RockShox Damper Upgrade Kit [Rider Review]

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If you are looking to improve the performance of your RockShox fork, a damper upgrade kit is a great place to start. It can also increase travel, you know, if your into that sort of thing. Well, our customer Michael was very interested. So much so that he picked up a RockShox RCT3 2.1 Charger Damper to upgrade his Yari fork. Read on to hear more!

Overview

I ordered the Rockshox RCT3 2.1 Charger Damper to upgrade the RS Yari on my 2018 Trek Stache 7. This bike came stock with the Motion control damper and the pre-upgrade air springs. Previously, I did the Debonair air spring upgrade so I wanted to do the damper to make it equivalent to the Lyrik Ultimate. I also did an upgrade from 120mm -> 140mm and I had noticed after doing this, the initial travel of the damper was a little bit gravely and no so smooth. Due to this, I figured it was time to put in the order for the new Charger Damper.

Removing the motion control damper was super simple and popping in the new 2.1 RCT3 was easy and well within the capability of the average mountain biker. After installation, I was amazed at the compliance of the new damper. It’s hard to describe but the overall motion is much more of a controlled compliance whether it’s small bump compliance or big hits. The motion control did not have such a buttery feel and it’s something I could feel right away especially in reduced wrist pain and fatigue going to the Charger. Getting the rebound setting didn’t take too long at all but I did notice with the new air spring upgrade, I did have to play with the air pressure settings to get everything just ride and was a little bit off compared to the recommendations on the Rockshox website.

In addition, I struggled with trying to decide between the RCT2 and RCT3 and in the end, I’m super happy with my decision to upgrade just to the RCT3.

For a hardtail, I don’t need the extra adjustability of the RCT2 and honest, I either leave it in open mode or pedal when I’m on gravel/asphalt roads and it’s perfectly fine.

If you do end up doing extended gravel or road rides, putting the damper setting into firm takes out any unnecessary motions while pedaling. I don’t think the extra expense of the RCT2 is necessarily worth it for the conditions I’m riding in which is SE Michigan, so relatively flat with not so many big jumps. I have no problem recommending this for someone who is looking to get that extra smooth feeling out of their fork.

Final Thoughts

Pairing this with the Debonair air spring really brings the Yari chassis alive and I’m really happy with how this is performing on my hardtail. I also have Fox Factory 34 on my Ibis Mojo and I think the Yari with this upgrade is superior. I can definitely recommend this as an upgrade to take your suspension to the next level!