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05' 888RC Works or 06' FOX 40 RC2?

Racerx7734

Monkey
Mar 4, 2002
616
0
Hostile Sausage
I'm a ninja like 225lb rider and I love my 888RC but have the opportunity to get a new FOX DH 40.

I have always been a BIG Marz. fan and have never had one problem with setup or failure on any of them.......any recommendations or dislikes between the two? besides weight?

If you are the same stealth like poundage as myself...what did you have to do if anything to your FOX?


Thanks guys.
 

metalMTB

Monkey
Sep 14, 2005
699
3
Richmond, VA
All you'll have to do is upgrade your spring to the yellow one then your set. I say go with the fox if you have the oppurtunity. Its real nice.
 

Racerx7734

Monkey
Mar 4, 2002
616
0
Hostile Sausage
metalMTB said:
All you'll have to do is upgrade your spring to the yellow one then your set. I say go with the fox if you have the oppurtunity. Its real nice.
Is the yellow one, one of the springs that comes with the fork?

Also do I need any special brake adaptor or will the one on the 888 work?
 

Brian HCM#1

MMMMMMMMM BEER!!!!!!!!!!
Sep 7, 2001
32,119
378
Bay Area, California
Racerx7734 said:
Is the yellow one, one of the springs that comes with the fork?

Also do I need any special brake adaptor or will the one on the 888 work?
The 40 uses an XC mount for the brake. So for Hayes or Avid you need the 6" adaptor.
 

vitox

Turbo Monkey
Sep 23, 2001
2,936
1
Santiago du Chili
if your current fork is doing ok then i cant see why getting the works, its basically a 888 thats broken in out-of-the-box, and with correct spring and oil settings for you.
 

metalMTB

Monkey
Sep 14, 2005
699
3
Richmond, VA
don't worry about your 40 breaking either, i have tons of gouges in the stanchions and it hasn't leaked one bit of oil. the seals are awesome. I have also hit the lowers on tons of rocks and they hold up nicely. They sure don't look nice anymore though, haha. The reason why the crowns are cracking/snapping are when people nose case something or 50/50 something really badly, which causes the fork to flex a lot which the 40 is not designed to do. It's designed to be ultra stiff. The lowers are going to crack when you have a crash that puts lot of stress on the fork. Most of my crashes are just me going over the bars or falling after I land. Those 2 types of crashes are not hard on the fork. You need to ask yourself what type of rider you are. Are you the type that crashed HARD on your front end? If so I don't know if I'd get the 40. I plan on riding mine till it breaks. And if it does break, I'll just get FOX to take care of me. They WILL take care of you considering you spent over 1500 dollars on your fork.
 

S.K.C.

Turbo Monkey
Feb 28, 2005
4,096
25
Pa. / North Jersey
...I have an 05' 888 RC (non-WORKS), and from what I know about the Fox40 the main difference is the suspension curve.

As many riders have said, the Fox40 has a much more linear rate (not much ramp-up, or decrease in compression speed) than the 888. For this reason, a lot of top pros who race DH prefer to use the 40 excusively. At high speed whilst bombing down a race course, the 40 goes through its travel effortlessly and as a result soaks up braking bumps/baby heads/small rocks with ease.

The 888 on the other hand feels bottomless due to its progressive, non-linear rate. The fork ramps up and slows down quite a bit into the last 35 to 25% of its travel. It's great for big-hit type stuff, but that's not to say it can't be tuned for racing. Fabien Barel and Cedric Gracia both use them on their DH race bikes.

The same goes for the Fox 40 - it can be tuned to be more progressive/non-linear. To do this both the adjusters must be tweaked together because they run on the same circuit.

Hope this helps.

If you have any more questions try PMing Leprechaun or James from Go-Ride... They've got their buddy Van Dine on a Fox 40 this year and know this fork inside out.

In general, the 888 is more progressive than the linear Fox 40. If you run the stock Ti spring - the 40 will be about a half pound lighter than the 888. If you swap to the heavier steel spring, you'll be around the 888 weight range.

It's just a matter of preference - both forks are awesome.
 

Dirtbike

Monkey
Mar 21, 2005
593
2
eastbay
S.K.C. said:
The same goes for the Fox 40 - it can be tuned to be more progressive/non-linear. To do this both the adjusters must be tweaked together because they run on the same circuit.
How can it be tuned more progressively?
 

vitox

Turbo Monkey
Sep 23, 2001
2,936
1
Santiago du Chili
i read the 40 manual and saw something about a "progression adjustment" that only could be performed by fox.

seems like what is performed is a relocation of the air/oil separator, much like the blue reservoir knob on a dhx, or adding more oil to an open wb2.0 reservoir.


it makes the damper resist bottoming much like when adding more oil to an open bath fork.
 

BMXman

I wish I was Canadian
Sep 8, 2001
13,827
0
Victoria, BC
Racerx7734 said:
I have always been a BIG Marz. fan and have never had one problem with setup or failure on any of them.......
looks like you already have your answer....If something is working well for you why change it???...D
 

oly

skin cooker for the hive
Dec 6, 2001
5,118
6
Witness relocation housing
Will,

Im heavier than you, and had the yellow spring. I actually went back down a spring weight and turned up the HS compression. I did whistler yesterday and the difference was night and day over the stiffer spring. I didnt get beat up and the fork was just so smooth over everything, and i also didnt once bottom my fork, even off of a-line drop and thats pretty damn flat at speed.

As far as other work or things ive had to do? After my first trip to whistler, my fork got really chunky feeling. I think i forced water into it at the bike wash. So, i replaced the seals and just did a general cleaning on it. About once a month I also pry up the seals, and clean the foam ring, re oil, and apply a little slick honey to the underside of the seal. It keeps the fork running smooth, and is totally easy to do. The 40 has to be the easiest fork to work on, and ive owned Both Boxxers and Marzocchis in the past few seasons. You can add additional bottom out control, but it has to be done by fox, or maybe an authorized repair shop. I was thinkign of having it done, but now think its fine.

If you get the 40 and want to try a yellow spring i could loan you mine....
 

Jm_

sled dog's bollocks
Jan 14, 2002
18,850
9,556
AK
S.K.C. said:
The same goes for the Fox 40 - it can be tuned to be more progressive/non-linear.

Not really. Fox can change the hydraulic bottom-out cone at the bottom of the fork, to make it resist bottoming better, but it's not the same thing as adjusting progression. It's not going to affect most of the spring curve.
 

Racerx7734

Monkey
Mar 4, 2002
616
0
Hostile Sausage
oly said:
Will,

Im heavier than you, and had the yellow spring. I actually went back down a spring weight and turned up the HS compression. I did whistler yesterday and the difference was night and day over the stiffer spring. I didnt get beat up and the fork was just so smooth over everything, and i also didnt once bottom my fork, even off of a-line drop and thats pretty damn flat at speed.

As far as other work or things ive had to do? After my first trip to whistler, my fork got really chunky feeling. I think i forced water into it at the bike wash. So, i replaced the seals and just did a general cleaning on it. About once a month I also pry up the seals, and clean the foam ring, re oil, and apply a little slick honey to the underside of the seal. It keeps the fork running smooth, and is totally easy to do. The 40 has to be the easiest fork to work on, and ive owned Both Boxxers and Marzocchis in the past few seasons. You can add additional bottom out control, but it has to be done by fox, or maybe an authorized repair shop. I was thinkign of having it done, but now think its fine.

If you get the 40 and want to try a yellow spring i could loan you mine....
Right on brother...........Thanks. I went ahead and ordered the 40.......what the hell, it's just money right......and my wife will only be mad for a little while......... :devil: