Bos deville Vs Float 36 – which and why?

I will be after forks as after 5 years my coil Lyriks are finally wearing out to the point they will require new stanchions and bushes. I fancy a change and trying something with air as I find my perfect set up has been between 2 spring weights which has frustrated me with the Lyriks.

My riding varies from the odd 5hour xc ride to the odd uplift day and day at fort bill. Most riding is local or trail centres with natural dh add ons.

Are devilles truely fit and forget for 2 years including taking them to the alps? Will the stiffer body of the floats be better for uplift days/ alps duties?

Cheers for your help.

I’m a Fox fan but the Deville’s are supposed to be the better fork, although that was last year. Maybe with the new seals and coating the Fox have caught up.

I have friends who have had oil migrate past seals in their Floats causing travel restrictions – is this common? I find it hard to believe BOS are 2 year no service reliable although my Lyriks were after they were repaired on warranty.

I have always had Fox forks and never had any problems. I’m not sure about the issue your friend had, I haven’t heard of that before. I currently have some 2012 Fox 32 RLC’s and they are the best fork I have used by far IMO.

there isnt really any doubt about which fork is the better performing, its always going to be the deville, but it comes with a higher price tag. you will find tonnes of people who say fox are great but few of them will have ridden bos. its like deciding between a ccdb and an rc4

I have a set of Devilles in 160 guise.

They perform better than my kashima rc2 180 travel float, also look at the latest rc3 55 marzocchi…3 year no service guarantee and are bloody damn good.

Buy whichever you like. Mostly it will be subtle differences in feel between the two, but you can set most suspension up to feel the way you like anyway.

Like any product, the placebo test will be people claiming huge increases in performance, when between most high end products, it just isn’t the case any more.

The Idylle is slightly lighter if that’s important.

For me, as a former BOS shock owner I would be looking at the Fox. As part of the ownership prospect I think you need to consider other factors such as servicing & spares availability.

This is where BOS falls down massively. No product for months at a time, including spares and erratic communication from R53 at best. TF Tuned tried to make BOS work for years, but had to let it go in the end due to the failings from BOS in France.

And let’s face it, in 99.5% of instances, the limiting factor in the equation is the person on the end of the suspension, not the suspension itself.

And let’s face it, in 99.5% of instances, the limiting factor in the equation is the person on the end of the suspension, not the suspension itself.

If I was looking at spending nearly £1k on a fork, this is how I’d talk myself out of it.

I have some Devilles and they’re amazing. Lighter than the competition, plush as coil, ride high in their travel which is perfect for trail use, plus they’re extremely stiff, I’m over 14st with gear and I’ve never lacked confidence in them.

Bos is the better fork, but they have had a few reliability issues recently and they take a country year to fix. Speak to the guys at Bike Tart they have a set which has taken 3 months and they still haven’t sorted the issue. Its a shame because I’d love a set but I couldn’t handle that sort of service which you wouldn’t get with Fox….

I also have to agree that for the average rider would they know the difference between the two.

The above post means Fox would win that for me.

Some good food for thought above, thank you for your inputs. It seems to be a tricky call. If your BOS work then it should be no bother but if it doesnt it is a PITA. The servicing intervals on Floats are a PITA no matter what if you follow the factory recommendations.

I personally am not a believer in the – user won’t feel the difference because thay are not a pro – type of chat. I can usually feel and enjoy the difference of a well performing product over a poor product whether it be forks, cars, TVs etc.

I read that BOS can give you more of a “going over” in the rough stuff although they stay very composed etc. Does this relate to getting sore hands on long, rough DHs compared to other forks?

A few older threads with good discusions.

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/bos-vs-fox-there-is-only-one-way-to-find-out-fight

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/bos-deville-forks

My 2p – What do you like in a shock/fork and what rear shock are you going to run are relevant questions – the Bos stuff does feel slighly different so sticking with them would probably be best, in much the same way as Marzocchi tend to feel super supple Bos tend to feel more taut/composed.

Later this year if/when I scape the cash together I’ll be having the same debate with myself… not sure which I will chose either 🙄 , but none of the options would be the wrong one as all the kit these days is good

I had the latest rockshox lyrik rc2dh forks but a mate offered me a good deal on some devilles so thought i’d give them a go.

Very nice forks, but i don’t think there is a huge amount of difference between the top of the range kit. They sit up in their travel really well (the lyriks didn’t atall), are stiff yet light.

I’ve had good info and contact with r53 and have been quoted £130 for a full service with a 24hr turn around dependant on booking, but i’m not a fan of the fact there is no guide as with fox, rockshox for self servicing as i have always done.

I don’t think you can really go wrong with any of the top of the range forks now.

Useful thread here:

http://www.southerndownhill.com/forum/index.php/topic,258104.30.html

Though it focuses more upon lyrics than fox.

I’ve got Bos Devilles and had nothing but positives to say about R53. No problems from here. They’re great forks by the way!

Marz forks look superb, and the 3 year no service warranty would swing it a long way for me, as the Peak District kills stuff 🙁

I faced the same choice and went with the 36s simply because of the serviceability, and availability of parts.

Unless I add too much LSC, they dive a lot though which irritates the hell out of me, pitching forwards in corners and under braking really unsettles the bike. Why they stuck and XC damper in a 160 fork is beyond me but Mojo should be able to tune the RLC cart to give far more support.

Being more supportive doesn’t mean your hands will be numb at the bottom of the trail, it just means your fork will only be using the travel needed so when you do need full travel – it’s there and hasn’t been gobbled up by you moving around on the bike or going into a corner.

I will still have my old Lyriks for down time, if it happened…tricky.

Unless I add too much LSC, they dive a lot though which irritates the hell out of me, pitching forwards in corners and under braking really unsettles the bike

This is my experience of my Floats. I can use the RC2 to improve it a little but it’s a very on/off adjustment and too much makes the fork dreadfull.

The Deville was much more controlled… the more I think about it and re-read what I wrote the more i think I probably will. Now… what was Richard at Gravity Sports phone number?

I’ve had both and would say devilles all the way. They are a much plusher smoother fork and everyone who’s tried mine has commented on how good they feel.

Where do you buy them from?
Can’t find any prices on the r53 site.

Get them from here:

http://www.bike-mailorder.de/shop/MTB/Federgabeln/Federgabel-2012/BOS-Suspension-2012/BOS-Suspension-Deville-Federgabel-tapered-2012::27413.html

for less.

The devilles I tried we miles better than my 2008 floats, but not much in it compared to my 2012 floats with gold legs.