# Making the switch to an '10 Boxxer. Stem/Headest Opinions Needed



## NWfreeride (Jan 23, 2007)

I'll be making the switch from a 1.5 Totem Solo Air to the 2010 boxxer on my blindside, and I'd love some feed back on headsets, stems and a chainguide to set up my bike for the race season.

Although I'd like to try the new Mission Control DH system on the WC/Team, I've decided to go for the 2010 boxxer race for a few reasons. The Motion Control system is proven, and although not state of the art, very effective for what I'd need as an entry-level racer. I think that refinements made to the boxxer chassis will yield an awesome fork, even at the basic Race level.

I'd like to hear recommendations for headset and stem combinations. Will the 2010 boxxers use the same hole patterns as '05-'09 boxxer crowns? If so, I'd like to grab the sunline direct mount stem. Any thoughts? Also, any reason not to go with a Cane Creek XX flush II headset? Other suggestions are more than welcome!

Lastly, I'll be ordering a Gamut G2 chain guide... Can anyone school me on ISCG and ISCG 05, and which will fit a 2008 blindside?

Posts are always better with pics, so here is my bike as it currently sits. Totem, King headset and Holzefeller 1.5 stem are for sale..... cheap!


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## huntandride (Sep 29, 2007)

Cane Creek Double XC Flush Headset is great. Super low rise and no problems so far. 
If the mounts on the crown are the same (which im almost positive they are) sunline is a nice stem, or go with a 26. Not sure about the tabs but a Gamut P30 or P40 would be my recomendation. (In red for your bike). 

BTW good choice on the race for a intro level fork too. Money savings too


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## brillantesdv (Oct 24, 2007)

dirct mount holes are the same across all the boxxers, so the Sunline will work. there are dozens of stems out there. all depends on what you want as far as weight, reach, rise and adjustability.

nothing wrong with the cane creek double flush. pretty standard. other option is e.13 reducer cups and an internal headset. get the same result really.

and i believe the Blindside uses ISCG-old or regular ISCG tabs (not ISCG-05).


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## NWfreeride (Jan 23, 2007)

Thank you for the replies! Anyone want to speculate on the boxxer race vs team for 2010? I'm a bit bummed that the race doesn't have the adjustable bottom out that the team and WC do. I can live without H/L compression and rebound initially, but the bottom out would be nice for tuning the fork for freeride versus dh days.


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## oldskoolbiker (Jun 2, 2005)

As far as headset, I would go for that Cane Creek XX Flush. I am running the e-13 cups and FSA IS2 integrated headset myself, but would have probably bought the Cane Creek if it was available at the time.

The Blindside as the original ISCG mounts, AKA ISCG-OLD, ISCG-03. 
If your crank still has the mounts for a granny ring, you may have to either grind them off the crank, or modify the gamut to use countersunk bolts like e-13 uses. The problem is that the granny mounts on the crank hit the chain guide mounting bolts. My guess is that the new e-13 stuff will mount right up with no mods, if you're not set on Gamut.

For stem, the Sunline is really nice. They have two colors and two lengths to choose from now (black, grey) and (50mm and 42mm).

As far as switching to Freeride mode vs DH mode, not sure what to tell you. I would say you can try increasing the compression dampening when you are freeriding, maybe put in a firmer spring when freeriding.

Here's the BoXXer Race mounted up on my Blindside.


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## chooofoojoo (Feb 22, 2007)

Keep your Chris King 1.5 and just order a Devolution plate ($12) and the Devolution upper insert ($10)


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## NWfreeride (Jan 23, 2007)

oldskoolbiker said:


> As far as headset, I would go for that Cane Creek XX Flush. I am running the e-13 cups and FSA IS2 integrated headset myself, but would have probably bought the Cane Creek if it was available at the time.
> 
> The Blindside as the original ISCG mounts, AKA ISCG-OLD, ISCG-03.
> If your crank still has the mounts for a granny ring, you may have to either grind them off the crank, or modify the gamut to use countersunk bolts like e-13 uses. The problem is that the granny mounts on the crank hit the chain guide mounting bolts. My guess is that the new e-13 stuff will mount right up with no mods, if you're not set on Gamut.
> ...


Very good advice man. I'm tossing back and forth between running the holzefeller cranks i've got on the bike, or set of Hone cranks in my garage. Either way, with the gamut i suspected I'd have to grind down the granny tabs.

Could you give a bit of feedback on the 2010 boxxer race? (great looking bike, btw) I'd be interested to know how the chassis compares to the outgoing boxxer models, and if you feel that dampening system in the 2010 race is sufficient compared to the new mission control dh cartridge.

Thanks again!


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## captain spaulding (May 7, 2006)

Here's the part number for the damper if you ever want to upgrade.. dunno how much it is though..

11.4015.369.000 10 Boxxer Team/WorldCup Mission Control DH Comp Damper (includes high and low speed adjuster knob)


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## oldskoolbiker (Jun 2, 2005)

NWfreeride said:


> Very good advice man. I'm tossing back and forth between running the holzefeller cranks i've got on the bike, or set of Hone cranks in my garage. Either way, with the gamut i suspected I'd have to grind down the granny tabs.
> 
> Could you give a bit of feedback on the 2010 boxxer race? (great looking bike, btw) I'd be interested to know how the chassis compares to the outgoing boxxer models, and if you feel that dampening system in the 2010 race is sufficient compared to the new mission control dh cartridge.
> 
> Thanks again!


If you just have the hone cranks lying around, I would run those. They are a lot lighter than Holzfeller (around 200g) and plenty strong enough. Myself I just ground my granny mounts off, but one guy told me what he did was once he found the right spot to mount the Gamut, he drilled out a little material from each spot a bold would go on the backplate and then got some recessed bolts from a hardware store. Either way though you are modifying something.

I've only had one day so far on the new BoXXer, and that was at the Massanutten DH Race. So I haven't done any big drops on it yet, but so far the fork feels great. I just set it up using the recommended settings on the Rock Shox site. I weigh 190 and ended up using the Blue spring and 2 preload spacers.

As far as being sufficient. I'm pretty sure it will be for me. I'm a set and forget type of guy. The BoXXer race has enough adjustability for me. Now if you're the type who wants to make every tweak possible based on the terrain then maybe the Team is what you want. For me I figured I'd start with the Race, and if I liked it, cool. If not I'd buy the Team cartridge. I figured that would end up being about the same cost as just buying a Team from the beginning since they are like $400 more expensive.

I'm coming off of a 888 RC2X, and this fork feels every bit as good as it (probably better), except it's like 1.5 pounds lighter. The fork is really similar in size to the old 888's, just slightly narrower.

I don't have any experience on the old style BoXXers, but can say just looks wise the new BoXXer looks much beefier.

Oh yeah, like choofoo said, if you're running a King headset (couldn't tell from pics), contact them for the parts to turn it into a reducer headset, that might save some money.

Hope this helps.


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## NWfreeride (Jan 23, 2007)

Thanks again for all the input! I went with the lg-1, sunline stem, cane creek XX flush, and the 2010 boxxer race. The fork feels pretty good out of the box, and I'll be sure to post a few ride reports once I get the adapter in for the front brake.

38 lbs 15 oz with chunky TBC pedals... not too shabby


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## ccspecialized (Dec 30, 2008)

That looks awesome!! Damn pretty bike there. Sorry for the HJ, but will a normal 1 1/8th king headset work with a boxxer race? Will I need to do anything special to make it fit (tall crown, etc)? I'm seriously considering making the switch to dual crown after this thread


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## NWfreeride (Jan 23, 2007)

ccspecialized said:


> That looks awesome!! Damn pretty bike there. Sorry for the HJ, but will a normal 1 1/8th king headset work with a boxxer race? Will I need to do anything special to make it fit (tall crown, etc)? I'm seriously considering making the switch to dual crown after this thread


If you've got a king 1.5, you can run a reducing crown race and top cap (available through Chris King) to step down to a 1.125 steerer on the boxxer. The boxxer comes with a high and low crown to fit a good range of stack heights.

I went with a flush reducer headset to keep the front end low, which ended up being a good idea, IMO. With my setup above, you can actually get the front end a bit lower while picking up an extra inch of travel. Although it's only ~15mm lower, the bike feels quite a bit more nimble once the fork is riding into it's travel, in comparison to the king/totem setup. I really like the way the bike feels quite a bit.


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## ccspecialized (Dec 30, 2008)

Ahh stack height. That's what i was asking about. I have a normal 1.125 king headset in a 1.125 bike, so I don't think I need any reducer. All I need to do is measure the stack height and use that to select a crown height, right? I'm thinking about putting this on an 06 SX trail so it will slack it out quite a bit. Can the race be lowered? I don't want any funny business about going to 178mm though.


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## Hangtime (Jan 25, 2006)

Any chance of a fork ride update now that you have had it for a summer of use.


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## Hangtime (Jan 25, 2006)

Anyone have a ride review of the Boxxer Race. Christmas is almost here. LOL


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## sipote (Nov 14, 2009)

ill let you know how the 2010 boXXer feels after my first ride i just am waiting for my code 5's to come in and i want to get top dollar for the elixirs so i dont want to wear them out


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## UtahSpines (Jun 5, 2009)

https://www.twenty6products.com/products/

The twenty 6 f1 stem is sick, direct mount, tons of colors, adjustable.


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