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Fox Racing Shox
32 Float RLC
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Submitted by
danger gadget
a Weekend Warrior
from NZ
Date Reviewed: April 10, 2009 | | Duration Product Used: | 1 Year | | Price Paid: |
$500.00 | | Purchased At: | Pricepoint | | Strengths: | Highly adjustable, easy to adjust, plush | | Weaknesses: | It's too flexy for a 140mm fork | | Similar Products Used: | Tora's | | Bike Setup: | Ibis Mojo with Fox Float R rear shock, Rohloff rear | | Bottom Line: | I'm 98kg, so have my Mojo set up heavier than most. This fork had got excellent reviews so I spec'd it onto the bike, and during 30 km of riding around Cambridge UK it felt lovely. So the next week I took it to the French alpes and thrashed it for over 300km on chairlift rides. Here it's out of its depth for someone my weight - whilst the amount of travel is reasonable in this kind of terrain, the forks flutter around horribly and leave the bike feeling out of its depth. I'd say if you're a heavier rider, get a stiffer fork, as by the time you're actually using up the 140mm, they'll be letting you down. I honestly think my old heavy 125mm Toras work better in this environment! | Value Rating: Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
nick
a Weekend Warrior
from laguna niguel
Date Reviewed: December 9, 2008 | | Favorite Trail: | any! | | Duration Product Used: | 1 Year | | Price Paid: |
$475.00 | | Purchased At: | helens | | Strengths: | light weight, tuning options are very sensitive, plush | | Weaknesses: | lost air and seals leaked oil 1st week of use | | Similar Products Used: | talas 130 RLC | | Bike Setup: | santa cruz BLT | | Bottom Line: | first few rides the air would not hold and oil would flow down the leg. fox fixed the seals, etc, but had to send it back on my dime- it was ridden 3 times!! Fox should reimburse. Love the versatility, not a big drop fork (didn't buy it for this purpose). Since repair been flawless with perfect air pressure and used the lockout only on the long road from porcupine rim to town. | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
chompychay
a Weekend Warrior
from Albury, NSW, Australia
Date Reviewed: November 19, 2008 | | Favorite Trail: | too many | | Duration Product Used: | 2 Years | | Price Paid: |
$600.00 | | Purchased At: | on the web | | Strengths: | less flex than the Manutou Minutes I had before. | | Weaknesses: | Does'n't seems to get the last 1.5inch of travel out of the fork! | | Similar Products Used: | manutou Minute 1 | | Bike Setup: | Giant VT2, upgrade to Fox RP23, 2008 XT UST wheelset, 07 Fox Float, XT/XTR drivetrain. | | Bottom Line: | The fork goes well in trail riding. Smooth over rough terrain, relatively light but way too expensive. When it says 5.5 inch of travel, the last 1.5inch ramp up pretty hard. You never really get to the last inch...may be it was not necessary. I weight 85kg(190pounds), and I have jumped off 4 foot drops to flat landing the fork still doesn't bottom out.
The seal went after a year, replaced it wil the enduro seal, they are awesome! Get those if you need to service your fork, they are way better construct than the Fox original ones! | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
michael
a Racer
from CA
Date Reviewed: May 7, 2008 | | Duration Product Used: | 1 Year | | Strengths: | stiff, good steering | | Weaknesses: | I cant manage to get any more then 115mm, blows through its travel too quickly, quite heavy for the travel it has, Small bump sesitivity is terible, blows through seals. | | Bottom Line: | I cant manage to get any more then 115mm out of it, and it blows through its travel too quickly. Decent weight for a 140mm fork but since it really only has 115mm it is quite heavy. Small bump sesitivity.
I gave it 3 chilis because for a $600 fork it is not real impressive but it is still decent | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Pui Ching
a Weekend Warrior
from Australia
Date Reviewed: August 2, 2007 | | Duration Product Used: | 3 months | | Price Paid: |
$500.00 | | Purchased At: | ebay | | Strengths: | Light, adjustable, stiff | | Weaknesses: | Expensive, sensitivity to small bumps. | | Similar Products Used: | Manitou Minute one | | Bike Setup: | 05' Giant VT2. | | Bottom Line: | It is a good fork. Very expensive for what they are. I am not sure if it is because the air shock so it is not so sensitive to samll bumps. It has Rebound, lockout and compression dials, but other than the rebound, I found the compression is a waste of time, just run higher preload like the bike dive too much. If you are running it on a dual sus bike with platform shock (Swinger 3 way) in the rear, lockout in the fork makes the bike feel all wrong, like the back end will compress and the front won't! So I could have save my money and go with the Float R instead.
As a XC/AM fork, it is definitely more rigid and lighter than the old Manitou that come with the bike. I also upgrade to a 7" rotor, it works well with Float. Over rough terrain, it "float" through a lot better because of its stiffness. It only moves up and down doing what the suspension supose to do, and doesn't flex as much. | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Dan
a Cross Country Rider
from Upstate, NY
Date Reviewed: July 4, 2007 | | Duration Product Used: | 3 months | | Price Paid: |
$500.00 | | Purchased At: | Online | | Strengths: | Lightweight. Smooth. | | Weaknesses: | Mine leaked air and oil. After several rides the dust seal and felt liner came out of the seat. | | Similar Products Used: | Marzocchi Marathon, Fox Float R 130MM. | | Bike Setup: | 06 Ellsworth Moment, Fox Float R rear shock, Easton Monkey bars, Easton seat post, Sram X9 shifters and duraillure, Stans Notube wheelset. | | Bottom Line: | This fork performed well but as I mentioned in the weakness...it leaked oil and air. It would loose about 10 pounds of air per day, the oil would drip down the fork tube. On about the 6th ride the dust seal and felt ring came out of the seat and just stayed on the stantion.
I had a friend that had a problem with a Fox fork that was new and he sent it back for warranty repair and it took 2 freaking months to get it back. They take warranty repair work and put it in que with regular repair and rebuild work. That's stupid! Warranty repair should get priority!
I didn't want to wait 2 months so I sucked it up and sent my brand new Fox fork to Push Industries and had them work it over. It cost me just over $200 but it was well worth it. For one thing it only took a week. For another thing it works a whole lot better.
Fox!!!! Wake up and smell the coffee!!! Take care of your customers. Don't make them wait 2 months to fix something you screwed up from the start. If someone like Push can make your forks work a lot better why don't you spend some time engineering them to make them work like Push does?
I give it 2 chilis for value because you have to send it to Push and pay to get it to work right and stop leaking!!
I give it 4 chilis for overall rating because if it didn't leak and the seals didn't pop out it worked pretty smooth. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
mbc
a Cross Country Rider
from Albuquerque, NM
Date Reviewed: January 20, 2007 | | Duration Product Used: | 3 months | | Strengths: | Good value OEM fork. Long travel. Good resale value. | | Weaknesses: | Heavy. Expensive aftermarket. Very poor small-bump sensitivity. | | Similar Products Used: | On this bike: Maverick DUC, Maverick SC32, 04 Fox Talas, 07 Marzocchi XC700SL. On other bikes: RS Reba 100, 04 Marzocchi Marathon 120, 06 Marzocchi Marathon SL. Demo'd: Fox 32 TALAS, Pace RC41 Fighter, 07 Magura (can't remember model- 4lb/140ish mm) | | Bike Setup: | Maverick ML7/5, XT/XTR, etc | | Bottom Line: | Disclaimer: I'm a 140lb advanced rider who enjoys technical XC- both uphill and down. The Maverick frame is very active on small bumps (but still pedals awesome), so has a way of making many forks feel harsh.
Alright- if this fork comes on a complete bike that you're buying, don't worry, it'll be fine. I got the best results by setting the compression damping in the middle-to-high end and the air pressure pretty low. That'll give you decent small-bump action without being excessively dive-y. Heavier riders (180lb+) seem to have fewer complaints with this fork.
If you're considering buying this fork aftermarket, I'd suggest looking elsewhere. For $600, its not as close to perfect as I'd like. The lack of adjustable high-speed compression damping means that the fork is harsh for most riders on small bumps- even with the spring pressure set way too low. Because of the too-linear spring rate (yes, there is such a thing), its hard to set sag without quite a bit of low-speed compression damping- and even then it has the tendency to blow through all that travel.
What would it take to make me happy? An adjustable negative spring or adjustable high-speed compression damping (possibly achievable with a lighter oil weight- I didn't bother). A more progressive spring rate would be helpful too- though you could probably get that by adding more oil to the (air) spring chamber, decreasing the air volume. The new Magura forks are pretty stout and feel much better, and the less expensive, 1/2lb lighter Marzocchi XC700sl- both are worth a look. If cost is no object, Pace has some fantastic forks, but reliability may be an issue. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
eric hulme
a Cross Country Rider
from WeHo, ca. USA
Date Reviewed: November 16, 2006 | | Favorite Trail: | whatever im ridin' | | Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month | | Price Paid: |
$550.00 | | Purchased At: | on line | | Strengths: | stiff, supple, light | | Weaknesses: | let you know if i find one | | Similar Products Used: | rock shox, zokes, manitou | | Bike Setup: | trance 2 stock except for, nevegals, sram chain and cog, oury lock ons anl float rlc | | Bottom Line: | best fork i have ever ridin!!!! Cant wait for my next trip to moab/fruita!!!! | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Jeff
a Cross Country Rider
from San Diego Ca.
Date Reviewed: November 10, 2006 | | Favorite Trail: | Lagunas | | Duration Product Used: | 3 months | | Price Paid: |
$600.00 | | Purchased At: | Mountain bike warehouse | | Strengths: | Light,smooth,excellent in hard cornering. It can handle all I can through at it.I ride 6hrs a week and hammer Fairly hard. | | Weaknesses: | None; This shock has save me many times when I push myself a little to much. I never use the lock out and I climb some serious hills. | | Similar Products Used: | Rock Shock, Marzocchi, Manitou | | Bike Setup: | Santa Cruz LT (B) All XT, Thompsons, Avid Juicy seven Brakes and fox suspention | | Bottom Line: | You may be able to buy an equal but I dought you could find better! | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
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