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Next Fox fork?

4xBoy

Turbo Monkey
Jun 20, 2006
7,014
2,847
Minneapolis
So whats the guess,

I will go with a 40 single crown.

Or cheat with the logical 40 getting the QR axle and 8" post mount brake.


Any other guesses?
 

Zark

Hey little girl, do you want some candy?
Oct 18, 2001
6,254
7
Reno 911
The axle on the 40 has always bugged me.
Not because its not QR, but because the allen head (a 5mm) is on a seperate threaded cap from the axle itself.....which can break loose and results in a very stuck axle in dropout situation.
Why do they do this? It seems heavy and inefficient to have the unnecessary threaded interface that can have problems.
 

Zark

Hey little girl, do you want some candy?
Oct 18, 2001
6,254
7
Reno 911
I am going with a thru axle 32 fork, 20mm dropouts on that fork would be perfect for 4X and lighter trailbikes
Why? The Float 36 is as light as any 32mm stanchioned, 20mm axle fork I can think of.

It has added stiffness at the same weight, so whats the benefit of the 32mm stanchions?
 

Transcend

My Nuts Are Flat
Apr 18, 2002
18,040
3
Towing the party line.
Alot of 4x racers want to be able to lower their forks below 100mm. Personally I would like a F80 with a through axle. the only reason I brought it up is I recieved word taht their was protos of this fork in existence and being tested
The entire 4x/DJ.Slalom community has asked for a 80-100mm through axle fork from fox. I ran a float RLC forever. It was getting hammered from DJing with those spindly little crowns.

I'd like to see a 80mm 36 20QR fork personally.
 

syadasti

i heart mac
Apr 15, 2002
12,690
290
VT
Alot of 4x racers want to be able to lower their forks below 100mm. Personally I would like a F80 with a through axle. the only reason I brought it up is I recieved word taht their was protos of this fork in existence and being tested
The new Fox/Shimano 15mm standard is teh ghey - a new standard to save less than 10 grams and piss off consumers:

http://www.raleigh.co.za/blogs.php?blogId=182&authorId=5

NEWS FOR 2009
Written By Jan Begemann | Date 2007-12-12

Last week was the week of new product launches for MY 2009, held in the capitol city of bicycle industry Taichung City, Taiwan. Nearly all important bike part makers held their first presentations, except Shimano. The Japanese guys always prefer to go their own way...
What I could see was not really revolutionary, but many companies made some very good improvements of their current stuff.
Some examples:
- Fox has now realised, that there are riders who would like to have a remote lever.
- Mavic will have some really exciting new wheelsets for road and mtb.
- The Magura forks are in performance now definitely on the level of Fox, but already a few grams lighter.
- The SRAM Rival groupset will have carbon brake levers.
- Seems that anodized colors are coming back, and everyone offers glossy white handlebars.
More interesting for me as a product managers were 2 other "improvements", and one of them was a matter of considerable debate as most of my colleagues (including me) don't really understand what this shall be good for. Fox and Shimano will introduce a new 15mm "standard" for front hubs, which means Shimano will offer front hubs with 15mm thru axle and Fox will build the forks.
First of all, this is not really a standard, because this system is patented by Shimano / Fox. A standard should be open for everyone, otherwise it's not a standard. Second problem: There is no real reason for this system. Rock Shox and Mavic have already improved the 20mm thru axle system in a way that the estimated weight difference between 15mm and 20mm thru axle may be 10 grams, not more! And comparing to a standard QR system the 15mm is still a thru axle and might not be accepted by the cross country riders, because it takes too much time to get the wheel out of the fork. Instead of introducing a 3rd "standard" I think it would make more sense to improve the current standard QR. DT Swiss already offers a very good system, a 9mm oversize QR, that still matches to standard dropouts. For me it seems that the only reason the new 15mm "standard" is to f... Rock Shox / SRAM - they have the patent on the "Maxle" system, which is by far the best existing thru axle system. At this point I would like to say "Thank you very much" to Magura. They agree with me regarding the "Maxle", and instead of introducing a 4th standard, they just buy the Maxle from Rock Shox and put it in their forks!
The most interesting issue for me was something that only became possible, because Cannondale did exactly the opposite of Shiamno and Fox. They opened the patent on their current BB system for everyone, now called the "BB30" standard, which for me is the best BB system on the market. FSA and SRAM already picked it up and will offer chainwheels for road and mtb from 2009 on. The "BB30" requires a bigger bb shell diameter, but I think this system will be the future as it obviously allows to build lighter cranks combined with more stiffness in the whole system. More details will follow.

Cheers,

Jan
 

Banshee Rider

Turbo Monkey
Jul 31, 2003
1,452
10
15mm standard? Sweet, I now have another reason to continue not riding fox forks and shimano components.
 

bent^biker

Turbo Monkey
Feb 22, 2006
1,958
0
pdx
id be sold on the 40 float, the talas would probably be just about as successful as the boxxer ride though.
 

SamB

Chimp
Dec 4, 2007
37
0
New Zealand
A 40 float would be cool, but would it really save that much weight over having a ti spring? I think a 36 float triple would be sick though, imagine how light that would be.

Don't think either of these will be seen in production in the near future though....
 

Transcend

My Nuts Are Flat
Apr 18, 2002
18,040
3
Towing the party line.
Yea a 40 float would be cool, but would it really save that much weight than having a ti spring? Also, IMO talas forks feel like crap in comparison to van and float forks, especially for lighter riders (like me) so I would hate to see it in a dh fork. I think a 36 float triple would be sick though, imagine how light that would be.

Don't think either of these will be seen in production in the near future though...
Eh? I have ridden float forks for a long time. I have ridden the 40 since just before it was launched as well. The 2008 Talas feels better than any float products I have ridden to date, up through a 2007 float.

If you are a light guy, you should be running a light steel spring, as the Ti 40 spring is for guys weighing 180 and up. The stock light steel spring is the same weight as the Ti one. Lightweight DH riders are in the minority.

The stock heavy spring (Yellow) is 420g. That's a fair amount of weight to shave off of your fork, something you have to continually move around.

Anyone heavier than the stock weight takes a HUGE hit in spring weight when they go to a heavy or extra heavy steel spring. The air fork would benefit them greatly. I'd ride a 40 that felt like my talas in a heartbeat. A half pound or so off the front end is a big deal to me as a light rider.
 
Sep 12, 2004
261
0
Seems weird Fox is going the way of creating a new standard, they generally wait to do big changes. They are finally producing a 1.5 steerer 36 for 2009 and just started to build 29er forks
...you can actually buy one now. i just got the 2008 fox price list and the 1.5in steerer tube 36 forks are listed on there. i heard jan 2008 - well its jan 2008 so i think you can buy those. and their 29er stuff has been out for a few months at this point.

and as for the new fork - id be surprised if fox didnt come out with a long travel single crown to compete with the 66 and totem series

and a fork for the 4x dj guys
 

William42

fork ways
Jul 31, 2007
3,908
634
the 36 series are some of the stiffest forks i've ever ridden - maybe a 203mm travel version of the 36float

edit: yes, i realize that'd be like fox saying that, actually after all these years of saying their 40mm stantions actually aren't as amazing as they'd claimed, so they wont actually do it, but it'd still be nice!

maybe they could justify it on the grounds that the new QR makes up for the stantions
 

Heath Sherratt

Turbo Monkey
Jun 17, 2004
1,871
0
In a healthy tension
80mm Dj fork w/QR
1.5 Steerer for 36
1.5 Single crown 7in fork
40 Float
The future...believe it.

They do need to change that thru axle system. The only thing i would change about the 40...pretty much perfect fork for me.
 

Transcend

My Nuts Are Flat
Apr 18, 2002
18,040
3
Towing the party line.
80mm Dj fork w/QR
1.5 Steerer for 36
1.5 Single crown 7in fork
40 Float
The future...believe it.
That's pretty much a standard product path I'd say, ya. The 1.5 36 as mentioned, is shipping soon I believe.

A lot of riders have been asking for a 40 float for awhile now. It's a 2009 product if it is happening, which means shipping end of February or beginning of March. I've asked and asked and got no firm reply about it for a good 9 months now, which is usually pretty telling.

A 20QR on the 40 would make my damn year. A teammate and my bikes usually travel in his backseat, as the hitch rack kept hitting the ground in his car. This means lots of wheel removing. I'm also asking orange for some Maxle rear ends to go with it. :)
 

Heath Sherratt

Turbo Monkey
Jun 17, 2004
1,871
0
In a healthy tension
That's pretty much a standard product path I'd say, ya. The 1.5 36 as mentioned, is shipping soon I believe.

A lot of riders have been asking for a 40 float for awhile now. It's a 2009 product if it is happening, which means shipping end of February or beginning of March. I've asked and asked and got no firm reply about it for a good 9 months now, which is usually pretty telling.

A 20QR on the 40 would make my damn year. A teammate and my bikes usually travel in his backseat, as the hitch rack kept hitting the ground in his car. This means lots of wheel removing. I'm also asking orange for some Maxle rear ends to go with it. :)
Yeah, Maxle rear ends seem pretty money. Haven't had too much time workin with those yet but they seem pretty ideal.
 

SamB

Chimp
Dec 4, 2007
37
0
New Zealand
Eh? I have ridden float forks for a long time. I have ridden the 40 since just before it was launched as well. The 2008 Talas feels better than any float products I have ridden to date, up through a 2007 float.

If you are a light guy, you should be running a light steel spring, as the Ti 40 spring is for guys weighing 180 and up. The stock light steel spring is the same weight as the Ti one. Lightweight DH riders are in the minority.

The stock heavy spring (Yellow) is 420g. That's a fair amount of weight to shave off of your fork, something you have to continually move around.

Anyone heavier than the stock weight takes a HUGE hit in spring weight when they go to a heavy or extra heavy steel spring. The air fork would benefit them greatly. I'd ride a 40 that felt like my talas in a heartbeat. A half pound or so off the front end is a big deal to me as a light rider.
Yep thats fair enough. I haven't ridden any of the 08 Fox forks so I can't really comment on them, thats just based on my experiences with the older ones. I loved my 07 36 Float, have ridden on a couple of Talas's and didn't really like them that much, but thats just my opinion. I'm running a Medium Ti spring in my 40's at the moment but I'm going to be getting an extra soft one soon (got a new dh rig a couple of months back and haven't had the chance to set them up yet, got a broken wrist so can't ride it for a few weeks anyway).
 

dhkid

Turbo Monkey
Mar 10, 2005
3,358
0
Malaysia
an air 40 wouldn't ride like a coil 40 at all. thats why fox aren't going to release a 40 float.

what i would love to see is a 36 dual crown fork. :drool: