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Fox 38

slimshady

¡Mira, una ardilla!
Yo those monkeys across the pond with creaky Fox CSUs, this guy can push the stanchions out, clean them and re fit them with the proper Loctite compound;

 
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jonKranked

Detective Dookie
Nov 10, 2005
86,058
24,586
media blackout

Jm_

sled dog's bollocks
Jan 14, 2002
19,019
9,679
AK
i don't mean about voiding the warranty, but if the repressed CSU fails the liability is on him, not the fork manufacturer.
Well, that starts to get into how good your lawyering is. He'd likely be on the hook for his modification, but if it could be shown that these suffer from a defect and Fox is not conducting a recall, hell even if they are, they could be wide open for litigation. Someone could easily sue Fox over his vegetable state, showing the product was defective and that they were not acknowledging this. Then it becomes about convincing a jury.
 

dan-o

Turbo Monkey
Jun 30, 2004
6,499
2,805
Back on topic my currently non-creaky 38 170mm is awesome.
Hit a long/steep rock face that ends in a tangle of incel forearm sized roots on last ride.
Fork just shrugged it off like it was nothing while my former 20mm 180mm 36 transmitted much more of the impact on the same roll.
 

jonKranked

Detective Dookie
Nov 10, 2005
86,058
24,586
media blackout
Back on topic my currently non-creaky 38 170mm is awesome.
Hit a long/steep rock face that ends in a tangle of incel forearm sized roots on last ride.
Fork just shrugged it off like it was nothing while my former 20mm 180mm 36 transmitted much more of the impact on the same roll.
Now try it with a 40 :D
 

Shizzon

Monkey
Jun 25, 2015
112
290
The last 40 I rode was an 07 RC2 that was on my Gary Fisher Kingfisher; its been a while since I have spend any time on a proper DC fork but I agree with Dan-O that the 38 is impressive. Coming off a Helm (both at 160) its pretty obvious that the 38 is tracking/holding lines better in super rough/steep stuff while staying active and providing good support.

I had fears (based on Vorsprung's video) that I would have issues blowing through travel as I'm heavy and a fairly hard charger but that has not been the case. I still have yet to use full travel (perhaps 1/2-3/4" of travel or so remaining after a good ride) and have backed off of the recommended air pressure slightly.

I'm waiting for a 32mm socket to pull the air spring cap to see if any tokens are installed. The fork fame with 3 tokens in the box but I cant recall if they come with any installed?
 

ChrisRobin

Turbo Monkey
Jan 30, 2002
3,352
193
Vancouver
I'm pretty sure you have one already installed. I read somewhere they all came with one installed and mine came with one (which I've left in there).

I also like my 38 and when I saw that Vorsprung video three days after I bought it, I thought "uh oh". But since then, I've liked the fork more and more. My HSC is max'd though with my LSC somewhere in the middle, or past the middle. HSR is 3/4 closed and rebound is 2/3 closed (I think). I think the new air spring system is awesome compared to the recent nonsense from Fox that required all kinds of upgrades to make it work well. I don't feel the need to switch to a coil upgrade at all. I am interested to see what Vorsprung does with damper tuning though, and hopefully it's not as harsh as the Tractive tuning they offer on RS shocks.

FYI, my previous fork was a Push'd 36 160mm with ACS3.
 

mtg

Green with Envy
Sep 21, 2009
1,862
1,604
Denver, CO
My 38 has also been impressive, I figured I would try it, find a setup and switch back to something that was lighter. Despite riding poorly on the internet, it actually does surprisingly well on actual mountain trails. It’s still on my bike now.
The Zeb Ultimate is also good, and I’ve done some back to back rides between it and the 38. I think both are really good, but the Rockshox (as always) is a little quicker to find a setup, the pricing is better than I was expecting, and it looks badass, whereas the Fox has an edge with a little lower friction, the extra damper fine tuning (and it works well), and the air bleeders in the lowers.

With regards to the Vorsprung dyno testing of HSC on the 38 vs an older damper, I think the vast difference suggests the new version is more “correct” and the old version just had way too much HSC for 99% of riders when the adjuster was getting close to the max settings.
While you could just not use those settings, their approach with the 38 seems to fit the vast majority of riders better, and makes setups faster to find since you are less likely to waste time trying a setting that’s way too harsh.
 

ianjenn

Turbo Monkey
Sep 12, 2006
3,001
704
SLO
Custom tuning is the price you pay for being so damn pro and dreamy :cupidarrow:
Rumour has it that KID was tasked with showing Sam Hill all the Tahoe trails. They go out to start riding and KID left him in his dust. Sam got sad and went to the local dive bar and hooked up with the local doorknob.
 

frorider

Monkey
Jul 21, 2004
971
20
cali
called Manitou about getting the new Mezzer lowers with the bleed ports but they’re furiously retrofitting them to current batch and won’t have extras until September.

fork is still plush on initial stroke but as supportive in mid as you want. zero crown creak reputation maintained.
 

kidwoo

Artisanal Tweet Curator
You guys are missing the point. Fox used to build dampers geared for mountainbiking, not specifically for consumers just so they wouldn't get confused. And that so happens to still be the best configuration they ever made. I change my damping settings depending on what I'm riding (and sometimes just based on how tired I expect to get).....sometimes pretty drastically.

It has nothing to do just going fast. It's versatility sacrificed for the lowest common denominator because it's a product before it's a suspension component.

You guys have been outside this year. You've seen what's going on. Joe Blow the mobile Bro Show who just started mountainbiking so his sprinter can have some jewelry doesn't really need a 38 to go pedal the imba path. Stop building forks for that guy.
 

StiHacka

Compensating for something
Jan 4, 2013
21,560
12,505
In hell. Welcome!
Yeah, too bad they didn't build seals geared for mountain biking at the same time they made open bath forks...
I am pretty happy with SKF seals on my 36. After 3 months of riding, bath oil was still pretty clean. I have a gut feeling the RC2 damper is still better than anything else Fox made since 2018.
 

jonKranked

Detective Dookie
Nov 10, 2005
86,058
24,586
media blackout
You guys are missing the point. Fox used to build dampers geared for mountainbiking, not specifically for consumers just so they wouldn't get confused. And that so happens to still be the best configuration they ever made. I change my damping settings depending on what I'm riding (and sometimes just based on how tired I expect to get).....sometimes pretty drastically.

It has nothing to do just going fast. It's versatility sacrificed for the lowest common denominator because it's a product before it's a suspension component.

You guys have been outside this year. You've seen what's going on. Joe Blow the mobile Bro Show who just started mountainbiking so his sprinter can have some jewelry doesn't really need a 38 to go pedal the imba path. Stop building forks for that guy.
Fox's new test trail for determining damper specs

paved_trails.jpg
 

ianjenn

Turbo Monkey
Sep 12, 2006
3,001
704
SLO
Was ANYONE left wearing pants?
The whole bar turned into an Orgy. While the Kid was hitting the 150-mile mark for the day and 40K feet of climbing he shit himself and all alone atop the hill he too had to lose his pants. So long story short they all lost their pants....
 

Shizzon

Monkey
Jun 25, 2015
112
290
What do you know, the tuning guide that came with the 38 lists factory installed volume spacers by travel:

CABA320E-6627-43E7-ADD7-AD224744E834.jpeg


I’ll be removing a spacer or two as soon as my socket arrives.
 

sundaydoug

Monkey
Jun 8, 2009
617
281
Anyone know of a place to buy just the push-button bleed valves for these forks? I just got the Performance 38 and according to Fox's site the push-button bleeders can be purchased separately, but I can't find any info online anywhere. They don't seem to be on QBP either.