[Neuro]

After three years of race with my old Fox 40 2005 it's time to change..I have the opportunity to buy a "like new Fox 40 2007",used three times, at a good price, or buy a new 2008 .
Anyone knows if there are substantial and important differences between the two model..
I didn't like the feeling on my 2005 too much...because it was very very linear...In your opinion 2008 models are different?

Thanks in advance...and excuse me for my bad grammar

 

[dhkid]

just spend money on a new cart, you should be able to get the 08 carts soon. i dont think they are any changes besides the cart. the 08 cart has more low speed compression on it, hence riders needing to drop spring rates. and it is smoother through the whole stroke.

 

[DHS]

just spend money on a new cart, you should be able to get the 08 carts soon. i dont think they are any changes besides the cart. the 08 cart has more low speed compression on it, hence riders needing to drop spring rates. and it is smoother through the whole stroke.

riiight and new cart cost, $350. also you'll have to pay someone to install it.

buy the new 08. its better.

 

[stiksandstones]

I have an 08 for sale
has 15 runs on it, from a girl....mint, with box and all the items included as new-Springs, etc....built in race shop not OEM
stiksandstones@gmail.com
steer is cut to 7.5"

 

[Tootrikky]

riiight and new cart cost, $350. also you'll have to pay someone to install it.

buy the new 08. its better.

Or you could spend ten minutes and swap it yourself. I think the cartridge could be a good option..

 

[Frorider1]

I have an 08 40 for sale...1200. 2 rides on it.

pm me for pics or email me at sealso331@yahoo.com

 

[DhDork]

Speaking of new 40's, are they going to release a white one with nickel coated stantions, like on the Yeti 303, and Atherton's bike for Worlds, this next year?

 

[gonefirefightin]

It really doesnt matter too much about the differences. the only change is the 07 has a newer fit cartridge that makes the fork more moto style. It relies more on dampening with the cartridge rather than using more of the spring with earlier models. I have just upgraded my old 40's by purchasing the new fit cartridge and installing into the old 40's. I will check on the possibility wit the new stanchions. as far as I know right now they are just being fielded on the yeti team and have been using them to see if they last longer than the current coatings.

I will let you know this week.

 

[Npdh]

It really doesnt matter too much about the differences. the only change is the 07 has a newer fit cartridge that makes the fork more moto style. It relies more on dampening with the cartridge rather than using more of the spring with earlier models. I have just upgraded my old 40's by purchasing the new fit cartridge and installing into the old 40's. I will check on the possibility wit the new stanchions. as far as I know right now they are just being fielded on the yeti team and have been using them to see if they last longer than the current coatings.

I will let you know this week.

About the nickel stanchions, here in ride monkey there is a topic where this theme is talk, they said that nickel stanchions won't be for selling in a long time, they only are (until) for riders and for ameliorate their condition in bike.

=)

 

[dhkid]

riiight and new cart cost, $350. also you'll have to pay someone to install it.

buy the new 08. its better.

you got to pretty daft not to be able to install a cart, otherwise i am sure a bike shop should be able to do it if you needed the help. and its still $1250 cheaper then a whole fork when the cart is the main difference.

 

[Broken_Spoke]

you got to pretty daft not to be able to install a cart, otherwise i am sure a bike shop should be able to do it if you needed the help. and its still $1250 cheaper then a whole fork when the cart is the main difference.

But the original post said the for was raced. That means the fork could be fatigued and you don't know when something will go. If you buy a brand new fork no fatigue period.

 

[sayndesyn]

Wouldn't happen to be from a fast girl?

I have an 08 for sale
has 15 runs on it, from a girl....mint, with box and all the items included as new-Springs, etc....built in race shop not OEM
stiksandstones@gmail.com
steer is cut to 7.5"

 

[dhkid]

But the original post said the for was raced. That means the fork could be fatigued and you don't know when something will go. If you buy a brand new fork no fatigue period.

fair enough if you are worried about fatigue, its just a suggestion that will save you alot of $$ if you want an 08 fork.

 

[stiksandstones]

Wouldn't happen to be from a fast girl?

Washed up girl, she rode it delicately.
$995 too, 205$ cheaper than the other guy and this was built in race shop---oh the bargains.

stiksandstones@gmail.com

 

[gonefirefightin]

here is the update on the update on the nickel stanchions, sorry i took so long been pretty busy. they are just an R&D item for specific end user item use, meaning there was only a few made and only a few being used and they are very specific about the usage these pieces are getting. it is basically a abuse and wear project they are looking into. I am trying to snag a set and if I do I will let you know if they are worth it. I was told that they arent going to be selling them this year unless they are making big differences.

 

[Neuro]

It really doesnt matter too much about the differences. the only change is the 07 has a newer fit cartridge that makes the fork more moto style. It relies more on dampening with the cartridge rather than using more of the spring with earlier models. I have just upgraded my old 40's by purchasing the new fit cartridge and installing into the old 40's. I will check on the possibility wit the new stanchions. as far as I know right now they are just being fielded on the yeti team and have been using them to see if they last longer than the current coatings.

I will let you know this week.

Have you upgrated your 40 with 2007 or 2008 cartridge?

 

[DhDork]

Oh, second question.

Why won't they produce a Float version of the 40? It would lose a LOT of weight, and the rider can of course tune it to the terrain. I can see it only working to their advantage.

 

[Threepointtwo]

I have 2 dh bikes (I know, sucks to be me) with Fox 40's. One 07 and one 08 and I can't tell a diffence save for slight styling cues. They both work great.

 

[gonefirefightin]

Have you upgrated your 40 with 2007 or 2008 cartridge?

yeah, I have two older 40's and have changed them both over to the newer cart. I have had no problems at all and it is super easy to do.

PM me if you have any questions

 

[X777]

Oh, second question.

Why won't they produce a Float version of the 40? It would lose a LOT of weight, and the rider can of course tune it to the terrain. I can see it only working to their advantage.

I have been asking myself same question... I gues they just waiting for right time to do so... this year is coming new 888 sl WC, next year it will be new version of boxxer... so if not 2009 , 2010 for sure ...

 

[dhkid]

Oh, second question.

Why won't they produce a Float version of the 40? It would lose a LOT of weight, and the rider can of course tune it to the terrain. I can see it only working to their advantage.

AFIK, they aren't going to do that. at least until there is a huge technological leap in air springs. the reason being that you cannot get a single chambered air spring to be linear like a coil spring. because fox believe that a linear coil spring is ideal for dh.

 

[Udi]

Why won't they produce a Float version of the 40? It would lose a LOT of weight..

Actually, I don't think it'd lose much weight.

The 40 is already running a single sided Ti spring, unlike say the 888RC2X that was running two steel coils and Boxxer Team/Race running one steel coil respectively - and therefore had a lot of potential for weight loss.

The 3120g weight-tag with a single Ti spring means that the 40 carries much of its weight in the chassis/damper as opposed to the spring, and replacing the spring with an air cartridge will very likely save little weight.

I'm quite sure they would have made the switch already otherwise, the Boxxer WC is on its 3rd year running (successfully) and the 888SL is on its 2nd (albeit with a few bugs to sort yet). The 40 is coming into its 4th year running, so I'd say that if they were going to change over they would have done it already.

As for dhkid's theory - that's just BS.

 

[dhkid]

well, thats what i got from a fox tech. he was saying how an air fork, esp with such long travel applications the fork will tend to supple in the beginning and ramp up towards the end. with the fork settling too low into the travel, and sometimes not being able to use full travel.

true, the 40 wont get to the weight of the boxxer by going to air. but if air really was such an upgrade over a linear coil spring, i am sure fox would have done it a long time ago, or at least offer it as another model.

edit, an air 40 would be roughly 6.3 lbs. rs says the wc is 6.2, team is 6.89. and my 40 is just about 7lbs with the steel spring.

 

[Udi]

Yeah that's BS - ride a boxxer that's been set up for your weight. It is incredibly close to linear IMO (at least in the 90-120psi range that my friends and I run them at, we range from 60-90kg) and definitely does not have any excessive progressiveness. I think for the most part that is a myth about air springs that is pretty well untrue (except when it comes to marzocchi, and that's only because they made the volume too small at bottom out + added that end stroke air chamber).

Beyond that, I've also found in practise that the solo air fork has noticeably less stiction than the boxxer team and fox40 because it doesn't have to deal with those rubber spring isolators rubbing on the inside of the stanchion (and instead only has 2 small sliding o-rings in the air leg IIRC). That's assuming that all forks have been built correctly (greased seals, adequate lube oil in lowers) leaving the spring setup as the only variable.

Weight saving is indeed the most important advantage to an air spring though, so like I said it makes complete sense that Fox aren't implementing it if they aren't going to see a tangible benefit in that respect (and by tangible I mean making it lighter than at least one of their competitors - the closest right now would be the 888 @ claimed 2910g. I don't see the 40 getting under 3000 without chassis changes).

 

[*Pepe*]

i find my '08 is much more 'stable', if that makes any sense. i can hold a line much better with this fork as it deflects much less. it's amazing how adding a shim here and there can affect the fork's performance.

anyway, at the end of the day, i think the 08 is a noticeable improvement over the 07.

 

[dhkid]

i have run a boxxer before, i used 105 psi, gave me 30% sag. i need to use a lot of compression to keep it from diving but i didn't feel it ramp up. what i did feel is what many boxxer wc riders describe as settling into its travel. i would have like to try it on my bike to really get a better feel for it.

IMO, it just comes down to what you prefer. and my impressions so far is that it wasn't my cup of tea.

i would really like to have a debate about this stuff, but judging from how stuff like this has gone lately on rm. i'll steer clear this time.

 

[dhkid]

i find my '08 is much more 'stable', if that makes any sense. i can hold a line much better with this fork as it deflects much less. it's amazing how adding a shim here and there can affect the fork's performance.

anyway, at the end of the day, i think the 08 is a noticeable improvement over the 07.

the 08 is supposed to have more lsc, and have a better transition from low speeds to high speeds. and fox pretty much spent a whole year reducing the tiny spikes that the fork goes through every cycle/compression.

 

[Udi]

If you had to run an excess of compression damping then you should have gone up 5psi in springrate at a time until you didn't have to.

IMO the only real issue with the fork (which isn't really an issue) is the huge range of adjustment and therefore the huge opportunity for error / choice in the way you set it up.

It really is worth trying it on your own bike and playing with the settings until you find what you like, because there definitely are enough options there to get it perfect for just about anyone.

As covered in the long boxxer thread, removing the blackbox speedstack assembly makes it a lot easier to tune conventionally/correctly as well (more LSC, less HSC, and springrate on the light side). So unless your friends don't mind you tearing into their stuff, you pretty much gotta own one.

But yeah - I wasn't trying to start a this vs. that debate here, was just pointing out why it would be illogical for fox to make a 40 float - just wouldn't give it the required weight advantage (expected from an air fork) without chassis changes. Of course fox won't admit that, but I think they dug a bit of a hole by going to such a large stanchion diameter in the first place. You can always go bigger, but what do you tell people when you have to go smaller?!

 

[dhkid]

i set the air pressure using the sag and i didn't want to up the pressure just to keep the fork higher in the travel.

when i did the first run on it, with no compression i just couldn't ride the bike at all, it was diving like crazy. and when i compared it to my 40 with min lsc, it still dived much less then the boxxer. i finally set the compression on the wc to 4 clicks to get it to where i was happy with. would have wanted to run more but it was getting a bit harsh on 5. maybe with your mod to reduce the platform it would be better.

udi, i know you have tested alot of 40s and found that they do not give enough lsc at all. but were they just parking lot tests? i do agree that it doesn't feel like there is much change from min to max lsc on the 40 untill you get on the trail.

anyways, like i said with min lsc the 40 dived less then the boxxer with both set at the same sag. up until recently i used to run min lsc since i like you didn't feel the difference in the parking lot. i only really felt a huge difference when i hit really tight berms and hard braking on steep sections. once i backed the lsc out to min on a steep rock garden where you had to drag your brakes into and i nearly went over the bars since the fork dived so much. i did that because i didn't think that the lsc was making much difference but i was proven wrong.

all i can say is that the lsc on the 40 works, maybe the actual shaft speeds that are considered low speed for rock shox and fox are different. my guess is that fox has slightly faster 'low speed' then rock shoxs 'low speed'

 

[bizutch]

I'm running an 08 DH40 this year and last year ran an 06 w/ 07 internals. Very little difference in the damping from '07 to '08, but there is subtle improvement. You can only tell in the slightest but nothing that I can put into words.

Still in love with it.