Hi all. I’ve just picked up some 2020 Fox 34 Performance forks. They are brand new and have the Fit Grip damper.

I also have some 2018 (I think?) Fox 36 Performance Elite with the Fit4 damper that are a year or so old but are in great condition.

I had planned to use the 36 on a build but, ignoring them being more bendy, would the 34’s be plusher with the newer damper? I imagine the answer is stick with the 36?

I found the 34s a flexy for aggressive riding so I fitted mine to one of the kids bikes

Cheers mate. I’m not too aggressive but am a ‘big lad’ and very happy with the 36’s so will probably stick. Saying that, the 34’s will be the correct offset for the frame, even though that doesn’t really seem to matter anyway?

I have the new FIT Grip damper on my 2020 36’s, it’s not really any better than FIT4 from what i can see, i have GRIP2 on my other 36s and notice the difference there.

Personally i would go as big a stanchion as i could, gives you the opportunity to soak up a bit more stress through bigger rotors, harder braking, bigger hits, etc, etc.

If you never knew offset was a thing, would you notice if it was “wrong”?

I just switch my current bike from a 51mm offset Pike to a 42mm Lyrik both at 150mm travel and the difference is very noticable. I wouldn’t buy or fit another 51mm offset fork now.

Offset is not understood by most, but something that influences how the front of the bike feels greatly, i would notice going from 37 to 51, or 44 to 37, with all other parts staying the same, i have a SBG patrol and you can feel how it doesn’t have the stability on the slow flat stuff, but on downhills it gives you added control.

Thanks all, plenty to ponder…..

On the offset thing, after reading in to it my 51mm 36’s probably suit me better as I don’t need more stability from a shorter offset.

Scott specc’ed 51mm offset on the 2018 genius then 44mm offset 2019/2020. No frame changes. Perhaps 2018 was a holdout year while they waited for the 44mm 29er.

Anyway, the grip1 damper is definately better for lighter riders with less initial stiction. If you needed to ‘upgrade’ over fit4 then as a big guy you’d want to be looking at grip2 or rc2.
I’d probably stick with the 36 as the weight penalty over 34 is negligible. However, strangly the 34 27.5plus fork feels close to as stiff as a 36