Mountain Bike Reviews Forum banner
Cancel
Create thread New Forums

Fox 36 Fork Thread

Jump to Latest
1 - 12 of 12 Posts
E

ebnelson

· Registered
Joined
·
237 Posts
Discussion starter · #1 ·
This thread is intended as a Fox 36 fork on tandems thread. I'll start with the 2016 product web page from Fox.

The marketing web page for the 2016 Fox 36 has been published. The '16 36 has a standard QR15 quick realease or optional 20mm axles. The new damper includes a lock out capability. Explore 36 Bike Forks | FOX
 
#2 ·
Fox 36 Forks

Thanks for getting the thread started. For those riding the new Fox forks, please let us know your set up. I'm thinking something like the following:
- Team weight
- Travel setting
- volume spacers included in the air side (qty & color)
- settings for low speed & high speed compression

Overall impressions of the fork? Whatever else you want to add. I'm interested to hear about your set ups. These forks are quite tune-able!:thumbsup:

I'll report back once I've had a few rides. I'm still trying to get it dialed.
 
Discussion starter · #3 ·
  • Team Weight, 250lbs
  • Travel, 140mm
  • Volume Spacer, stock, 1 Blue
  • Air Spring Pressure, 125-130 psi
  • High & Low Speed Compression, half way or 12 clicks
  • Rebound Damping, half way or 12 clicks
It has been a great fork so far. I've noticed that the air spring may be more sensitive to altitude changes than the 34 or does not hold air as well in the long term. We started out on Saturday doing a bunch of drops and I bottomed the fork out on the drops. When I stopped for a break I pulled the shock pump out my Camelback and checked the pressure. It was down to 100 psi from the 125 psi I set at home the previous weekend. I use a shock pump adapter to limit the pressure loss when pulling off the pump. It may have lost a bit of pressure going up over 11,000' on the way to the riding and this is the first time I'd noticed any loss of air pressure. Seems like a good idea to carry a shock pump if riding in a new area or high altitude.
 
#5 ·
ebnelson said:
I fit a 29x3.0 tire in the 36 tonight. Plenty of room on the crown but a bit tighter on the sides. Now to go try it and see what all the fuss is about!
View attachment 988472
Click to expand...
FWIW, I am sticking with the Ardent 2.4 up front. I tried 3.0 tire and was unimpressed. Maybe it was the tread pattern, or just used to the 2.4 and its tread.

I did try 2.4 on the rear and it is a REALLY tight fit in the chainstay yoke area on a 35mm rim. Probably going to go back to the 2.35 rear.

Still need to get out more on the new fork. This damn weather is killing me!!
 
Discussion starter · #6 ·
We've been using the Ardent 2.4 F&R and like them a lot. Yes, it is tight in the rear on our 35mm rim too, but we avoid mud and I don't believe there has been any rubbing. The Dirt Wizard tire is on a 50mm rim. The tread is aggressive and the reviews are the grip is there. It might roll slow though. The Ardent will go back on the front after the experiment is over since the big wheels are allocated for a hard tail I'm working on. I was happy to see the tire fit and I also aired down the fork to verify tire to crown clearance. Hopefully the weather holds out for some riding this weekend!
 
#7 · (Edited)
We now have several rides on our 2015 36.

-We are a 285lb team
-140mm, 29'r
-20mm axle
-2 orange spacers
-half way thru the settings on hsc & lsc. Rebound is set at 8 clicks.
-135psi - for now.

Overall, the fork is solid, very plush and tuneable. We started with 2 orange spacers and went to 1 orange, 1 blue (blue is smaller). I didn't think we were getting full travel, so I tried 1 lower volume spacer, blue, but have since gone back to two orange for a more progressive air spring.

I have more work to do to get the settings just right -that'll take some time. My next task is to reduce the travel down from 140 to 120 and see how that feels.

I'll update this post with changes along the way.

~~~~~~~~~\\\EDIT///~~~~~~~~~

Yesterday, I pulled the fork off to reduce the travel from 140mm to 120mm, check the bath oil level and install the Flow Zone quick release levers.

I found that there was very little bath oil in the fork - not surprising. Fox uses a new 20wt gold oil that has a thick, viscous and sticky consistency. It coats well. The damper side gets 30cc/ml and the air side gets 10cc.

I reduced the travel down 20mm to get closer to the travel the Fandango geometry was designed around. Travel change was easy and the videos from Fox take all of the guess work out of the process. I also added another token to maintain the progressive feel; I now have 2 orange and 1 blue. Air pressure is 130psi.

Lastly the flow zone QR adapters make install a snap. They're a must have.

We're going out this morning for a ride, so I'll report back.

Update after settings above.

I bumped up the pressure to 135psi and reduced the hsc and lsc down a few clicks. Overall, the fork felt really good at these settings. I did reduce rebound a few clicks to keep the fork from wallowing.

Settings today :
120mm
5 clicks from open LSC
3 clicks from open HSC
5 clicks from full off (-) rebound
 
Discussion starter · #8 ·
ds2199 said:
FWIW, I am sticking with the Ardent 2.4 up front. I tried 3.0 tire and was unimpressed. Maybe it was the tread pattern, or just used to the 2.4 and its tread.

I did try 2.4 on the rear and it is a REALLY tight fit in the chainstay yoke area on a 35mm rim. Probably going to go back to the 2.35 rear.

Still need to get out more on the new fork. This damn weather is killing me!!
Click to expand...
The Dirt Wizard 29+ tire is very grippy and floated well over sandy terrain on some of the newer Moab trails, 7-up, Rocky Tops, Coney Island. The tire would sometimes rub on the side of the fork arch when turning with a bit of weight forward on the bike. The handling was a bit sluggish, probably due to the increased trail and contact patch. While it worked really well over long stretches of sand I found the big tire experience to be, meh. The ECDM feels nice and responsive withe 2.4 We'll stick with this until forks and tires evolve a bit further.
 
#9 ·
I'm getting that itch again to change something!!!
My Team is at about 320lbs loaded
looking at the manual it reads not to go over 125psi anybody see any problems doing this?

Mike how is the Fandango feeling in the 120mm setting?
 
Discussion starter · #10 ·
I was told by a Fox tech that it's OK to go a bit over 125psi. I ran ours at 130psi for a while before backing off due to being too frim. You can gain a lot of support with that extra 5 psi. I'm going to put a volume reducing spacer in sometime and see how that works for us in rough terrain. We're blowing through the travel too quickly if I really push it.
 
#11 ·
ebnelson said:
I was told by a Fox tech that it's OK to go a bit over 125psi. I ran ours at 130psi for a while before backing off due to being too frim. You can gain a lot of support with that extra 5 psi. I'm going to put a volume reducing spacer in sometime and see how that works for us in rough terrain. We're blowing through the travel too quickly if I really push it.
Click to expand...
So if I understand, I could start at 125psi and if I needed more support I would then start playing with the air spacers??
 
Discussion starter · #12 ·
The spacers reduce the amount of volume in the air spring. Reducing the volume ramps up the spring force towards the end of the compression stroke. If you need more support in the first half of travel you can do that with more air, more shock damping, or a combination of both.
 
1 - 12 of 12 Posts
About this Discussion
11 Replies
4 Participants
Last post:
ebnelson
Mountain Bike Reviews Forum
posts
16M
members
534K
Since
1990
A forum community dedicated to Mountain Bike owners and enthusiasts. Come join the discussion about bike parts, components, deals, performance, modifications, classifieds, trails, troubleshooting, maintenance, and more!
Full Forum Listing
Explore Our Forums
General Discussion Downhill - Freeride California - Norcal Shocks and Suspension Passion