Fox Racing Shox 36 Van R 2007 Forks

3.7/5

(10 Reviews)

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Weight : 5.45 Ibs

Product Description

A patent pending internal bladder separates oil from air to ensure superiative damping consistency and fade-free performance. Externally adjustable, click-by-click rebound damping and a position-sensitive progressive bottoming system with factory set compression. The R cartridge jams an incredible amount of performance into a lightweight package.

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Reviews 1 - 10 (10 Reviews Total)

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Submitted by fsrxc a Weekend Warrior from Calgary, Ab

Date Reviewed: September 10, 2008

Strengths:    Stiff and smooth (once it's set up right).

Weaknesses:    Sticky out of the box - one lower was pretty dry.

Bottom Line:

After a few rides that should have been enough to break it in, the fork still seemed harsh over small or big bumps, and the front tire washed out a bit easily on rough corners. An LBS recommended draining and refilling the lowers right away, since many of the Van36s have been underfilled from the factory, so after the first 10 hours or so of use it's worth changing the lower oil.

I'm 150lbs (without gear) and the fork was a bit harsh even after changing the oil, enough that I was very close to buying a new fork. After changing from the stock blue to the purple spring (rated for 120-155lb riders) it's like a new fork - smooth over the chatter, but without any noticeable brake dive on steep stuff, and the front tire seems really stuck to the ground on rough corners now.

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Favorite Trail:   anything technical

Duration Product Used:   2 Years

Purchased At:   OEM

Similar Products Used:   nothing this big

Bike Setup:   '07 Reign X1

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Submitted by dh-freeride@hotmail.com a Downhiller from Manchester, NH, USA

Date Reviewed: September 2, 2008

Strengths:    Plush, super good for all mountain

Weaknesses:    Bottoms out off of the big stuff and flat drops over 3 ft.

Bottom Line:

Great fork for the lighter rider ( i weigh 145 lbs), handled pretty much anything I threw at it. I could go to Highland and do 10 ft drops in the morning, then go and rock single track in the afternoon. Really wouldn't recommend it for heavier riders, though, as it does tend bottom pretty easily. I'm buying a Marzocchi 66. Much better.

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Favorite Trail:   Threshold

Duration Product Used:   3 months

Purchased At:   Naults Cyclery

Similar Products Used:   Marzocchi 66 vf

Bike Setup:   2008 Giant Reign x1
DHX 4.0 Air

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Submitted by Stick a Weekend Warrior from Vancouver, Canada

Date Reviewed: April 21, 2008

Strengths:    Light

Weaknesses:    Overpriced, bottoms out, dives

Bottom Line:

I had high hopes for this fork but even after changing to heavier springs it still blew through it's travel and bottomed out constantly. I'm a small guy (150lb) and this thing would bottom on any drop over 3 feet and dive in corners. Used it in a DH race and had zero confidence coming into berms and going through rock gardens. I've ridden many forks and this one was way too linear and "pogo" for my liking. I've since replaced it with a 66 and I'm very happy. This fork is ok if you're just going to trail ride avoiding drops and chunder.

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Favorite Trail:   Simple Life

Duration Product Used:   3 months

Purchased At:   LBS

Similar Products Used:   Marzocchi Z1, 66VF2

Bike Setup:   Giant Reign X1

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Submitted by someone a Downhiller from wherever

Date Reviewed: February 11, 2008

Strengths:    stiff
strong
springy
good rebound
doesn't leak
pretty much all you want in a fork

Weaknesses:    the cable guide really needs to be redone

Bottom Line:

After a year and a bit, its still holding strong. Its never needed to be serviced (knock on wood), its leaked a tiny bit when i change springs, but stopped quickly. I have only bottomed it out twice, both on a six foot drop with the light coil on a hardtail. I dont know what the bottom out problem is, maybe everyone is really heavy. I am 160. The rebound adjust is fine, the coil feels good, preload doesn't do too much, but works. Overall, it is a really nice fork. I like it more than the talas or the float. And more than marzocchi, but its not nearly as plush. Zokes sag a lot more and have a different feel. I like this fork a lot though. 5/5 stars after a year.

FOX: PLEASE MAKE A 180 mm VERSION OF THIS! PLEASE!

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Duration Product Used: 1 Year

Bike Setup: this is the 07 that i am reviewing

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Submitted by Morris Elliott a Weekend Warrior from Shelby, NC

Date Reviewed: January 28, 2008

Strengths:    Beafy Construction. Simple use

Weaknesses:    WEAK springs, no adjustments. Customer service.

Bottom Line:

Well, I don't like to talk bad about things, but I was really disapointed with this fork. I went through three springs and could not get this fork to keep from bottoming out, even on the preload before the jumps. It would even dive just riding around. I know that I am a heavy rider (over 215 geared out), but I did expect it to handle me after adding the over 240 lb spring. The sad thing was the Fox rep's solution was to charge me 140$ to make it a RC2. Not sure how you would handle that, but I guess I expected a little more cooperation to fix the problem. All in all, I was not pleased with the preformance or the customer service from Fox.

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Favorite Trail:   PeeWee's

Duration Product Used:   6 months

Purchased At:   Clark Bikes

Similar Products Used:   Marzocchi 66 RC3

Bike Setup:   Stock Fork on Giant Reign x1

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Submitted by charlie a Weekend Warrior from New Zealand

Date Reviewed: September 30, 2007

Strengths:    long forgiving travel, very stiff lowers, adjustable preload and reound that actually works

Weaknesses:    havent found any yet. perhaps factory spring is a bit soft but i'm only 65kg so it works for me

Bottom Line:

awesome fork, my first time with a 'real' fork and i'm hitting jumps and drops i would never have dreamed of previously. This fork gives confidence in that it wont bottom and chuck you off, the front will stay on the ground during hard cornering and if you cock up a landing it usually bails you out with all the soak. First 50mm or so of travel is very soft and responsive on rough trails/roots, then the rest is progressivley harder, beautiful. Cant actually think of anything wrong with it. Looks bloody awesome too, dwarfs even some double crown forks!

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Favorite Trail:   anything at woodhill

Duration Product Used:   3 months

Bike Setup:   giant reign X1 - fox DHX3.0 rear shock

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Submitted by tom a Downhiller from london

Date Reviewed: September 18, 2007

Strengths:    These forks are very good to start with, the preload and rebound are very simple to use and not as heavy as you would think being coil and oil.

Weaknesses:    I have only been riding to and from work mostly with these and in the near by forest, but i have broken the rebound twice from a small set of stairs.

Bottom Line:

These forks are very nice for the first couple of months but seeming i have broken them twice and a friend of mine has aswell i feel that they are not very good for the extreme rider, i would not recommend these to anyone.

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Favorite Trail:   chicksands

Duration Product Used:   6 months

Purchased At:   cycle surgury

Bike Setup:   Orange patriot 07, hope moto's, race face diablos

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Submitted by Mike a Weekend Warrior from BC, Canada

Date Reviewed: August 16, 2007

Strengths:    -The aesthetics are good for Freeride - big stantions, crown than clears most downtubes.
-Simple shock; preload is actually useful. It controls how high the bike rides in the travel which I play with quite a bit on the trail. Rebound is a personal preference - I like it as fast it can go without topping out the fork to hard. This makes the fork not pack up and Fox forks are really responsive so don't mute it by cranking on rebound

Weaknesses:    Under no weight the spring clanks around in the left leg. Also, it comes with a medium spring which is really lite. I weight 165lbs and it was diving hard on braking and landings - good though at speed cause i am riding half way through the travel making +/- 3"

Bottom Line:

great all mountain fork, for those that weight close or more than me and have aggressive riding, recommend firm or extra firm coil - and/or at least turn up the preload.

Simple fork, easy to adjust, good value overall.

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Favorite Trail:   pipeDream

Duration Product Used:   3 months

Similar Products Used:   RS revelation, manitou nixon, totem coil, DJII

Bike Setup:   stock giant x1.

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Submitted by someone a Downhiller from somewhere

Date Reviewed: July 20, 2007

Strengths:    really smooth through its travel
super plush in bottom half
ramps up nicely
hard to bottom
stiff
light
easy to adjust
breaks in pretty quickly

Weaknesses:    about every 2/3 months it starts to clunk. I found that the little rubber slider on the spring slides up after 2/3 months, so you just open the little cap over the preload and slide it back down... then it is perfect again

Bottom Line:

has worked flawlessly except for the super easy to fix thing since day 1.
doesnt show any signs of breaking soon.
better than the floats and talas's and a lot cheaper
way better than any single crown marzochi that i have felt

fox needs to make a 180 version of it

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Favorite Trail:   santacruz trails

Duration Product Used:   6 months

Purchased At:   on the bike

Similar Products Used:   other stuff

Bike Setup:   transition vagrant

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Submitted by Mike a Weekend Warrior from Perth, Western Australia

Date Reviewed: March 24, 2007

Strengths:    Coil spring, Single crown, Beefy stanchions, No flex, Reliable, Easy to use, Looks the goods!

Weaknesses:    Little heavy if only doing XC riding

Bottom Line:

These are a great fork! I do all kinds of riding, from XC to freeride on this fork. The compression of this fork is predictable and progressive so you can always estimate how the fork is going to react to the bump. Single crown gives a better turning circle. The reliability and simplicity of this fork is its greatest asset. There aren't 2000 different dials to adjust, just a rebound knob and a preload (sag-setting) knob.

I rode a pair of RockShox Recons the other day (air spring). Now, while air shocks do have slight weight and setup advantages, they are just not as plush as a coil shock in my opinion. I always feel confident that if I blow seals on this fork when out in the wilderness it will still be able to be ridden back to the car. If blown seals occur with air, you're walking. Air shocks have their place among the XC/all-mountain crowd, but I wouldn't be confident doing aggressive trail riding/big hit stuff with them.

Bottom line, if you're looking for a reliable single crown fork which can take everything you can throw at it, this is the fork for you. If you are sticking to XC/all-mountain riding, I would go for an air fork or a lighter weight fork.

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Duration Product Used: 3 months

Bike Setup: 2007 Giant Reign X1

Reviews 1 - 10 (10 Reviews Total)

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Fox Racing Shox 36 Van R 2007 Forks

Product Description

User Reviews

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