I’ve never owned any Fox forks before (all my previous forks have begun with the letter “M”) but I’ve recently aquired a bike which has Fox 34 Talas Factory FIT CTD forks (2012, I believe, 26″).

I’m about 70kgs and Fox recommend something like 130psi for this weight – well, with that pressure the things are practically solid. To get any sort of reasonable sag I have to run them at 40-50psi, which seems weird. With that sort of pressure they can get full travel but before I either throw them out and go back to Marzocchis or tear them apart in an attempt to figure them out has anyone else had this experience?

They’re not exactly plush either…….

Also, has anyone fitted the later TALAS assembly (2014) into these earlier forks and, if so, was it worth the trouble/expense?. Any other info you can give me will be gratefully received!

I’d start with a service. Unknown history and not that plush suggests dry foam wipers and bushes.
Stiction will prevent you getting a good sag measurement.
Pessure guides are just that. Once you know the forks got nice fresh oil and no issues, set your pressure based on the real world sag, as per how you’ve done at 40-50psi.

Yes, all good advice of course. The thing that’s puzzling me is that with all the air pressure released they don’t feel remotely stiction-y. Certainly not anywhere near enough to account for the discrepency in pressures, only a guide or not.
I’ve lubed the foam rings but it seemed to make no difference.

Strip-down time I guess……

I used to have some talas 34 when I first built my Enduro up in 2013 , never plush unless I ran them at low pressure and then all they did was fire through the travel.

Taking out the talas and fitting a normal air spring helped a lot with the plushness as did upping to oil in the air chamber ( cheap volume spacer ).

The chart I found on the fox site says about 60psi for 70kg assuming there 160 talas

One friend had the 2014 internals fitted and this helped but still not great on small bumps.
We both got fed up and upgraded to fox 36

Thanks for that, orangeboy. Time for some playing about and experimenting, I reckon.

MY forks are the year after yours, I think. I’m a similar weight so I can come back with some pressure comparisons for you.

No they;re not that plush and I have to compromise between forks being too prone to diving through the mid-stroke and getting no small bump compliance at the other end.

so er, nothing much to add that orangeboy hasn’t already said.