586
Lincolnshire, UK
And as a matter of fact the Revelation shares the exact same chassis as Pike from 2018 onwards. It’s very easy to upgrade the Revelation to Pike as you only need to upgrade the damper to Charger 2/2.1 and Debonair Airshaft(if not already fitted).

Karsten
And ditto with the Yari to the Lyrik! That is a brilliant bit of customer focused design by Rockshox. :)
 

BBear

Active member
May 18, 2019
105
86
Bristol
That’s a bit odd as I was standing next to my LBS (Bristol) mechanic whilst he rang the SRAM rep to ask about the Revelation because he couldn’t find it on their website. He was told they were discontinuing it completely as it was so similar to the Pike? Oh well maybe a misunderstanding but in any event v happy with the Pike.
 

steve_sordy

Wedding Crasher
Nov 5, 2018
8,361
8,586
Lincolnshire, UK
And as a matter of fact the Revelation shares the exact same chassis as Pike from 2018 onwards. It’s very easy to upgrade the Revelation to Pike as you only need to upgrade the damper to Charger 2/2.1 and Debonair Airshaft(if not already fitted).

Karsten

My Revelation already has the Debonair fitted. Am I right to assume that I can just fit the Charger 2/2.1 damper? Can you say what is the difference between 2 and 2.1 versions of the Charger please?
 

khorn

E*POWAH Elite World Champion
Patreon
Jul 19, 2018
980
1,054
Denmark
My Revelation already has the Debonair fitted. Am I right to assume that I can just fit the Charger 2/2.1 damper? Can you say what is the difference between 2 and 2.1 versions of the Charger please?
As I only right now have the Charger 2 RCT3 damper I cannot say the difference by own experience but according to the big Internet the new Charger 2.1 it quite a bit refined compared to the old version. They have implemented better adjustment of HSC and LSC. They are also claiming that they have reduced internal friction by 30%, giving an even more plush fork. The new Charger 2.1 comes in 2 versions, a RCT3 and RC2 - The RC2 is the more advanced option(more adjustment) and run around €100 more than the RCT3. I'm seriously considering either upgrading my Charger 2 to a Charger 2.1 RC2 or do a Push HC97 modification to my Charger 2.

If you are in the market for a new damper I would definitely buy the Charger 2.1 in RC2 configuration.

You can get an better idea of the difference of the dampers by reading this article, The internals between the new Ultimate versions of the Pike and Lyrik forks are the exact same:

RockShox 2020 Lyrik Ultimate RC2 first ride review

Karsten
 

jimmyjam

Member
Sep 10, 2018
69
46
Surrey Hills, UK
Ok - so I have ordered Fox 36 GRIP2 160mm to replace my Pikes. They were on special.
From what I've read I'm hoping the 160mm will be fine
 

sdcoffeeroaster

Active member
Jul 22, 2018
548
204
San Diego, CA
Anyone upgraded their forks? Thinking about going Fox Factory, but not 100% sure on the fit - presume it's 150mm 110x15 QR 51mm tapered...
The Carbon version of the Jam2 comes with a Fox Rhythm 140 mm fork. It's the plus/29'er fork and will take a 29 wheel as well which really helps the handling. I installed a 150 mm air shaft in mine and it is very smooth and controllable.
 

Gee tomac

Member
Jun 20, 2019
40
32
Kent
I’ve just replaced my Recon with a Pike. Was going to go for a Revelation but was told that it has been discontinued - not sure if that’s correct (?) but delighted with the Pike. also changed the front tyre to a Minion after reading advice on here.
Both upgrades well worth it and have made a very noticeable improvement to the bikes ride and grip.
Sorry bit late to the party .
Thinking of replacing my Recon also (27.5+) which is a 29er fork . Did you replace you’re Recon with the 29er Pike or 650b ?
Thanks .
 

sdcoffeeroaster

Active member
Jul 22, 2018
548
204
San Diego, CA
My Carbon Focus came with a Fox Rhythm 140 mm, which can be upgraded to 150 mm travel max with a 150 mm air shaft. I happened to have one since I played around with that option on my Anthem 2 after settling for 140 mm for that bike. The 150 worked really well on the Focus along with a 29" wheel. It's a bit more slack now, maybe 65.5 deg and really handles well over the rocks, uphill and yet corners well too. The stand over height (medium frame) was already a bit high and it made that slightly taller, not great. I find myself not wanting to straddle the Focus very long, lol.
 

cabbynate

Active member
Sep 30, 2019
121
109
Las Vegas NV
Ok - so I have ordered Fox 36 GRIP2 160mm to replace my Pikes. They were on special.
From what I've read I'm hoping the 160mm will be fine
I am also considering a 160mm fork on my 2018 jam2 plus pro. A RockShox, Lyrik Ultimate C2, Fork, 29'', DebonAir, 160mm, 42mm to be exact. Not sure how it will come out as it would replace 140mm.
 

cabbynate

Active member
Sep 30, 2019
121
109
Las Vegas NV
I added the debonair air Spring upgrade kit to my 2018 jam2 plus pro revelation fork . Went from a 140MM to 150MM travel and I love it. I remove one spacer of the two and the ride is so plush but still holds me up. Had to add about 12 more pounds of air then I usually run but I love the set up.
 

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