Hi,

It seems that X-Fusion are getting a lot of good press lately and have been for some time in the states.

After yet another Fox failure and my dislike for Rockshox’s love of making things out of plastic and not filling forks with Oil, i am considering going left field with X-Fusion.

I am struggling to find any long term reviews on the Vengeance and am also considering the Metric.

I’m looking for basically a 36mm 150-160mm travel fork to run with 650b and both of these can be set easily to that travel range. They both have the same damper (HLR) by all accounts.

Just wondering if people have/had either, their thoughts and any real world issues/praise/experiences they’d like to share, particularly around reliability/serviceability/performance compared to the big players.

thanks

I wouldn’t say they’re leftfield anymore. I have the slants on a HT and are really good so far. Granted they don’t have low speed compression tuning…but for £400 they’ve been much better than any fox I’ve owned. My pikes are plusher IMO but wouldn’t hesitate buying x fusion again.

I noted cotic have put them on their full build 650 soul.

Send them to J-tech and the low speed comp tweaked while they are new or nearly new and he will do it without a full service.
Mine now feel very plush (better than Pikes) honest 🙂

^^^ Got mine done at jtech too…just need to bed in a little more, so hopefully they’ll be just as plush or more than the pikes 🙂

I’ve got the Vengeance HLR DLA- I run it at 140 most of the time (on a 140mm full sus) but let it upto 170 when I take it on the downhill trails. Compared to my 2009 rockshox revelations, it’s incredible. Super smooth and controlled, as soon as I get some money I’ll be replacing the revelations on the other bike with x-fusions.

Not had any problems with them whatsoever (been riding them since june last year I think),I’ve not ridden the new pikes but they are supposed to ride better, I can’t comment on this though.

I’d reccomend them. Look good, feel great, perform great, had zilch problems. Only thing I found annoying was how tight the crown race was on the steerer tube (I know theyre supposed to be tight but this was on another level!). Could have been a problem with the cane creek race though, and nothing that can’t be solved by splitting the crown race with a hacksaw.

The high/low speed compression adjustment is nice- takes a bit of fiddling but you can get it set up perfectly for you. And the brake hose guide is a nice touch. The 20mm syntace axle simply screws in, which just works. All the knobs are really nicely machined. And they feel excellent. If I were you I’d try and get a ride on both the pike and vengeance before you buy though based on what everyone says about the pikes!

I’d agree, no longer a left field choice, a very sensible choice. Surprised you can’t find much info on the vengeance, it’s been out a good while and those American/Canadian people have been hammering them all that time. TFTuned are now servicing XFusion, so there’s a good few options about. Love my Slants but would like to try Pikes to see what they’re all about.

“The X-Fusion Sweep is set up for a comfortable ride, making it suitable above all for beginners who ride on less technical trails and have a less aggressive style. This type of rider will be enthusiastic about the super-sensitive responsiveness, low weight, and excellent price to performance ratio. Faster riders will miss more accurate feedback from the trail and a stiffer suspension character.”

This is what enduro mag said about the x fusion sweep fork. It would be great if anyone could add their experience.

I’ve X-Fusion Sweep’s only done two rides Cannock and Llangdegla, I am impressed so far, front wheel tracks well and over the two days not noticed the fork (which is good means it’s doing it’s job), I need to take the bike somewhere with a bit more rocks and drops just to see how it is with that but on the trails thus far it’s a great fork.

I’ve never noticed any of my forks over the years giving “more accurate feedback from the trail” so not sure i’d miss it if I didn’t have it now 🙂

Got the Slides here. Brilliant Fork, very well built.

I read the lockout lever on the sweep can be tuned to act as a 2 mode compression adjuster. It’s nice to know you have this option.

I read the lockout lever on the sweep can be tuned to act as a 2 mode compression adjuster. It’s nice to know you have this option.

Oh, interesting. Do you know if you can do the same on the Velvet? I am getting one for my Piglet soon.

Thanks,

Marcin

I’m not sure , but I can’t see why not. Loco would know.

I’ve found some reviews, not as many as you’d think!

The Vengeance has been around a while and i am tempted by that, but also keen to try the new Metric as its lighter, Despite its looks!

I’ve tried the pikes, distinctly unimpressed, smooth, but the pair i’ve had a few goes on are unreliable and when they are working as they should, a bit “Meh”

The fact they are a lot cheaper is a bonus, but certainly not the reason for swaying towards them. just sick of the big 2 being overpriced and not much cop (currently running Fox 34 Factory kashima 160 floats.)

Are the slides noticeably stiffer than the fox 32s. My float 29 120 are pretty flexy and seem to eat bushings.

Went for the Slant DTA on Abigales Enduro, they are performing 1st class. Only downside for us was the 15mm axle, all our others are 20mm so bought some adaptors for our spare wheel just in case she totals hers in the Alps. Got them from 18 Bikes who were brill.

My Vengeance HLR are going back to Freeborn for the 3rd and final time, due to the travel slowly creeping down (currently sat at 157mm from 170mm). Disappointingly, they couldn’t tell me what had been done to them the previous two times they’ve gone back. However, I’ve been offered a refund or replacement.

The fork is that good in it’s operation that I’m willing to take another chance on them though and I haven’t been able to find any other negative reviews. I am slightly limited with my choice of top end forks though, due to 1/8th steerer. I could go for some Marz 55CR’s, but like I say, the Vengeance are that good.

Not sure whether to go for non DLA (travel adjust) this time, but I think I’ll miss it if I do.

@ TheArtistFormerlyKnownAsSTR

Thats what i wanted to hear. i’ll be getting the fixed travel ones and dropping the travel internally to 150.
Good to hear that even though you’ve had issues the performance makes up for it.
I never go for adjustable travel, i just don’t use it and it always adds an extra “thing to break” i don’t think any manufacturer has cracked the travel adjust properly yet.

Surprised by enduro mags comments, my Slants get more impressive the harder you ride them.

Slants on my (now sold) Cotic Rocket. Replaced Rev RCT3s. A far better fork everywhere. Stiffer, better damping, far less dive-y but still plush over small stuff. Definitely sat higher in their travel.

Trace’s on my 29er FS. Replaced RCT3s again (I’ll never learn!). Same difference although they feel even better having been J-Teched on purchase, reduced to 130mm and having some gold coating which might be like Kashima…

I have a set of BOS Devillie’s on my other bike and they are a little better everywhere but not £500+ better.

For the cash, they are great. Get James at J-Tech to breathe on them and you won’t be disappointed. Not ridden the 650b ones, but can’t imagine they’ll be any different.

I completely agree with Enduro mags comments:

The X-Fusion Sweep is set up for a comfortable ride, making it suitable above all for beginners who ride on less technical trails and have a less aggressive style. This type of rider will be enthusiastic about the super-sensitive responsiveness, low weight, and excellent price to performance ratio. Faster riders will miss more accurate feedback from the trail and a stiffer suspension character.

I’ll be looking to change oil or adjust shims to give some more compression damping on my Slants. When I can be bothered.

I’ve had Vengeances and Slides and was really pleased with both. The Vengeances were much better than the talas 36s I’d had previously, very stiff, plush once bedded in and massively adjustable.

The Slides were also really good, much stiffer than any other 32mm 29er forks I’ve tried, seemed to take a tad longer to bed in than the Vengeances but I reckon that’s because I couldn’t fettle with the LSC to compensate to an extent.

Both were really well put together, adjusters etc all very crisp and clicked into place properly.

I wouldn’t go DLA on anything to be honest, to much hassle for not much reward, same as Talas. The only issue I’ve seen mentioned regarding the Metrics is the fact you need 2 different allen keys to take a wheel out which obviously isn’t ideal.

Love my 2011 Vengeance HLR, 160mm. Bought them 2nd hand 2 years ago. They have been faultless and incredibly smooth. I have ridden a number of test 160mm bikes since on demo days, and I’ve not found a fork that I would prefer. They are extremely well made, from the internals to the external compression damping adjusters and cover (nice feature). The damping is really noticeable on each click. I service the lowers once a year, and that is all I have done. I suppose I ought to change the seals soon.

Again, good to hear!

nearly succumbed to the PIKEs on Merlincycles for £399…

held my nerve and didn’t buy

I’ve got sweeps that I bought directly from j-tech on my spitfire. Only had about a half dozen rides on them and so far I’m really impressed with them, once they bed in more I’m sure they’ll get better. J-tech were brilliant as he suggested I went for the non-DLA version as it has a better compression curve.

My last fork was a set of pike 454s and I loved them but I have to say the new sweeps are definitely better than they were.

I don’t really agree with Enduro mags review either. I’ve chucked mine into some pretty rough stuff at speed and had no issues with performance. There was a really good shoot-out review on bike magic a few months back where they tested both the pikes and the sweep (I think it was anyway) with a pro rider and the sweep came out on top.

Bought a second hand set of Velvets with the DLA for my BFe and I’m impressed. When I fitted them and did the garage boing test they felt sort if elastic, so I wasn’t too sure, but out in the woods they work brilliantly. Highly recommended. The DLA is useful too.

Has anyone tried Metrics yet?

Slants here on a Rocket. Better than the Lyriks they replaced. They take a while to bed in but when they do they offer stiff, supple, non-divey, unfazed performance. Ok, the Pikes are a touch plusher and have slightly better damping but for the money the X-fusion forks are excellent. Not tried BOS but if you ride hard then maybe they are the best of the bunch, having said that I know people who don’t get on with the BOS.