Hi all it seems every time I look @ the classifieds there are about a million sets of fox 34 forks for sale.
Why is this ?
Pikes
2013 fox are 'now' generally thought to be a bit rubbish (tune wise), & pikes have turned out to be the giant killer.
Get some (fox) there not a bad fork but figure a trip to a suspension tuner to have them 'corrected' into your calculations. Also bear in mind the like of x-fusion are now becoming very well rated & dont cost the earth, I hear a certain suspension tuner will be running them on their 'team' next year
Fox forks have historically always had a progressive stroke, when a few mincers complained that they weren't getting all the travel Fox changed to a linear stroke, which for everyone else meant that they blew through their travel with no mid stroke support..
It was a shrewd marketing stroke that ruined their reputation and let Rockshox step in with the Pike and piss all over em..
I believe they're backtracking furiously now...
Because they've read the reviews that say that 34's only work great if you are a Mincer, and they don't want to be labelled a Mincer 🙂
Are the 2014 fox 34's. Any better??
There are some RAD 34s that are supposed to have a much better tune (if you believe the mags) but whether you can actually buy them...
2014 are better, but not as good as pikes. 29er ones are also better than 26/27.5 as they internals give a more progressive stroke. The RAD ones should be much improved and will cost you an extra 400 quid. Chris from mojo was one of the main driving forces behind the improvements for 2014.
The only decent fox fork I had came with my 2005 S-Works Enduro. I've had others since but I have always had to send them off to get them to work how it want them. Which is a bit shit when you paying hundreds of pounds for a fork then having to spend another hundred to make it work.
I won't touch Fox now especially with likes of X-Fusion about not unless you can get them cheap enough to warrant spending the money to get them sorted.
My 2013 29er 34 Floats were fine. 15ml of float fluid in the air chamber added some progressiveness. I'm trying a Pike now and to be perfectly honest it has flaws too. A friend is having his new Pike tuned by Avalanche, so I'm waiting to give them a try before deciding what to do with mine.
The RAD ones should be much improved and will cost you an extra 400 quid.
So, in order to buy a fork they haven't cocked up the tune on, you need to spend an [i]extra[/i] £400 over and above Fox's already extortionate price?
I can see that working well for them.
The only problem with x fusion is supply, they never seem to be overstocked so comparing £400 xfusions with £900 fox is unfair as anyone paying more than £500 needs to be shown how to use google. Loads of people bought rc3 55's or those cheep marzocchi Corsas on CRC for far less than xfusion.
I just bought some they ride really well, I've been riding 36's for 5 years and feel on a par with them for mincing around the trails 😀
I have 2013 CTD, been running them in trail mode seem fine, and as they are 26" the trail is very alive...so far they seem smooth over small bumps and nice and active over faster rougher stuff, not noticed them being flexi compared to the 36's but I'm probably not that gnar......
Replaced some 2013 CTD's with some 07 Zocchi AM2's till I can find some coil Lyriks. Fox's have been donated to the Mrs towpath bike as they feel like theres a wormhole bridging the middle 2 inches of travel! It looks like it's there but the forks traverse through it FTL.
I've got some 2006 36RC2's which sre just fantastic. High speed and low speed suppleness.
Can someone please explain to me what has developed in suspension technology to make each new year's fork "better"?
Or is it a case of some suspension companies re inventing the wheel (not a 27.5 inch pun)?