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So stupidly I managed to strip the threads on the top cap of my charger 2 damper (Pike). I had the damper out to bleed it as the compression adjustment wasn't making much difference. Completely my fault, thought the resistance I felt when reassembling was the o-ring squeezing against the inside of the CSU. Thankfully, the threads inside the CSU look perfect.
I've always serviced my older Pikes myself, this included replacing the bladder on the Charger 1 damper. Whilst annoyed with myself, I wasn't too worried as I assumed I could get spares - bladder assembly at the worst but hopefully just the top cap, after all these spares were available for the charger 1. Turns out you can't for Charger 2 or 2.1 dampers, can't even get a spare bladder (they do tear / split). Instead you have to buy a complete new damper unit at somewhere between £250 or £350 - WTF. Contacted TFTuned and Rockshox and got the same answer.
My mistake, but surely Rockshox decision not to provide spares is just a ploy to make their customers upgrade complete damper units. It's really put me off buying any RS suspension units again.
Anybody, know where I might be able to pick up a replacement top cap for a Charger 2 damper (2018 Pike B1, 110x15 29 - different models have different thread pitches)?
That's really poor. Wonder when they'll do the same with dropper posts and disc brakes.
If TFT are saying it as well, that must mean they'll not even supply spares to service centres.
Do the newer dampers still come apart in the same way or are they now assembled differently meaning they can't be tuned?
The Charger 2 and 2.1 still come apart, in the same way that the charger 1 did, RS have just made a conscious decision to not sell many of the parts as spares that they used to for the charger 1 !!
I did the same on my Charger 2.1 damper swapping it between forks. I was gutted. I tried a local machine shop to see if he could help but the thread is so fine he didn't want to try.
In the end I rolled the top cap back and forth on my work bench whilst tracking the thread with a pick to clean it.
My CSU threads were fine too and, fortunately, it slipped back in OK - no plans to remove it any time soon!!
I've done about 50 miles on it with some pretty "gnarly" terrain and everything appears fine.
Bummer no spares though Agree with Onza, if TFT can't help then we're all doomed!
Cheers
Thats rubbish, maybe looking for an old unit from someone who has upgraded to the newer damper is your cheapest option?
I was also looking at damper upgrades from my original charger. Crazy money! Was thinking of buying a manitou fork instead...
Tftuned alluded this to me about 2 years ago when discussing whether it was worth getting which ever Monarch I had at the time re-tuned.
The result was I bought a Fox. Now RS and Fox are basically the same price for forks, unless theres a deal on, theres no reason for me to buy a fork I can't repair because I cant get replacement parts.
Seema like the choice is much more marginal than it used to be.
Should point out, my dealings with TFTuned have been great, no issues with them at all, they can only get the spare parts that Rockshox provide. The reality is I should have just sent my fork to them for service.
@glenh - thanks for the heads up, it's a bit of a minefield in terms of compatibility. I've seen dampers at 150 but there are for non boost pre 2018 Pikes. Thread pitches have changed between models, not sure which version sportpursuit are selling
Might be worth email and asking for the model number if you can't find anything else.
@dougieb I’ve got a spare top cap from a charger 2 that was on a 2018 boost pike 29 that should fit you ok. I upgraded my charger 2 with the push hc97 kit that includes a new top cap and damper internals.
@The Duke : I'd happily buy that off of you? I was considering the HC97 rather than buying a brand new damper. However, if you are happy selling the top cap I'm in.
@dougieb that’s fine mate, I’m not sure if the pm is working so best to email me at derekduke(at)hotmail(dot)co(dot)uk and we’ll sort something out
If you don't get sorted I have a few top caps spare from dampers we have upgraded to HC97's.
RS seem to be making life more difficult and expensive each year. I used to think Fox service kits were expensive but the service kits for the likes of a lyrik are £75 for dust wipers and a few o rings. That's seriously taking the pi*s in my book!
Why they don't give you the option to by just a new charger 2 unit is pure greed from them. There is no other reason for it, not to mention the waste of an entire damper for the sake of one part.
Thanks for the link for SportPursuit, they’ve got Lyrick forks on there half price too!
Bargain.
@Rick - thanks for the kind offer. The Duke sorted me out with his old top cap arriving on Saturday and I rebuilt the damper on Sunday, so all good.
I do wonder if anybody can help me with a question I have about the charger 2 RCT3 damper. The reason I was tinkering in the first place was that I wanted to bleed the damper - the three high speed compression settings (RCT3) weren't offering much noticeable difference. Same thing happened with my Charger 1 and after servicing and replacing the damper seal head with the upgraded version, there was a very noticeable difference between settings. Is the difference between the HS compression settings on the charger 2 more subtle? After bleeding the damper there was a very noticeable difference between open and firm if used my hand to try to compress the damper rod. Now that I've reassembled the fork the difference between open and firm is very, very subtle? Is this normal?