Has anyone (other than the STW staff obviously) tried the X-Fusion Velvet forks? I’m intrigued after reading the review in issue 73. It’d certainly be refreshing to have a more value concious alternative to Fox/RS/Marz etc.

Any thoughts?

Not tried them but my lbs – http://www.flyingfoxbikes.com – has some in and they look amazing. Fox 36 killers…properly nice and way cheap compared to Fox.

I’ve got some Vengeances and have been really pleased with them, build quality is very good and everything feels positive in terms of switches and dials etc.

They’re much better than the talas 36s they’ve replaced in terms of ride feel as well.

Check out ebay…an American dealer was offering some a few weeks ago for approx £200 delivered….seemed very good value and now we have glowing UK test results to push the price up.

I have an X-Fusion air shock that I love to bits.
Air pressure only, no adjustable rebound or compression…it just works.
I also have a coil Glyde-RL that is simple and very effective.
Rebound by 6 steps and a lock-out.

PaulD

A buddy of mine got some this week and gotta say he’s well pleased with them, they replaced some dtswiss 130 and there much smother and controlled. Had a little play on them up the woods and for the money I’d say you can’t go wrong if I was in the market for some new forks I would certainly give them a go.
Bats.

I brought some recently and compared to my fox forks there is nothing in it. For the money they are outstanding !

A friend has them, he’s been on bikes for years and rides to a high skill level. He thinks they are brilliant. The only unknown is how long they stay brilliant.

Not tried them but my lbs – http://www.flyingfoxbikes.com – has some in and they look amazing. Fox 36 killers…properly nice and way cheap compared to Fox.

I opened this as I am actually interested in these forks but comments like this are not helpful.
I’ve Not tried them BUT they’re better than fox. Really? Give it a rest. Properly nice? In what way are they nice? Oh you don’t know do you?

I did quantify the post…much cheaper than Fox. The feel of them is very good, no rough edges, they feel light when picked up I.e. they look very chunky but not heavy to lift. In shop squashing and flexing suggests they are as good as Fox forks, but the price is far better…they appear to have the same toys as Fox forks but seem to be about 300 quid cheaper.

To be honest, if I had to buy forks or shocks, I’d be going for the x-fusion over fox every time…same toys but cheaper.

I haven’t ridden them, but I’ve tried envy thing else you can in a shop . Fork on bike and as a standalone item…they appear as good as fox in those conditions…riding still to be done but from the reviews on the web, they seem to ride very well as well.

Give your local supplier a phone then get along and fondle them for yourself…assuming you are interested and not just trying to look for a pedantic argument.

Actually, I forgot a detail…which may be important…the model I saw and played with was the same as the fox 36 but, the dropouts had Allen bolts not a qr lever like the 36 does…obviously changing a wheel will take a bit more effort. Now I remember I think that is the only negative, it isn’t a huge issue but may add a minute to fitting/removing the front wheel.

Everything else is as good, and the price better.

2012 models have a bolt through maxle type thing. 2011 and earlier have the allen key bolts/bolt through.

Even better then…as that was my only niggle (which looking back took 5 minutes to remember so clearly not a huge issue for me).

Me again.. had a chat with my buddy on the way to work tonight and having given the velvets a good going up in surry leah\pitch hill way
he is more than pleased with them, is actualy thinking of selling of his fox forks on his other bike and geting a set of vengences for it…
He even started doing small gap jumps on them 8 footer he reconed and said they ate it all up no problem gotta say his only grip was the stickers which he thought made them look cheep but a quick pick with his nail and of they came so all good.

Bats.