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RockShox Charger 2.1 RC2 Damper Upgrade Kit: Rider Review

Our "Rider Review" article series features the honest reviews from verified purchasers of Worldwide Cyclery. They contain the photos, thoughts, feedback & overall review you are looking for.

Now that the 2020 lineup of Rockshox suspension is readily available, so too is their Charger 2.1 RC2 upgrade kit. Our customer Matt easily upgraded his 2019 Lyrik with a new 2.1 damper. Has it improved his ride? Check out his review to learn more!

Overview

I’ve been riding the 2019 Rock Shox Lyrik RC2 for the past year. At 145lbs, I’ve been running 60-65 psi (a little below the recommendation) and LSC and HSC wide open. RockShox definitely made some nice improvements to the small bump sensitivity in the RC2 model, but I’ve always felt that something has been lacking on the high-speed end. Specifically, I’ve felt bar feedback on sudden high-speed sudden impacts, even while running the settings open and experimenting with all PSIs. When I heard that the new Charger 2.1 damper softened the HSC settings by a couple of clicks, I thought this might be what I was looking for, so I ordered one up.

Installation

All I needed for the removal of the old damper and the installation of the new one was a set of allen keys, a cassette tool, a rubber mallet, and some fork oil. If you’ve ever changed the oil in a RockShox fork, you can do this install. The only difference is that you unscrew the top of the damper side to remove the old damper and install the new damper. It really is quite simple, just follow RockShox’s instructions on their website. It took me about an hour.

On-Trail Performance

Back on the trail with the new damper installed, I immediately noticed the lighter HSC. I was still running open HSC and LSC, but I no longer noticed the harshness on sudden high-speed impacts. In addition to the HSC change, there is supposed to be a change to the rebound tune and the way the LSC works. I generally don’t ride with much LSC, so it will take a little more time to figure out if there is an improvement on that end as well.