[frorider]

recently rode a shop's enduro/fox 36 in the parking lot. was suprised at how non-linear the spring rate was. for just a couple of ounces more, you could have a coil-spring manitou breakout plus and have a plusher, more linear feel and have position sensitive damping for the big hits. but maybe the fox 36 i rode on wasn't set up right.

guess my question is how does the fox 36 feel on rocky downhills compared to coil spring marz 66 and manitou breakout?

 

[Bicyclist]

Personally, I like very progressive suspension so I would go for the Marzocchi or the Fox. Manitous feel too linear to me.

 

[dhrace507]

What was the Fox suspension set at? As far as the compression knobs go under the fork's right leg?

 

[Mtnrider]

The 36 is very adjustable, I just bought a 36 RC2 a couple of weeks ago after running a Z1 for a couple of years on my Heckler. I really like the 36 it is way stifffer than the 2001 Z1 I had and way more adjustable. It is a great fork for me on my trail bike.

 

[J5ive]

I have the 36r. And like you say it doesnt ride like a coil fork in the car park. Hit the trails though and its about the smoothest thing out there. But the best part is the lark of flex. These things make a sherman feel like a noodle.

 

[frorider]

Personally, I like very progressive suspension so I would go for the Marzocchi or the Fox. Manitous feel too linear to me.

are you talking about spring rate or damping rate? all coil forks i've ridden--marzocchi, manitou, fox, etc.--have a plush, linear spring rate feel; on the better coil forks from all these companies, you can usually adjust the damping to give a supple feeling on small bumps but more aggressive damping on big hits.


my sherman 1.5 breakout has better torsional and all-round stiffness than a marz z150, and more than some of the crappier double-crown forks out there. i could tell that the fox 36 is very stiff torsionally, and so it might be stiffer than the manitou 1.5 inch breakout, but i'm not sure that's a big deal. would like to ride one with the same wheel build to do a direct comparison.

during my short ride i played around w/ all the damping adj on the fox36, and they have a noticeable effect. however the bottom line for me was that while the fox36 felt better than any air fork i've ridden, it still felt too much like an air fork despite the coil technology in there that fox uses to help linearize the net spring rate. if the fox 36 saved a bunch of weight over my old 6 inch travel sherman breakout, then i'd consider living with the air fork feel of the 36 travel, but since the weight difference is so tiny i'm just not seeing any advantage there.

 

[dsb1829]

If you wait long enough Fox will be releasing a Coil version of the 36 and it is black instead of poo brown. Best of both worlds and drop the weight weannie factor too.

 

[slang]

I want one in black Ah well. impatience has it's toll tho

strangely enough, the brown's starting to grow on me. The coil's gonna be called the 36 van I believe

anyway, you really have to play with the knobs below the right leg to see what this fork's about. This thing shines going down tons and tons of bumps, or it can be set up to do just big hit, or a little bit of both (can you say perfect whistler fork?). stiff as hell too, i've never felt so confident going down steep ladders before, there is no give.

 

[OGRipper]

drop the weight weannie factor too.

Huh, someone with an air 36 is a weight weanie? I guess heavier is a good to you?

The coil version also will not have the TALAS adjustable travel. The adjustability of the air version has some advantages for some people, especially those looking for a multi-purpose, adjustable fork.

 

[frorider]

rock shox and manitou have coil forks with infinitely adjustable travel. i wonder why Fox can't make one.

 

[schweino1]

I tried both the 36RC2 and the 66RC.... went for the 66.... had a sherman before that, and let me tell you, i hate SPV now....

the 36, i just dont like the way air shocks feels...

 

[punkassean]

The 36 is a HIGH tech fork. It takes some tuning to get it to feel perfect but in the end it feels awesome. I am running mine right at the recommended PSI for my weight which makes it feel VERY linear and prone to bottoming. Then I run the high speed compression in pretty far to resist actually bottoming. Of course there is the factory bottom-out damper too which also prevents harsh bottoming. I prefer the low speed compression pretty much backed all the way out for a really active feel but if you wanted more pedaling efficiency you could turn it in a few clicks easily.

WHat I'm saying is this fork has a lot of adjustments and once you get them set up right you have a smooth buttery active fork that moves freely through it's travel but DOESN'T bottom out. IMO that is perfect. Not to mention the über-stiffness and super-quality construction.

I would consider rocking the coil 36 if it had a wind-down feature but only because it has 10mm more travel (and it's black) not because it's a coil. Fox has air DIALED.

 

[frorider]

called Fox today, learned a couple of things. the DHX Air shock is going to ship soon, even for aftermarket. but 7.785 inch will just come w/ 2.0 travel.

And the coil version 36 fork should be shipping within 'a month', he said.

PAS, I believe your comments about the 36 air. It's not like I had time to really play with all the adjustments--perhaps the air chamber just had too much pressure. any air shock starts to feel more linear as you lower pressure, so when i borrow someone's 36 i'll go low and then use aggressive damping to compensate.