After breaking my original set of Fox 36 FLOATs, getting some VANs on my holiday insurance and some amazing service from Mojo I now have a set of both :D. The repaired FLOATs are recently back from Mojo and I just can't set them up to feel as good as the VANs. I've only ridden them 4-5hrs, could it be they still need to bed in? Or is it coil vs air thing?

Its probably a coil/air thing but just to be sure give the floats to me and I will do extensive back to back testing with some coil pikes.

Quite happy doing the testing myself 😀

slight chance they will bed in further and change in feel, but my money is on…..

you cant beat 36vans.

I also have a pair of 32 TALAS and they feel more similar to the VANs. That's why I was wondering if the 36 FLOAT needed a longer bed in period or more tuning. The 32s are a model year newer, '08 32 TALAS vs. '07 36 FLOAT & VAN.

I've ridden 32 Floats and 32 Vanillas extensively. The two key differences are as follows:
Floats are not as quite as plush (supple) as Vanillas.
Floats are slightly more progressive then Vanillas (ie they don't bottom out quite so easily for the same amount of sag).

I imagine that this is the same for the 36 forks.

For what it's worth I'm now only riding Vanillas, reasoning that the 250g (just over 1/2 lb) is a penalty worth paying for what I perceive to be increased performance.

Another 32 Floats to 32 Vanillas user here, Coil is nicer and worth the weight IMO

I always struggled to dial in the sag on the floats, air just has that little bit of stiction which if you're a lighter rider like me on a slackish bike, you find you get no sag and then suddenly too much… (Although now my floats are dropped to 100mm and on the HT they are a totally different and nicer fork)

Funnilly enough have found the opposite. Bought a set of 36 Floats at the start of the summer which are on my 5-Spot and found them plush from the start, and love them. Have just got a set of 36 Vans for my Slopestyle and don't find them anywhere near as plush out of the box. Will clearly wait till the Vans are run-in before proper evaluation, but out of the box, the Floats felt plusher!

Just got a pair of Van's. Can't see how anything could be much plusher

heihei – are you sure that you have the correct spring in the Vans? I find that I have to run the spring softer then recommended to get the correct sag.

any idea what spring they come shipped with (i.e. in the leg not the box)??

heihei – as standard they come with a "blue" 45 lb/in spring (which has a blue strip of paint at one end). This is meant to be suitable for riders 68.0-81.6 kg (150–180 lbs).

Personally I think that riders in this weight range are better suited to the "purple" 40 lb/in spring, which is meant for riders 52.2-68.0 kg (115–155 lbs).

The fox manuals can be found by clicking here.