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Home | Product Reviews | 2007 Forks | Fox Racing Shox 32 F80RLC | ||||
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Submitted by
Dina Pang
a Cross Country Rider
from San Antonio, TX
Date Reviewed: 3/19/2008 7:06:18 AM |
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| FavoriteTrail: | Cameron Park Waco, TX |
| Duration Product Used: | 3 months |
| Price Paid: | $600 |
| Purchased At: | Titus |
| Strengths: | So many adjustment options. It can go from stiff to lots of flex. Plus it's a good looking fork |
| Weaknesses: | None |
| Similar Products Tried: | Spring shocks |
| Bike Setup: | Titus Racer X, Fox F80 RLC, Fox float rp23, Sram X.0 shifters and RD, XT crankset, XT FD, FSA K-force flat bar, FSA SL-K seatpost, thomson X4 stem, chris king headset, American Classic Disc Wheelset, Shimano XT Disc Brakes |
| Bottom Line: | Best XC front shock ever! Works great on the climbs and descents. This shock makes me a better rider. And it really didn't cost that much. Thanks Fox. |
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Submitted by
Ben
a Cross Country Rider
from Newark
Date Reviewed: 7/4/2007 5:22:04 PM |
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| Duration Product Used: | 3 months |
| Purchased At: | prodeal |
| Strengths: | Very smooth. with the different adjustments, you can really dial it in and change the set up for different rides very easily. In the past, I have had issues with not being able to get air forks stiff enough for my tastes. Not the case with this fork. |
| Weaknesses: | Expect to spend some time dialing it in. As with anything, the more points of adjustment, the more time it takes to get it where you want it. Steering is twitchy, easy to overturn the wheel and get stuck. It's an 80mm fork, thats how they are. This isn't really a weakness of the fork, but any 80mm fork is going to handle differently than a 100mm fork. I'm still glad i went from 100mm to 80mm |
| Similar Products Tried: | Several Rock Shox, couple of manitou. Spent a lot of time with an oldschool manitou SX and a rock shox pilot(POS). |
| Bike Setup: | Started as an 04 trek 6700. Trek SLR frame. Still building it. Mostly XT. XTR shifters. BB7 mechanical discs. bontrager cranks, time pedals |
| Bottom Line: | by a very wide margin this is THE BEST FORK I HAVE EVER USED FOR XC. If you have the money, this fork is worth every penny. If I have to pay retail for my next fork, I will still drop the money on FOX. Go to a XC race and look at the forks. Most of fox F series and there is a good reason. |
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Submitted by
Gnate Hakensak
a Cross Country Rider
from St. Cloud
Date Reviewed: 10/31/2006 11:57:03 AM |
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| FavoriteTrail: | Spirt Mt, Duluth |
| Duration Product Used: | 3 months |
| Price Paid: | $650 |
| Purchased At: | Cambria Bike |
| Strengths: | Adjustibility, hotness, performance, smoothness, supplness, curvaciousness... |
| Weaknesses: | I guess the only thing wrong with this fork is the fact it wasn't on my ride until fall... |
| Similar Products Tried: | Nothing, nothing is similar to this beautiful peice of equipment |
| Bike Setup: | Trek Top Fuel 110 stock with dented top tube (doh!) |
| Bottom Line: | The Sid World Cup that came stock on the bike looked cool, but alas, the performance wasn't all good. I am not a big dude but I like to hammer and the sid did not. Too flexy and I felt like I was riding with a pogo stick bouncing around. The Fox soaks it all up and I noticed a big difference the first time I flew through a rooty section. I can't wait to race the crap out of this fork next year. You'll be doing your self a favour by selling your current fork and buying a Fox F80RLC. |
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Submitted by
Sven
a Cross Country Rider
from USA
Date Reviewed: 10/31/2006 5:18:12 AM |
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| Duration Product Used: | 3 months |
| Price Paid: | $500 |
| Purchased At: | Eddys Bike Shop |
| Strengths: | Amazing Fox quality - stiff, plush, loads of adjustments. WHITE. |
| Weaknesses: | It doesn't cook. |
| Similar Products Tried: | Reba, F100RLC, SID, Marathon, etc. |
| Bike Setup: | Vicious Monloith - Phil Wood, some duct tape, a few twigs and pine cones.....does it really matter. |
| Bottom Line: | If you are looking for an 80mm travel fork look no furhter. This fork, hands down, has some of the best features in the industry. It has a lockout sensitivity adjustment so if you want a little more give in lock out mode you turn the dial. Compression, rebound - all the bells and whistles. IT's WHITE, which denotes speed and Euorpean class - it may actually improve your stamina in bed, hold, I am still testing that theory. Respect. |
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Submitted by
Cliff Leonard
a Cross Country Rider
from Tallahassee
Date Reviewed: 10/26/2006 8:10:33 PM |
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| FavoriteTrail: | Cadilac |
| Duration Product Used: | 3 months |
| Purchased At: | I'm not allowed to tell... |
| Strengths: | Same legendary perfect Fox ride. Very sensitive and stiff enough to corner like a rigid fork. |
| Weaknesses: | Color scheme works on very few frames. I guess it's the price you pay to ride the only XC for on the market (we all know SID s flex too much to really be an option) |
| Similar Products Tried: | Fox RLT 80, Fox F80X & Marzocchi ? (can't remember), Rock Shox SID |
| Bike Setup: | Seven Sola Ti, obviously this frame could only be decked out with the best. |
| Bottom Line: | At first it was hard to tell how good this fork is compared to other Fox forks. In my opinion all forks work great strait out of the box. After about 15 rides the fork and I settled in great together and the performance has not waned. I can back up the continued smooth feel of the fork by riding a friends new RLC fork and the performance is nearly identical. One surprising aspect of this fork is how well it handled extended downhill stretches in Pisgah NC. I expected this twitchy bike/fork combo to be a bit unpredictable but was actually stunningly accurate and comfortable on the descents. The RLC 80 was also equally at home on super tight east coast single track and gave me an edge I did not previously have. You will be tempted to run the fork at a slightly higher pressure than recommended by Fox but you will be doing yourself a great disservice. XC guys like me tend to think the higher the pressure the faster you will ride and climb. The reality is the Fox engineers know far more than any XC rider thinks he/she knows about suspension. Use Fox's recommended guidelines and you will ride FASTER. On the down side I really can't see what the Low Speed Compression does, it seems to have little effect on the ride quality so I just keep in in the middle to be safe. The lockout lever will get jammed into its current position if a piece of sand gets in it and you will need to go home and clean the fork to get it to function again. That's a bit of a bummer because the 2006 RLT 80 has a flawless lockout. Despite the color and lock out issues, the ride quality far out weighs the minor inconveniences of the fork. The fork color looks great on my bike but silly on my buddies. If you are a cross country rider it is my opinion that there are no other options but this fork if ride quality is what you are after. If your fork is slightly worn out buy this fork and you will descend and corner faster. |
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Submitted by
xc-racer
a Racer
from Charlotte, NC
Date Reviewed: 10/16/2006 6:27:52 PM |
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| FavoriteTrail: | Catawba riverfront |
| Duration Product Used: | 3 months |
| Price Paid: | $650 |
| Purchased At: | Sun & Ski Sports |
| Strengths: | Easy adjustability, extremely smooth ride, and exceptionaly light. |
| Weaknesses: | ZERO!!! |
| Bike Setup: | Scott Scale Hardtail, F80 RLC fork, with American classic wheelset. |
| Bottom Line: | Luv it! I kinda wanted the F80x but decided to save $100 and get this one instead. Havn't regretted it for a second. This fork imediatly improved my racing speed, not to mention the enjoyablity of the everyday ride. As for the adjustablity issue this fork gets an A+ There is a nearly endless amount of ways to tune the fork to the needs of the rider and the trail. (not something you can neccessarily do with the F80x modil) This fork get a perfect rating from me and should from anyone else. |
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