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New Fox forks

englertracing

you owe me a sandwich
Mar 5, 2012
1,657
1,143
La Verne
New hair. Every single time.

Just how DOES he do that!!??


Seems like the comp damping is a fairly easy fix with some stiffer base shims or coming up with a way to preload them more. Hard to tell without one in hand.



I still don't see anything other than weight that makes me want to get rid of my old casting 36. At least the steerer tube is clocked correctly.
ive been daydreaming about the grip 2 base vales for a while now.
the 2020 and older are a degressive recessed piston where the adjuster preloads the shim down into the recess as the adjuster is turned. The issue is that the preload creates a threashold which must be overcome, and secondly that using a piston thats recessed instead of dished exposes the entire perimeter of the shim to flow so its a very degressive setup.

On to VVC, it must be understood that vvc is not a ramp as in adding preload, there is no height change only the distance from center to where the vvc plate makes contact with the leaf spring. The further out the plate contacts the leaf the softer it is, the further in, the stiffer it is. This simulates the effect of varying clamp shim size rather than preload.

I had an idea to fix my 2020 grip 2 cartridge. A different base valve piston, one with 3 or 4 ports flat top, a shim stack, topped with another inverted shim stack backed with a cup, actuated by the high speed adjuster.



I stole the idea from the bottom picture, a kyb "leaf spring" mid valve labeled "new KYB style float", only in my implementation the cup would be moveable. The stack against the piston would operate as a normal stack, the stack against the cup would be preloaded, and would be stiffer than the stack against the piston (unlike how its shown), so the piston stack would deflect first, and the preloaded cup stack would allow the entire piston stack to lift off at high velocity.
but there is lots of tinkering to do with that..... Im certain the 2020 grip 2 recessed perimeter piston is not a good candidate for this system, so a new piston would have to be sourced or made, the cup is easy to make, or could be sourced from a motorcycle application.



I can make all that shit, but i have like 750,000 other projects, and 90% of them already go "why did I get myself into this?" and the testing, and fuggin around with things like that, combined with the massive friction of the air side of these forks......... which makes the dampening feel bad anyways.
I said fuggit and threw an RC2 back in there..... and tell people i like it better.

maybe a good step would be to toss the vvc or preload system and rely on a properly tailored shim stack on a reasonable piston design...... like every other suspension critical application uses.
 

spocomptonrider

sportin' the CROCS
Nov 30, 2007
1,412
118
spokanistan
What was the pinnacle year for the 36 @kidwoo? ca2015?? Was that the one everyone bitched about since they actually shimmed it for the minority of people who actually used it to its potential, and convertible 20mm to unridabruMM axle?
3092A124-8107-460D-BB4D-092961ED4F2E.jpeg

This one?
 

ChrisRobin

Turbo Monkey
Jan 30, 2002
3,403
212
Vancouver
So I opened up my 38 just to see there was too much/too little oil and grease. Not too bad. Like in Steve's video, regular damper oil in the damper leg and looks like Fox Gold in the air side. The seals were dry though.

As for that steerer tube thing, yeah...mine isn't anywhere near as bad as the one Steve showed in his video. Mine still isn't 100% though, but close. It should be warranty issue and I wonder if Fox is gonna release some sort of recall?? Would Fox do something like that? Typical Fox though rushing their products out.

Oh and I saw that it would be easy to convert this thing to coil with minimal work...and 888 springs fit (I checked with a spare Ti spring). They'd have to cut down obviously.

As for the damper, the foot nuts for the damper and spring side look identical to the ones on my 36 RC2. I just don't know if the compression top cap can be pulled apart and have a different damper like the RC2 installed.

Oh yeah, I also checked weights: Fox 38 Factory is 5.1 lbs while my Fox 36 Factory with Push ACS3 is 5.2 lbs.
 
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kidwoo

Artisanal Tweet Curator
What was the pinnacle year for the 36 @kidwoo? ca2015?? Was that the one everyone bitched about since they actually shimmed it for the minority of people who actually used it to its potential, and convertible 20mm to unridabruMM axle?View attachment 144729
This one?
That one with a coil conversion maybe. Or find a last gen talas cart to throw in there. That's what I did with mine that's the same chassis (not sure on year, I bought it from a buddy). The 2015s had and air spring that bound and stuck. That's why they sucked so bad. That's why the luftwaffle that steve makes happened plus the offset piston the guy here made happened. They were complete shit with that stock air spring IMO.

I'm not sure there is an 'ideal year'. I've got a 2015/16 with a tuned rc2 cart that I run at 160mm travel that I like, and a "2016" that's not really a 2016 because it's the same old CSU and lowers they used forever previously. But that was the only fork they sold with 180mm travel at the time apparently. That's the stiffest one but it's also the heaviest.

I'd pretty much just say any of the ones with a 20mm axle, coil, or last gen talas are fine IMO. Even when their air springs were 'good' they weren't that good.

Is that your bike?
 
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spocomptonrider

sportin' the CROCS
Nov 30, 2007
1,412
118
spokanistan
Thanks woo. Yea that’s my old unrideabru wheel size bike that I’ve had forever... appreciate the info. I’ve got some other ones in the works but it’s the only one that rolls currently. The air spring sucks in that fork, can confirm. It’s a RC2 float from 2015ish I think.
 

kidwoo

Artisanal Tweet Curator
Stick a sprang in that bitch.



It's expensive but you'll have a better fork than the new fangled road bike nonsense the rest of the world is throwing at you.
 

englertracing

you owe me a sandwich
Mar 5, 2012
1,657
1,143
La Verne
What was the pinnacle year for the 36 @kidwoo? ca2015?? Was that the one everyone bitched about since they actually shimmed it for the minority of people who actually used it to its potential, and convertible 20mm to unridabruMM axle?View attachment 144729
This one?
I think they accidently put a bunch of 831 cartridges which feature a straight shim stack in the standard forks.
 

HAB

Chelsea from Seattle
Apr 28, 2007
11,589
2,021
Seattle
I think the best one out of the box was the 2018, when you could still get a 20mm axle, they still had the RC2 damper, and they had the NA2 air spring without the transfer shaft that bound up. No reduced offset option though.

If you have the older air spring, the MRP Fulfill conversion makes a pretty big difference. Not even really because adjusting the positive and negative air separately is that big a deal, but mostly just because it gets rid of the bindy transfer shaft.