I’m looking to get some new 29er forks, I’ve found some 2012 RLC’s for a pretty good price and can get the 2013 CTD Trail adjust for a pretty good price too. The only difference apart from the dampening system is the 2012 fork has their regular stanchion anodising rather than the Kashima coating.

Just wondering if anyone can give me a real world view on how the two compare?

Kashima is 34% better.

Makes you 10 seconds faster

😆

shallow as hell but what would look better on your bike 😉

DT Swiss, only if they didn’t drop apart…

Surely you’d be better off buying whichever fork has the better damper rather than which one had a kashima coating – the only real world advantage to kashima that I’ve actually heard of is the fact it makes you more attractive to the opposite sex….

You have all got it wrong. It gives you more strava Kom,s

There’s a small difference between my old RP23 and my new kashima RP23… Both the same spec otherwise. Worth the price difference? Not convinced tbh, probably not. But it’s not total snake oil.

In this case here, I’d sooner have the RLC than the CTD, regardless of coating. But ymmv, I hate this dumbed down “Some people thought it was hard to get your perfect setting with RLC, so now we’ve introduced CTD which reduces the choice and makes it easy to get something alright, but impossible to get it perfect”

On a more serious note I’m not liking my new ctd 29er forks for much the reason above

Conversely to Northwind as a non-fiddler I’d have the CTD Kashima, I prefer the simpler settings

Needed a new CSU on my Float RLs and got the Kashima upgrade, they are smoother, but again not sure I’d rush out to change all my parts. Not done my shock.

Thanks NW, I appreciate your input.

Orangeboy, yours too, I’ve not been able to get a test ride on the new Fox CTD damper system. I’ve used the RLC for last few years and like it.

Just by chance I’ve just found a pair of 2012 RLCs with the Kashima coating for less than £400, happy days.

I think the real reason Fox went to a different coating (and made it bright cold to make a visual differential), is the shocking rate of wear on most of their forks stanchions (unless you do an oil & seal service every 15 hours or something ridiculous).

So being an american company, and terrified of the possibility of lawsuit, instead of admitting fault, they have introduced an ‘upgrade’ to the standard coating pitching it as the answer to all problems.

To begin with I was skeptical, and unless you don’;t get the gist of my argument, I still am. However fox have proved that *most* people buy based on how bling and shiny something is rather than a genuine performance advantage, SO, when it comes to buying a new shock or fork (or having a shock/fork serviced) and you have the option to go for the Kashima for a small £££ increase, then I would go for it….
reasons being..
1) It IS an upgrade in terms of wear charactertics, or at least so far I’ve seen far less (younger than) 1 year old fox forks landing in the shop in a state of buggered’ness due to anodising wearing through
2) THey hold their value better as there is always a higher demand for shiny gold bling stuff than normal stuff.

So yes, damper/model choice I would say is more important for actual use. However Kashima does offer a benefit in terms of wearing better and holding the resale value up.

Also CTD, I sort of get it, however I am an expert knob twiddler and am above having my damping choices made by a pre-tuned damping knob.

TBH that’s Fox’s schtick, turning weaknesses into opportunities, and they’re pretty damn good at it to be fair to them.

It makes your bike feel like superman 🙄

Thought I’d add my boss loves his ctd forks as it saves him the fiddling that I wish I could do

It makes your bike feel like superman

Thanks for your input, wanna buy a Kryptonite bike lock?

OB, I’m a fettler too. Glad I managed to get some RLC forks.

There’s a small difference between my old RP23 and my new kashima RP23

Is it that one is old and one is new?

Surely you would expect a small difference between new and old irrespective of coating

I bought kashima coated forks and shock because it looks good,dosnt make me ride any better though. Today I went down a rocky descent and though ‘s*** this is rough’ when i got to the bottom i found the fork was locked out and rear shock had pro pedal set to firm…… I reckon a non kashima coated fork would of felt the same.

TBH that’s Fox’s schtick, turning strengths into weaknesses into opportunities, and they’re pretty damn good at it to be fair to them.

FTFY I’ve for two Vanilla R 125s here that are around 10 years old (proper early Fox Forx), both well used and untouched (service-wise) for many years, stanchions are still perfect.

Same as old maza stuff is still going, vs new stuff the bush’s are made of Edam.

Junkyard – Member

Is it that one is old and one is new?

Surely you would expect a small difference between new and old irrespective of coating

TBH a brand new shock usually feels worse than a good-condition used shock that’s been run in… But in this case, both were used, but also both freshly serviced.

I sent my shock off for a service and got it Kashima-ised at the same time. It feels great; it seems to take less force to get it moving.

There again, it’s freshly serviced with new (low friction) bushes and I’ve spent extra on the upgrade so I have invoked the first law of psychology, which is that a little goes a long way.

I recall the first pair of Fox 36’s that I bought. The guy in the shop said that the R model were a great fork, but I’d always be wondering if the RC2 would be better. So guess which I bought?

In this case here, I’d sooner have the RLC than the CTD, regardless of coating. But ymmv, I hate this dumbed down “Some people thought it was hard to get your perfect setting with RLC, so now we’ve introduced CTD which reduces the choice and makes it easy to get something alright, but impossible to get it perfect”

Remember CTD was more than a case of fox being mean to the more experienced of knob fiddlers and taking finer tuning away, it was also there to create an on the fly system for fork/shock/post settings as a complete unit when combined with the lever.

Kashima is 34% better

Don’t round up it’s 33.9978% betterer FACT!