I’ve got them on my Scandal.
Despite the simple damping, they work really quite well. A bit less air than recommended, rebound was spot on, one click of compression form full open (there’s only 6 between open and “lockout”). If they had more adjustments I’d probably like less pedal bob, but it’s not all that bad. And you probably could find some better settings for more extreme tracks but TBH they’re good enough that I struggle to actually criticize them without something to compare them back to back with.
Lockout works well, and if you forget then the motion control damper still opens up on big hits.
They’re Stiff too. Really stiff. Possibly even more direct than my old 26″ lyriks.
They’re not light, but unless you want/have a light bike then will you really notice 1/2lb in the fork? Like the damping I’ve not been riding around thinking “I wish my fork was 250g lighter”. In fact the Scandal wheelies better than any bike I’ve had previously, no real idea why, maybe because I’ve had rigid bikes for so long suspension is just making things easy.
There’s some stiction. But that might just mean they need bedding in a bit more, I’ve only had chance to ride ~100 miless with them so far. I checked and there is oil in the lowers when I got them, but the foam rings were quite dry so I soaked those which made a big difference.
I’ve not managed to get full travel yet whilst riding, which is weird because the air spring chamber is massive. Looking in the top of the fork you question how there can be any progression at all! Not entirely a bad thing, I’d rather have 120mm of controlled travel than 130mm that jarringly bottoms out.
TBH looking at the spec sheet the Z2 looks like the better fork. The 35 is adequate unless you’ve got money to burn or princess and the pea sensitivity to spring rates and damping.
Is it disappointing, no. Would I be disappointed if I paid £400 for a pair and then found Revelations/Pikes for £450, yes.
n.b. I think both the 35 and Z2, and every other new fork are boost so you’ll need adapters/new hub/wheel anyway.