I have been idly browsing things on the Internet after a ride today and was looking at damper upgrades for my yaris. I have read a bit about the luftkappe damper upgrade and am interested in potentially doing it. However, I still don't fully understand what it does.... I mean I think I have an idea of what it does but could a super pro expert expert explain to me in simple terms using nice easy words what it does to make my fork feel even better. Please?
Yes or no. Depends on the person. It was an improvement for my pike (160) and balanced the rear coil shock.
Because the negative air spring is bigger it exerts more force on the positive spring. This makes it easier to move hence why you need more pressure for a given sag. This makes the mid stroke support better and increases bottom out resistance. It makes the stroke a lot smoother. I hated the ramp up from tokens.
Because you can run more psi without the forks feeling less compliant in the first bit of travel, the forks have less dive on slow steep tech, and feel as if they recover quicker on the trail. Most importantly is the better small bump compliance. For example, it’s obvious after 5 seconds of pedalling over the flat cobbles at Swinley - forks fidget a lot less over the surface. It’s the same for faster trails.
*pedant alert* the luftkappe has nothing to do with the damper. It’s a change to the piston on the bottom of your air spring in the left hand leg (the damper is in the right hand leg on Rockshox).
Which fork have you got / what would you want to upgrade for - I.e. what would you want more of from your fork?
Effectively it’s a huge negative airspring - so the fork will
Move easier at the start of the stroke - but it will do that even with a higher psi in the fork. So you can run more pressure and therefore have more midstroke support.
So if you find the fork hard to get going but divey in the middle then it will improve your fork. If you already find it good on small bumps, but it ramps up hard already then don’t get one!
I found I had that latter situation with a motion control damper in a Yari. Fitting a luftkappe might have made it worse - I actually fitted a charger damper to solve that issue (standard in a Pike and Lyrik.
Note a Rockshox debonair 2019 airshaft gives you some of the advantage of the luftkappe without being quite as big a negative spring. But it’s easier to fit and cheaper to buy.
Typing too slowly. See above.
or try a debonair conversion? less than £50
I found it made a noticeable improvement with my pikes.
With the Yaris, less so, swapping out the moco damper was a much better upgrade.
I installed one today in my 140mm pikes.
I've only been round Ashton Court with mini-officer, so it's hardly a representative ride, but break away resistance is basically zero, and the fork certainly gripped well in flat turns, which is nice. I have an inkling that there is more mid stroke support, but I need to paste it on proper ride really.
Early indications are good, but not earth shattering.
It'll make your fork feel better, but it'll still have a bit of a basic damper.
The new debonair air shaft is a bigger improvement in my experience, and cheaper.
Go for the new Debonair shaft which does the same, but with a bit less progression (I find Yaris are very progressive anyway).
JP
This is good knowledge. Thank you.
I will investigate the debonair upgrade.
If you already find it good on small bumps, but it ramps up hard already then don’t get one!
I found I had that latter situation with a motion control damper in a Yari
Interesting. That might explain the couple of lighter riders I know who have not had a lot of success with them.
Yeah, the moco damper ramps up quite hard compared to a charger damper. I spoke to a few people and the only solution really was to change out the damper. You can try putting lighter oil in the moco but apparently it doesn’t make a huge difference.
I changed to a charger and the fork is much much better (I’ve also got thre debonair 170mm airshaft in there too).
