Doug Stampfer
Well-known member
My christmas present to myself arrived the other day - a new Charger 2.1RC & set of skf seals.
I had borrowed a shockwiz a few weeks before to get bit of a baseline on the Yari & although it gave the motion control damper the thumbs up it recommended increasing the HSC. I felt I wanted more out of the fork comfortwise so I then pondered replacing the yari with the DVO onyx ($1500) or buying the charger ($600)
Every review of the Lyrik I read was glowing & when the charger came up on a boxing day special I grabbed it. (mght have been one of the few left in NZ).
Replacing the dampers was on paper relatively straightforward. SImply unscrew & remove the top of the moco, remove the lowers, pull out the damper, change the seals & pop the new charger damper in, tighten up, few squirts of oil & pump up & ride.
If you are going to do this yourself heres a little cautionary tale. I don't have a fork vice so usually hang the bike from a rafter & remove the lowers for servicing. The only problem with this is even after all my research on the web I didn't realise the damper upper is full of oil so when I removed the damper itself from the bottom of the upper gallons of oil gushed out everywhere. Oh how I laughed at this unexpected occurence.
Replacing the fork wiper seals requires a tool to centre the seal & punch it into place. I didn't have one so took it to the local shop for the 2 minute job. He had finished for the day so took until lunchtime the following day to collect. The mech did it but didn't charge me as they are a chain store RS agent & aren't allowed to do that for DIY services. A pizza wil be delivered to him instead. Also I needed about 30ml of oil which they neither they nor the next chain bike shop would sell. Luckily a corner owner LBS took pity & sold me some.
So in hindsight although the labour portion is not much & largely satisfying & enjoyable I would take the fork to the shop for them to do instead of standing around cap in hand, happy to pay, but seemingly asking for favours.
I'm 86kgs usually run 93PSI with one token with the moco so pumped back up to the usual 93PSI & rode down the driveway. First impression - WOW feels really plush - the fork bounced up & down effortlessly & smooth but felt really high up. I checked the sag & it was at 10-15% - Huh?
Went for a ride & found the riding position unusually quite high in the front. At the top of a hill I dropped the pressure to get 30% sag - it was 50PSI? Down the track over the first small jump & BOOF - bottomed out. I pumped up to 80PSI & that seemed to be a sweet spot, running at 25% sag with a little bit of fork left after a few small drops. I'll do a few bigger drops & see how it goes.
My immediate impressions over the motion control.
Plusher - very much so.
On the short test ride I found it excelled over the moco around wide clay bermed corners with rutted braking points. Where the moco would have me hanging on just to get around the corner to a place where I could gain control of the steering, the fork stayed on the ground & didn't chatter so much.
On those sharp corners that occur immediatey after a root drop off I found the fork rose back quicker & was able to be turned effortlessly resulting in a faster smoother turn. I felt I didn't have to momentally wait for the fork to unwallow.
A few small jumps - not so much difference between the two.
The downsides:
Although the front felt a lot more planted it highlighted what a bag of potatoes the rear end is. Someone told me the best is only what you have experienced so far & now I can see a coil on the back in the near future.
I was unexpectedly faster down the trail. Was I trying to be? No. The increased performance of the fork meant I was not braking as much as I would usually to maintain control. This meant increased trail speed. Why is this a downside? Because it then runs up against the humiliating aspect of the human condition - peak rider ability. I'll leave that there.
A couple of questions.
The increased ride height/sag issue.- is this normal? I can't see how the damper would change this, changing the air spring ok but the damper? Have I done something wrong with the setup?
The charger came with different rebound knobs. I left the existing red one on. That ok? Not sure why the others would have been supplied unless something to do with the next question...
The rebound does not have a click like the moco one does? It turns ok but haven't checked its effectiveness (i haven't set the rebound or checked it yet as going to rewatch Sebs excellent videos to get it right)
I had borrowed a shockwiz a few weeks before to get bit of a baseline on the Yari & although it gave the motion control damper the thumbs up it recommended increasing the HSC. I felt I wanted more out of the fork comfortwise so I then pondered replacing the yari with the DVO onyx ($1500) or buying the charger ($600)
Every review of the Lyrik I read was glowing & when the charger came up on a boxing day special I grabbed it. (mght have been one of the few left in NZ).
Replacing the dampers was on paper relatively straightforward. SImply unscrew & remove the top of the moco, remove the lowers, pull out the damper, change the seals & pop the new charger damper in, tighten up, few squirts of oil & pump up & ride.
If you are going to do this yourself heres a little cautionary tale. I don't have a fork vice so usually hang the bike from a rafter & remove the lowers for servicing. The only problem with this is even after all my research on the web I didn't realise the damper upper is full of oil so when I removed the damper itself from the bottom of the upper gallons of oil gushed out everywhere. Oh how I laughed at this unexpected occurence.
Replacing the fork wiper seals requires a tool to centre the seal & punch it into place. I didn't have one so took it to the local shop for the 2 minute job. He had finished for the day so took until lunchtime the following day to collect. The mech did it but didn't charge me as they are a chain store RS agent & aren't allowed to do that for DIY services. A pizza wil be delivered to him instead. Also I needed about 30ml of oil which they neither they nor the next chain bike shop would sell. Luckily a corner owner LBS took pity & sold me some.
So in hindsight although the labour portion is not much & largely satisfying & enjoyable I would take the fork to the shop for them to do instead of standing around cap in hand, happy to pay, but seemingly asking for favours.
I'm 86kgs usually run 93PSI with one token with the moco so pumped back up to the usual 93PSI & rode down the driveway. First impression - WOW feels really plush - the fork bounced up & down effortlessly & smooth but felt really high up. I checked the sag & it was at 10-15% - Huh?
Went for a ride & found the riding position unusually quite high in the front. At the top of a hill I dropped the pressure to get 30% sag - it was 50PSI? Down the track over the first small jump & BOOF - bottomed out. I pumped up to 80PSI & that seemed to be a sweet spot, running at 25% sag with a little bit of fork left after a few small drops. I'll do a few bigger drops & see how it goes.
My immediate impressions over the motion control.
Plusher - very much so.
On the short test ride I found it excelled over the moco around wide clay bermed corners with rutted braking points. Where the moco would have me hanging on just to get around the corner to a place where I could gain control of the steering, the fork stayed on the ground & didn't chatter so much.
On those sharp corners that occur immediatey after a root drop off I found the fork rose back quicker & was able to be turned effortlessly resulting in a faster smoother turn. I felt I didn't have to momentally wait for the fork to unwallow.
A few small jumps - not so much difference between the two.
The downsides:
Although the front felt a lot more planted it highlighted what a bag of potatoes the rear end is. Someone told me the best is only what you have experienced so far & now I can see a coil on the back in the near future.
I was unexpectedly faster down the trail. Was I trying to be? No. The increased performance of the fork meant I was not braking as much as I would usually to maintain control. This meant increased trail speed. Why is this a downside? Because it then runs up against the humiliating aspect of the human condition - peak rider ability. I'll leave that there.
A couple of questions.
The increased ride height/sag issue.- is this normal? I can't see how the damper would change this, changing the air spring ok but the damper? Have I done something wrong with the setup?
The charger came with different rebound knobs. I left the existing red one on. That ok? Not sure why the others would have been supplied unless something to do with the next question...
The rebound does not have a click like the moco one does? It turns ok but haven't checked its effectiveness (i haven't set the rebound or checked it yet as going to rewatch Sebs excellent videos to get it right)
