Well its been a while for Craig to put out some items and anyone that knows him also knows unless its over engineered and full proof its not good!
Just thought it was kind of a cool upgrade, we just had a 5th element done by him and came in today so well be putting it on the bullit and proceeding to beat the H#!! out of it now and run it ragged.
Anyhow it caught me off guard I know hes been working on stuff for a while and my kid has a earlier 888 and wanted to know when.
-The kit will fit almost any of the forks, he will have upgrade adapter kits for the cartridge to fit different forks so if you have a boxxer now and go 888 next season no big deal buy the adapter kit and swap it in, sell off the old adapter kit.
This is the basics:
1- it will fit into a majority of forks so its interchangeable (between fox, 888, boxxer etc as an example) with a upgrade adapter kit.
2- It will have a upgradeable tune kit with shims and an instruction book on how to do it yourself and what starter settings or shims for different terrain and basics so you can do it.
3- It will be well engineered!
4- its $299 user installable or $399 and Craig will install it (+adapter kits)
5- It will have flat head screw adjustments as it keeps the knobs from protruding under the fork like a 40 or boxxer
6- knob upgrade is available if you want knobs instead of the flat head adjuster.
Aside of that Im not too sure its just something I noticed got updated today and thought that after it craig working on it for so long its kind of a cool thing!
Heres a link to the tuning page as well.
http://www.avalanchedownhillracing.com/AVA ADV.htm
http://www.avalanchedownhillracing.com/AVA Advantage Cart Kit.htm
Heres weight with 32mm bxr adapter kit and without... Remember with the kit the big gold cap replaces your cap so the only weight that really matters is the internals.
Heres the weight of the internals I took out of the Boxxer WC 2010
Heres what I put back in 8gs heavier then 25ccs of oil less in hte new system knocks of 20gs of weight so it came out 12 gs lighter than a stock boxxer wc.
Heres the rebound assembley tear down
Heres the preproduction knobs, he did these so guys like me would have something to adjust with and quit bugging him. LOL so in the midst of being slammed he managed to give us a basic knob till the COOL production ones will be available. :note: These are not anodized Im having them onod blue/bottom and red/top.
Edited: Added content review and pics now to this post to make it easier....
6/15/2010
OK so the first thing It took it apart and looked at the machine work and went over it plus the reassembley to see how easy it really is to install and its SUPER easy.... Oil height is 245ccs 85/??? golden spectro synthetic (light anti foam and approx 3wt).
athe compression is on the bottom of the leg and the rebound is on the top and WORK GREAT....... The whole assembley is so well designed and easy to install its nice, the whole feel of the cartridge is amazing from start to finish....
I took it out today for the first ride and we had speed, loose caorners, bermed corners, rocks, ruts, tight single track with TONS of dollheads, rock outcroppings, TONS of BIG rain ruts etc.... Its fast real fast and exposed basically hammer down and go for it... Theres corners on big rocks and chunky terrain that have corners down to other chutes etc...
1: Cornering- This fork was consistant top to bottom light and loaded through the corners there were little to no chatter feel and it not once washed out due to lack of damping and control wether it was at the top or mid stroke.... It literally cornered amazing.
2: Rocks- It blew through the rocks without ANY harsh hits, it was incredible railing and was even smoother at speed the faster you went the better it got......
3: overall- The thing felt a bit slow (parking lot test) when messing around so I backed out the adjustments a little and it felt buttery at any adjustment. It does not have that light dry feel like the boxxer did and definently not like the Fox 40. It is as light as the original setup and will lighten up a bit when the production caps are done for the adapter. It did not wallow at all and the damping was consistent no matter where I was in travel so it didnt matter if I was high in it or loaded it reacted the same so my style could stay the ssame without adjusting.
I do not miss the high speed adjuster as this is should stay with the valving and be fine tuned by the low speed. I can honestly say that I have had forks with hi and lo comp and this SMOKES them by a long shot... Completely destroyed what the boxxer WC felt like in action...
I came in hot into ruts and did not get the play in the forks action like before allowing me to maintain the line as well as did load the front end into ruts on purpose (bigger ruts) to see if it slammed me and caused spiking at speed and None it literally and evenly took the hit and felt completely bottomless.
Im running 65psi and did not bottom it out, the hydraulic bottom out did its job spot on. Took the hit and slowwed the shaft speed down with no harsh hit or bad ramping...
Now the bad and this is literally the only complaint I have3 which has been addressed when I called Craig tonight he already said it before I asked...
The compression knob is hard to set without a screw driver so he is testing adjusters with a EPS foam crush zone to prevent internal damage incase of a strike so you can replace it and not the internals should a lowley rock decide to befriend it.
Also he is doing mid strok damping which will not effect the compression what it will do is keep the front end from any brake dive or load up on the ace of big jumps in nastier terrain not so much hard pack smooth cali stuff.
So all in all I was completely floored by this cartridge, I expected good but I did not expect it to feel that much better than the WC it was kind of depressing but exciting at the same time... It was way more plush than my 888 ATA ever was and the small bump on this fork will be legendary. It literally felt like a DHF but at boxxer wc weight.
Now with the air fork it performed flawless it made it consistent even when the air ramped up a smidge I did not turn the bottom out on as its not needed with the hydraulic bottom out so you can run a bit less air as well because it will take care of you.
Bottom line is this thing is literally a monster its smoother then my 888s and definently gives my boxxer wc a beat down...
It will make you faster as control and consistency is there. The Boxxer WC hi speed mod was a huge improvement over stock and I was happy but I will not be going back to stock internals.... I will be on this cartridge no matter what fork chasis I ride.
OK sorry for the dark pictures.... It was down to 80 so good for riding but getting a bit dark.
This one I tried to triple the jump and came in a bit short.
This was just a small step down I was overshooting it on purpose to just plain beat the hell outa the fork....
BTW DID not bottom on any of the landings I nailed all of them and these were the ones that I came in hard for demo..........
bikes in my 4-runner and atomicadam
Mandown taking a pic of taking a pic
Bike post ride on waqy back down
7/11/2010
NOTE: Ankle is broken so movement is limited...
Overshooting the step up, had some issues with other components so I was coming in a fair bit shy of normal...
1st is trying to compenste for a LOW psi rear tire and washout off the lip right before and the second one is me almost taking out the guys shooting pics...
The jump is 18' tip to tip and 5-6' up so go in hot up and over the landing and usually get it to flat. Almost 18' past the tip of the landing...
Fork handles jumping insane as well as tracks the berms and corners like a razor blade, I did get alot of rear wheel flex yesterday with the Big Betty on which I have no idea as to why just yet, it went BWRRRRRRR and grabbed the chainstay before launching which threw me off and acted like a brake check a bit...
So I cant say its the big bettys hooking up better than the Muddy marys even though the MMs never did this but the BBs did it on hard cornering and berms....
Just a shot to show the size of the jumps
You can see my bike in the center as this one lands in a right hand berm so its wise to whip it right mid air....
Say "BYE, BYE" Landing we just passed over you and headed to flat! LOL
Just thought it was kind of a cool upgrade, we just had a 5th element done by him and came in today so well be putting it on the bullit and proceeding to beat the H#!! out of it now and run it ragged.
Anyhow it caught me off guard I know hes been working on stuff for a while and my kid has a earlier 888 and wanted to know when.
-The kit will fit almost any of the forks, he will have upgrade adapter kits for the cartridge to fit different forks so if you have a boxxer now and go 888 next season no big deal buy the adapter kit and swap it in, sell off the old adapter kit.
This is the basics:
1- it will fit into a majority of forks so its interchangeable (between fox, 888, boxxer etc as an example) with a upgrade adapter kit.
2- It will have a upgradeable tune kit with shims and an instruction book on how to do it yourself and what starter settings or shims for different terrain and basics so you can do it.
3- It will be well engineered!
4- its $299 user installable or $399 and Craig will install it (+adapter kits)
5- It will have flat head screw adjustments as it keeps the knobs from protruding under the fork like a 40 or boxxer
6- knob upgrade is available if you want knobs instead of the flat head adjuster.
Aside of that Im not too sure its just something I noticed got updated today and thought that after it craig working on it for so long its kind of a cool thing!
Heres a link to the tuning page as well.
http://www.avalanchedownhillracing.com/AVA ADV.htm
http://www.avalanchedownhillracing.com/AVA Advantage Cart Kit.htm
Heres weight with 32mm bxr adapter kit and without... Remember with the kit the big gold cap replaces your cap so the only weight that really matters is the internals.
Heres the weight of the internals I took out of the Boxxer WC 2010
Heres what I put back in 8gs heavier then 25ccs of oil less in hte new system knocks of 20gs of weight so it came out 12 gs lighter than a stock boxxer wc.
Heres the rebound assembley tear down
Heres the preproduction knobs, he did these so guys like me would have something to adjust with and quit bugging him. LOL so in the midst of being slammed he managed to give us a basic knob till the COOL production ones will be available. :note: These are not anodized Im having them onod blue/bottom and red/top.
Edited: Added content review and pics now to this post to make it easier....
6/15/2010
OK so the first thing It took it apart and looked at the machine work and went over it plus the reassembley to see how easy it really is to install and its SUPER easy.... Oil height is 245ccs 85/??? golden spectro synthetic (light anti foam and approx 3wt).
athe compression is on the bottom of the leg and the rebound is on the top and WORK GREAT....... The whole assembley is so well designed and easy to install its nice, the whole feel of the cartridge is amazing from start to finish....
I took it out today for the first ride and we had speed, loose caorners, bermed corners, rocks, ruts, tight single track with TONS of dollheads, rock outcroppings, TONS of BIG rain ruts etc.... Its fast real fast and exposed basically hammer down and go for it... Theres corners on big rocks and chunky terrain that have corners down to other chutes etc...
1: Cornering- This fork was consistant top to bottom light and loaded through the corners there were little to no chatter feel and it not once washed out due to lack of damping and control wether it was at the top or mid stroke.... It literally cornered amazing.
2: Rocks- It blew through the rocks without ANY harsh hits, it was incredible railing and was even smoother at speed the faster you went the better it got......
3: overall- The thing felt a bit slow (parking lot test) when messing around so I backed out the adjustments a little and it felt buttery at any adjustment. It does not have that light dry feel like the boxxer did and definently not like the Fox 40. It is as light as the original setup and will lighten up a bit when the production caps are done for the adapter. It did not wallow at all and the damping was consistent no matter where I was in travel so it didnt matter if I was high in it or loaded it reacted the same so my style could stay the ssame without adjusting.
I do not miss the high speed adjuster as this is should stay with the valving and be fine tuned by the low speed. I can honestly say that I have had forks with hi and lo comp and this SMOKES them by a long shot... Completely destroyed what the boxxer WC felt like in action...
I came in hot into ruts and did not get the play in the forks action like before allowing me to maintain the line as well as did load the front end into ruts on purpose (bigger ruts) to see if it slammed me and caused spiking at speed and None it literally and evenly took the hit and felt completely bottomless.
Im running 65psi and did not bottom it out, the hydraulic bottom out did its job spot on. Took the hit and slowwed the shaft speed down with no harsh hit or bad ramping...
Now the bad and this is literally the only complaint I have3 which has been addressed when I called Craig tonight he already said it before I asked...
The compression knob is hard to set without a screw driver so he is testing adjusters with a EPS foam crush zone to prevent internal damage incase of a strike so you can replace it and not the internals should a lowley rock decide to befriend it.
Also he is doing mid strok damping which will not effect the compression what it will do is keep the front end from any brake dive or load up on the ace of big jumps in nastier terrain not so much hard pack smooth cali stuff.
So all in all I was completely floored by this cartridge, I expected good but I did not expect it to feel that much better than the WC it was kind of depressing but exciting at the same time... It was way more plush than my 888 ATA ever was and the small bump on this fork will be legendary. It literally felt like a DHF but at boxxer wc weight.
Now with the air fork it performed flawless it made it consistent even when the air ramped up a smidge I did not turn the bottom out on as its not needed with the hydraulic bottom out so you can run a bit less air as well because it will take care of you.
Bottom line is this thing is literally a monster its smoother then my 888s and definently gives my boxxer wc a beat down...
It will make you faster as control and consistency is there. The Boxxer WC hi speed mod was a huge improvement over stock and I was happy but I will not be going back to stock internals.... I will be on this cartridge no matter what fork chasis I ride.
OK sorry for the dark pictures.... It was down to 80 so good for riding but getting a bit dark.
This one I tried to triple the jump and came in a bit short.
This was just a small step down I was overshooting it on purpose to just plain beat the hell outa the fork....
BTW DID not bottom on any of the landings I nailed all of them and these were the ones that I came in hard for demo..........
bikes in my 4-runner and atomicadam
Mandown taking a pic of taking a pic
Bike post ride on waqy back down
7/11/2010
NOTE: Ankle is broken so movement is limited...
Overshooting the step up, had some issues with other components so I was coming in a fair bit shy of normal...
1st is trying to compenste for a LOW psi rear tire and washout off the lip right before and the second one is me almost taking out the guys shooting pics...
The jump is 18' tip to tip and 5-6' up so go in hot up and over the landing and usually get it to flat. Almost 18' past the tip of the landing...
Fork handles jumping insane as well as tracks the berms and corners like a razor blade, I did get alot of rear wheel flex yesterday with the Big Betty on which I have no idea as to why just yet, it went BWRRRRRRR and grabbed the chainstay before launching which threw me off and acted like a brake check a bit...
So I cant say its the big bettys hooking up better than the Muddy marys even though the MMs never did this but the BBs did it on hard cornering and berms....
Just a shot to show the size of the jumps
You can see my bike in the center as this one lands in a right hand berm so its wise to whip it right mid air....
Say "BYE, BYE" Landing we just passed over you and headed to flat! LOL
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