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Deceptive weight listing for Fox 40rc2?

S.K.C.

Turbo Monkey
Feb 28, 2005
4,096
25
Pa. / North Jersey
So I remember reading where a Monkey was talking about this somewhere, but couldn't find it after searching...

Info I've gathered thus far:

1. The 40 RC2 comes from the factory with a Ti spring in the left leg. This spring is extremely soft, and probably only suitable for riders that are about 120 to 140 lbs.

2. I'm also aware that Fox makes replacement springs for the 40, but from what I've heard these are made from traditional steel.

So if you want to increase your spring rate you will also be increasing the weight of your fork... someone here once said that to do so would bring the fork into the average weight range for a DH race fork of about 7.5lbs. (Listed weight is 6.79lbs.)

Can those with experience with the Fox 40 shed some light on this?

Thanks.
 

blt2ride

Turbo Monkey
May 25, 2005
2,333
0
Chatsworth
Well, I wouldn't really call it deceptive, it's just "creative marketing." Which is pretty normal for just about everything in life, from cell phones to cars.

To be honest, most bike products are set-up for someone in the weight range of 130-160 pounds--which is about 40 pounds short of the American dream... :D
 

dropmachine

Turbo Monkey
Sep 7, 2001
2,922
10
Your face.
I am 200 pounds, and on certain trails the stock spring works for me. Not for hucking or anything, but smoother runs its no problem. I love soft forks though, and tend to hang off the back. And to top if off, I'm slow.

I also have the heavy spring, and it definately helps with bottoming issues.


even if it does get that little bit heavier, big deal. Unless you are super anal about weight, the performance justifies the weight increase anyways.
 

dante

Unabomber
Feb 13, 2004
8,807
9
looking for classic NE singletrack
uh, I'm 160 w/o gear, and the stock Ti spring is perfect for me as well. True I don't do the MAD HUCKORZ to flat, yo, but have yet to have a hard bottom-out. Every once in a long time on miscalculated gap or g-out it might come close, but overall its been fine for me.
 

S.K.C.

Turbo Monkey
Feb 28, 2005
4,096
25
Pa. / North Jersey
Dante!

Hey - this is the guy from the Open - you were generous enough to let me have a beer or two on the course during the men's final.

I was at Mt. Snow racing and heard about the crash. How's everything healing? WTF happened anyway?! You slid-out on the waterfall, and then you wound up with stitches on your face??? Did a rock penetrate your full-face? Crazy. Hope you're feeling better.

So basically the stock Ti spring IS on the soft side, but as far as performance in race conditions, it depends on your riding style if it will bottom...

Does anyone know if they will make replacement Ti springs in the future, or if it is possible to use Ti springs from elsewhere to substitute? Can anyone confirm a weight with a non-stock steel spring?

Thanks for the input guys.
 

buildyourown

Turbo Monkey
Feb 9, 2004
4,832
0
South Seattle
I'm 175# geared up and the stock spring is perfect for me. I run the preload knob all the way out. If I were any lighter, I would need the softer spring. My shiver's stock spring was softer.
This isn't creative marketing. Name another fork that comes with 3 springs to choose from.
 

dante

Unabomber
Feb 13, 2004
8,807
9
looking for classic NE singletrack
S.K.C. said:
Dante!

I was at Mt. Snow racing and heard about the crash. How's everything healing? WTF happened anyway?! You slid-out on the waterfall, and then you wound up with stitches on your face??? Did a rock penetrate your full-face? Crazy. Hope you're feeling better.
Ha, wow, sounds like I'm really disfigured by the rumors going around. :cool:

Nah, went down at the Waterfall section on my second run, and cut my side open pretty nicely. Relatively minor crash, too, but needed about a dozen stitches (7 on the outside, not sure how many internal ones) to close it up. No damage to the squishy bits inside, and didn't puncture the abdominal muscle either. Worst part was it was the 2nd run on thurs. morning. :dead: Oh well, got to hang out the rest of the weekend and sip my bottled water and take lots of antibiotics. Sucks, but what can you do? Have to give some back to the mtn biking gods at some point...

:cool:

obligatory pic:

 

S.K.C.

Turbo Monkey
Feb 28, 2005
4,096
25
Pa. / North Jersey
Jesus... wow - a little bit more to the right and you could've given yourself an appendectimy. :D

That's like my worst nightmare - getting rip/sawed on a rock. Glad to hear you are O.K. and that all your innards remained inward. Yeah - I was just racing Beginner/Sport taking it easy and during my first practice run on Thurs. the guy in front of me went down at the top of the Rox Garden and broke his wrist...

Take care - you think you're gonna try the Duryea Downhill in Reading this year? - it's totally nuts, but in a good way. :D
 

dante

Unabomber
Feb 13, 2004
8,807
9
looking for classic NE singletrack
dunno, depends on what the doc says. seeing as its still bleeding, it's gonna take a while to heal. seeing as the doc did give me permission to mtn bike (in my mind stationary bike = easy ride on paved path = mtn biking), so I think its just going to be a question as to how long it takes to heal. Platt's got a race the weekend after Labor day, *and* its the night ride, but think that's still probably going to be a bit early.

Oh well, I count myself VERY lucky after seeing how a lot of other guys got hurt.

You probably saw me at some point, I was the guy walking around like a 90-year-old man. :D
 

Tarpon

Monkey
Jun 23, 2004
226
0
North Bend, WA
buildyourown said:
I'm 175# geared up and the stock spring is perfect for me. I run the preload knob all the way out. If I were any lighter, I would need the softer spring. My shiver's stock spring was softer.
This isn't creative marketing. Name another fork that comes with 3 springs to choose from.
The Avalnache DHF-Ti (and I believe the White Bros DH2.0) has a spring stack. That may qualify since you stack multiple springs in series to set the weight range. With the DHF-Ti you benefit from being on the upper end of it's rated weight range where you are using the Ti spring only (the two lighter settings use short steel springs).
 

Fulton

Monkey
Nov 9, 2001
825
0
S.K.C. said:
So I remember reading where a Monkey was talking about this somewhere, but couldn't find it after searching...

Info I've gathered thus far:

1. The 40 RC2 comes from the factory with a Ti spring in the left leg. This spring is extremely soft, and probably only suitable for riders that are about 120 to 140 lbs.

2. I'm also aware that Fox makes replacement springs for the 40, but from what I've heard these are made from traditional steel.

So if you want to increase your spring rate you will also be increasing the weight of your fork... someone here once said that to do so would bring the fork into the average weight range for a DH race fork of about 7.5lbs. (Listed weight is 6.79lbs.)

Can those with experience with the Fox 40 shed some light on this?

Thanks.
marzocchi weighs their forks without steerer tubes, and most likely, without oil. I think that would qualitfy as deceptive.
 
Jul 17, 2003
832
0
Salt Lake City
Fulton said:
marzocchi weighs their forks without steerer tubes, and most likely, without oil. I think that would qualitfy as deceptive.
When the 888 first came out, Marzo was talking about an eight pound target weight (8 inches, 8 pounds, 8 . . . um . . . funtimes?). Ours have been consistently coming out of the boxes at 7.5 - 7.6 pounds, including axle and steerer. But, you're right in a general sense. Listing a fork weight without axle and steerer included is like listing a brakeset weight with no rotors . . . sort of missing something important.
 

Zutroy

Turbo Monkey
Dec 9, 2004
2,443
0
Ventura,CA
Interesting the 06 stuff on the website is listed without the steerer, but then they have the steerer weight next to it.....actually kinda a smart idea.
 

dhrace507

Monkey
Apr 2, 2004
139
0
Mountains
When I took my 40 straight out of the box, I put it on the postal scale to see if the rumors are true. With and uncut steerer, it read 6 lbs. 12 oz. exactly. That would actually be under the listed weight by a small bit. I lopped off some steerer and there goes some more weight. I have friends who are around 150-170 and the stock springs is good, I ride a bit differently and am 155, and I have a stiffer spring. It is ti, and I'm sure you can get one of you talk to someone at Fox. It would cost a fortune to include three ti springs with each fork, so that is why they have steel options in the fork's box.
 

S.K.C.

Turbo Monkey
Feb 28, 2005
4,096
25
Pa. / North Jersey
DHrace - thanx for the weight info - I think I recall someone else saying that the fork weighed less than the posted weight on the website... hmmmm now if someone just had a digital scale reading to permanently to rest...
 

Jm_

sled dog's bollocks
Jan 14, 2002
18,855
9,560
AK
Fulton said:
marzocchi weighs their forks without steerer tubes, and most likely, without oil. I think that would qualitfy as deceptive.
Marzocchi lists the weight of the various steerers, it's on the same chart that has the weight of the forks. They've been doing this for a while now. They are not hiding anything.

The forks do include oil, and over the last few years, they have been very accurate, much more so than other companies.
 

blt2ride

Turbo Monkey
May 25, 2005
2,333
0
Chatsworth
S.K.C. said:
So I remember reading where a Monkey was talking about this somewhere, but couldn't find it after searching...

Info I've gathered thus far:

1. The 40 RC2 comes from the factory with a Ti spring in the left leg. This spring is extremely soft, and probably only suitable for riders that are about 120 to 140 lbs.

2. I'm also aware that Fox makes replacement springs for the 40, but from what I've heard these are made from traditional steel.

So if you want to increase your spring rate you will also be increasing the weight of your fork... someone here once said that to do so would bring the fork into the average weight range for a DH race fork of about 7.5lbs. (Listed weight is 6.79lbs.)

Can those with experience with the Fox 40 shed some light on this?

Thanks.
Is the 6.79lbs weight wet or dry?
 

oly

skin cooker for the hive
Dec 6, 2001
5,118
6
Witness relocation housing
Jm_ said:
The forks do include oil, and over the last few years, they have been very accurate, much more so than other companies.
In my experience, never enough oil...... Every Marz fork ive owned (5), has had to be filled with a bunch of oil to get the performance where it should be.

If Acadain wasnt on vacation he could post up the photo of a stock 40 on a digital scale.... I remember seeing it when they first came out. I weighed mine out of the box and it was within the range as stated, but I never took a picture of it.