So, I have a set of 160mm Boost Lyriks on my Aeris 145, to which I am contemplating fitting the 160mm LT linkage to.  In conjunction with this, I’d plan on taking the forks out to 170mm – I have a Luftkappe (unfitted) and was going to buy the pre-DebonAir 170mm air shaft to fit it to, but now that the 2019 DebonAir air shafts are available that seems like an easier and cheaper option.

Has anyone ridden both the Lufkappe and the DebonAir and can advise on which might be the better option?

Cheers!

I can’t help you with any ride reviews, but I have a 2017 pike and it does feel a bit inactive on little stuff.

I was looking at this debonair upgrade and if it is as good as the lufkappe, then it might have just gazumped Vorsprung in this market and is it a lot cheaper, and for the full assembly so no faffing around.

Think one or two on here have indicated the official mod is a little smaller and thus improvements less obvious than the Luftkappe?

The luftkappe still makes the neg. spring bigger than the new debonair, although the way it works, the longer the travel, the bigger the neg spring is with the new debonair.

I’ve made the ghetto mod. To my 2014 pike and my 2016 lyrics.

It’s made a difference to both, but more so on the lyric, which starts with a bigger neg. spring anyway.

Mmmm….my pikes are only  130mm travel so is the consensus that the debonair isn’t much of an improvement?

Now, if i only knew of someone with an unused luftkappe that they no longer planned on installing that would sell it cheaply……..(smiley wink face)

Having ridden both for a while, I ended up with the Luftkappe as it seemed to give me more mid stroke support. Could not find a good setup with the RS shaft.

Any suggestions if the Luftkappe is a good option on a set of 2018 140mm Pikes? Fitted a luftkappe to my old pair of 160mm Pikes which really transformed them.

Only a few rides in with the new Pikes, but even with volume spacers they’re not quite there.

I’ve made the ghetto mod. To my 2014 pike and my 2016 lyrics.

It’s made a difference to both, but more so on the lyric, which starts with a bigger neg. spring anyway.

“Ghetto mod” being drilling the air shaft, Scienceofficer?

Yes, and sealing the bottom but thread with PTFE.

Where do you drill the hole?

Thinking of trying this on an airshaft I’ve already fitted a Luftkappe to to see what happens with even more – air space.

Somewhere in the region of the ‘cotton bobbin’ that makes the space for the neg. spring under the air piston.

Yes, and sealing the bottom but thread with PTFE.

Any more info besides that Swedish(?) forum post that was going around a while ago?  And what are the chances of an experienced home bike mechanic messing something up while attempting it?  Seems pretty straightforward from what I can gather, but taking a drill to a pretty new Lyrik makes me a bit nervous.

I’m an ‘experienced home mechanic’ and it went fine. I’m not exactly sure what else you think you need beyond the Swedish info. It was pretty self explanatory.

My view is that even if you do manage to somehow **** it up, its only £40 to replace it with a new 2019 one anyway…

Had a look at the original Swedish forum post again, seems more straightforward than I remember.  Hmm, might give this a shot on the next lowers service.

I’d just need some circlip pliers to remove the shaft completely and something to grip the shaft (à la Luftkappe installation instructions)?  I guess sealing the shaft/bolt at the end is the only thing that could really go wrong, in which case you’d know about it straight away as the fork will lose pressure when inflated?

I just drilled out the seam of two bits of wood clamped together to make a grip for the vice. It slid a bit, so I lined it with some inner tube and that sorted it.

I think if you were loosing air via the foot nut you’d know about it before the forks were back on the bike.

Of course, every time I now do a lowers service, I have to be absolutely sure that the foot nut is air tight, so going forwards there will be slightly more faff for my servicing.

I’ve added a roll of PTFE to my bike tools box.

Any other views on the upgraded debonair shaft vs the luftkappe on older pikes?

I’m about to get one of these and extend the travel on my Yaris from 130 to 140 at the same time, will report if I can detect any radical difference.

Any link to that Swedish Forum mod?

Original post here, Rik: https://happyride.se/forum/read.php/1/3309316/3309788#msg-3309788.

So PTFE tape on both ends of the air shaft, Scienceofficer?  Never used the stuff myself, how many wraps roughly do you remember, just enough to feel a bit of resistance while threading the bolts?  And looks like a 2mm or 2.5mm drillbit in the original post’s photos?  I just read through a bit of the Lyrik service manual and watched the Luftkappe installation video for good measure.  Removing the piston sounds like the only tricky-ish part, and maybe drilling the hole clean.

Bump to see if anyone else has ridden the new airshaft and has experience of the Luftkappe to compare it to?

Can’t compare to a luftkappe but the airshaft made a noticeable improvement to my Yari. Much less resistance in the early part of the travel. Pretty easy job to fit too.

Clever little mod, that. I like it.