Who can remember when the RockShox BoXXer first arrived on the scene? It was 1996, and in the 12 years that have passed, the fork has been ridden into the history books and amassed more victories than any other fork out there.
The BoXXer has 86 World Cups wins to its name, and an eye-watering 345 podiums in total, making it the most successful fork of all time. The BoXXer hasn't even changed all that radically in that time either - the first model had 32mm legs and provided just 5” of travel - groundbreaking at the time though, but most updates have been to the forks internals.
For 2009 RockShox has made the first significant updates to its flagship DH fork, and key behind the decision was a brief that simply stated “lighter, stiffer and ultimately faster.” The big change then has been to enlarge the stanchions from 32mm to 35mm, with this extra girth increasing stiffness and allowing for weight savings. The steerer tube is now a heap lighter, new forged crowns and Maxle Lite DH axle all contribute to the weight savings. Inside there's changes aplenty too, with a new Mission Control DH damper with Dual Flow Adjust compression and rebound adjustment.
There'll be three models; Race, Team and World Cup, with weight for the latter at 6lbs (2.72kg) and 6.5lb (2.9kg) for both the Team and Race models. Three colours - BoXXer Red, Black and White - are available across the board.
The new BoXXer is lighter and stiffer, and with new internal gubbins performs better - it's come a long way since 1996
New graphics, and there's sag lines on the back of the legs
Greg Herbold and Jeremiah Boobar, Product Manager RockShox, show off the new forks to the assembled press
Maxle Lite DH axle and Mission Control DH beginning and end of stroke adjuster dial on the bottom of the right leg
Mission Control DH dial for adjusting high and low speed compression. The air volume adjust dial lives on the top of the left leg. Truvativ's Holzfeller Direct Mount stem is an option, and comes in 50mm and 60mm lengths
Steve Peat has been racing the new fork, and found it very much to his liking
“The first time I got to ride the new BoXXer was in Spain in February 2008 and I
couldn't believe how RockShox could have improved on something already so good,” says Steve Peat. “The fork was lighter which I noticed straight away and then once I got a few runs in I realized how well I was turning and how easily I could stick the front end on to any line I chose.
“I think most of this came from the stiffness gained from the 35mm stanchions. Since the first time I tested, we have been able to improve on settings at each race so the fork has gone from strength to strength. Thanks BlackBox team, another job well done.”
