[gonefirefightin]

I got a delta 8 prototype from x fusion today and will be throwing it on a frame and riding it this weekend at north star and putting some miles on it to see how well it does.

the finish is for the prototypes only, they wont be selling the forks in raw. although I personally like the raw finish and think it should be OEM.

They have a through axle 35 mm integrated hub. It is very solid when connected and makes for very easy tear down and build up.

this model is the pro TA (travel adjust) model that basically will let you adjust the travel height from 8 - 5 inches on the fly. Air on one side and cartridge on the other. it also has an integrated crown/stem so there is no need for other parts.

The hub comes with the fork so you will have to build a wheel for the fork. industry 9 says they can make a wheel for the fork very easily and will have the same industry standards of weight and strength.

x fusion gave me this hub with a mavic 823 already mounted. it also has standard disc mounts.

when the wheel is mounted up, there is no real play or flex in the fork with twist. it seems really solid and light.

the whole set up seems to be a pretty good all around DH/freeride fork. with the travel able to be adjusted on the fly it opens alot of options for climbing, singletracks and drop runs.

The weight of the fork, hub, wheel, tube, tire and disc came out to just shy of 13.5 lbs wich is pretty good for an 8 inch race fork.

I have ridden the thing around the drive way a little but will hit north star with it this weekend, I will let you know how it does.

by the way, I will include pics of the travel adjust and possible geometry this weekend.

 

[freakrock]

isn't that a stratos s8?
it looks great. don't forget to post a review when you've got some time on it (and don't forget to weigh the fork alone)

 

[matt12]

I'll be at Northstar tomorrow. Hopefully you're there. I want to check that thing out.

 

[gonefirefightin]

the fork and hub weigh 7.69 by themselves

 

[ire]

cool fork, crummy pitbike

 

[dropmachine]

proprietary hubs = SUCKS. Goddamit there are standards for a reason!

the bike industry truly is the retarded uncool cousin that nobody talks to at family functions.

 

[Zark]

proprietary hubs = SUCKS. Goddamit there are standards for a reason!

the bike industry truly is the retarded uncool cousin that nobody talks to at family functions.

At least this time its for a reason. Inverted forks definitely need a larger axle diameter. The Foes forks use oversized hubs. Those are the stiffest inverted I've tried. But the other annoying part of the Foes forks were.......custom rotors!

This fork appearantly uses standard rotors. How they do that anyway?

 

[gonefirefightin]

This fork appearantly uses standard rotors. How they do that anyway?

nothing fancy, just a standard 4 bolt pattern.

 

[buildyourown]

proprietary hubs = SUCKS. Goddamit there are standards for a reason!

the bike industry truly is the retarded uncool cousin that nobody talks to at family functions.

Actually, compared to other industries, the bike biz is terribly restrained by it's antiquated "standards" like BB shell size and derailler shifting.
Can you take parts off of a Honda CR and put them on a Yamaha? NO.
If engineers where allowed to think outside the "standards", bikes would be stiffer and lighter and cheaper in the end.
Oh yeah, and ISIS BBs would last more than a week.


I'm sketched out by the size of those knobs on the dropouts, but the hub looks cool.

 

[buildyourown]

nothing fancy, just a standard 4 bolt pattern.

I hope that was a typo.

 

[wysiwyg]

ive seen these before...Bionicon freeride bike?

 

[toodles]

proprietary hubs = SUCKS. Goddamit there are standards for a reason!

the bike industry truly is the retarded uncool cousin that nobody talks to at family functions.

Amen bro... Non-standard items need to be boycotted by industry and consumers alike.

 

[Ozzer]

The one I saw at Fontucky is pretty rad. The hub thingie is kinda weird. If shimano ever comes out with a DH fork, it will have a dedicated hub spacing called Faint and it's spaced where you can only run center lock rotors. I like this Foes F1 trend.

 

[gonefirefightin]

I hope that was a typo.

nope, 4 bolts have been around longer than 6 bolts actually

Rohloff rotors

 

[karpi]

f%ck, now you'll be having to look for 4 bolt dh rotors? that's pretty tuff, it'll be lighter though heheh

 

[Jm_]

proprietary hubs = SUCKS. Goddamit there are standards for a reason!

the bike industry truly is the retarded uncool cousin that nobody talks to at family functions.

Yeah, I agree, but it's interesting too, because going to a massive hub is one of the ways to try and regain some of the tortional rigidity that's lost by going to an inverted design.

 

[Bikael Molton]

why does a dual crown fork need to travel adjust down to 5"?

 

[rosenamedpoop]

Wow, I was expecting to see a non-inverted design. Is there another proto design as well. By all accounts, the inverted design feels very good, but there were serious problems with dropout placement, the need for over long stems, and extra-tall axle to crown height. Any changes from the earlier proto (last spring)?

 

[gonefirefightin]

Wow, I was expecting to see a non-inverted design. Is there another proto design as well. By all accounts, the inverted design feels very good, but there were serious problems with dropout placement, the need for over long stems, and extra-tall axle to crown height. Any changes from the earlier proto (last spring)?

ah ha, yes indeed. we have a smart one here.....

if you look at the x fusion website you can see the changes between the original and this years prototype. the crowns have been set with the steerer more to the rear and the axle has been moved forward. if you look at the drop outs on the website yo can see how they are directly under the fork. they have now been moved out at an angle and the fork is more steering freindly with the new crown design.

 

[MattP.]

Proprietary hub and 4 bolt rotors, no thanks!

 

[rockwool]

What's the length of the stem and will it come in 25,4mm?

 

[rosenamedpoop]

ah ha, yes indeed. we have a smart one here.....

if you look at the x fusion website you can see the changes between the original and this years prototype. the crowns have been set with the steerer more to the rear and the axle has been moved forward. if you look at the drop outs on the website yo can see how they are directly under the fork. they have now been moved out at an angle and the fork is more steering freindly with the new crown design.

Sweet, I'm stoked to hear things are moving along. I look forward to trying a pair.

 

[dhkid]

a thread two pages long and no ride report of the fork?

 

[Wilhelm]

According to the freakin´guys of BIONICON (D), this impressive USD fork was developed by them but went to production by X-FUSION (TW). The BIONICON version is labeled "Special Agent" (http://www.bionicon.com/standard.xml?vpID=423&SID=1189969333_c33d00000002eccf901a), the X-FUSION version "Delta 8 Pro/Delta 8 Pro TA" (TA=travel adjust, http://www.x-fusion-shox.com/forks.html). BIONICON has a world wide patent on their special on the fly travel adjustment mechanism (they licenced it for SPECIALIZED).

Nice pics of the BIONICON "Special Agent" upside down fork version for year 2007 can be seen here: http://www.bionicon.com/standard.xml?vpID=434&SID=1189969350_164100000000000f07b6, http://www.azfreeride.com/?q=node/308 (including a ride report!).

• 100-200mm infinitely adjustable suspension travel, control switch on handlebar
• Air-Coil spring combination with linear suspension rate
• Safety spring and integrated bottom out protection
• Bomber head set and steerer tube System (F.I.T. Front Impact Transmission)
• Infinitely adjustable stem angles (for oversized 31.8mm Handlebar)
• Hardened 7075 aluminum stanchions (35mm, black) and upper legs (up to 43mm!)
• Hub 35: Large 35mm hollow thru-axle with AntiTwist technology always remainsa part of the hub and is easy to remove from the fork; Rohloff disk standard
• Quick-locking mechanism axle system

James HUANG reported from "Sea Otter Classic 2007" that X-FUSION presented the "Delta 8" fork with the "old" upper and lower crown as well as with the "old" straight dropouts.
http://www.cyclingnews.com/tech.php?id=/photos/2007/tech/features/sea_otter_507/X-Fusion_Delta_8
http://www.cyclingnews.com/tech.php?id=/photos/2007/tech/features/sea_otter_507/X-Fusion_Delta_8_adjustable_stem
http://www.cyclingnews.com/tech.php?id=/photos/2007/tech/features/sea_otter_507/X-Fusion_Delta_8_dropout_detail
http://www.cyclingnews.com/tech.php?id=/photos/2007/tech/features/sea_otter_507/X-Fusion_Delta_8_dropouts
http://www.cyclingnews.com/tech.php?id=/photos/2007/tech/features/sea_otter_507/X-Fusion_Delta_8_PlusHub
http://www.cyclingnews.com/tech.php?id=/photos/2007/tech/features/sea_otter_507/X-Fusion_Delta_8_TA
http://www.cyclingnews.com/tech.php?id=/photos/2007/tech/features/sea_otter_507/gallery-sea_otter_507
http://www.cyclingnews.com/tech.php?id=tech/2007/features/sea_otter_507.

The "old" crown design allows for a smaller turning radius in tight corners, if proper used. It would be nice to see a hub 35 mm hub by INDUSTRY 9! However, I think that this impressive USD DH/FR fork DC design is among the most promising at present.

 

[Wilhelm]

A nice prototype of a "HOPE Moto V2" vented disc (203 mm) according to the ROHLOFF 4 bolt standard pattern was presented recently:

pics
http://www.mtb-news.de/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=126046&d=1174669975
http://www.mtb-news.de/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=126045&d=1174669741
http://www.mtb-news.de/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=126044&d=1174669741
http://www.mtb-news.de/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=126043&d=1174669741
http://www.rohloff.de/index.php?eID=tx_cms_showpic&file=uploads/pics/HopeV2_Rohloff.JPG&width=500m&height=500&bodyTag=<body bgColor="#ffffff">&wrap=<a href="javascript:close();"> | </a>&md5=27e76d392cfe08d5f3c68e18bbd0885a

text
http://www.rohloff.de/de/aktuell/newsdatenrss/news_detail/article/rohloff-fahrer-des-monats-april//bp/346/index.html
http://www.mtb-news.de/forum/showthread.php?t=269256&highlight=Rohloff

 

[Jm_]

Nice pics of the BIONICON "Special Agent" upside down fork version for year 2007 can be seen here: http://www.bionicon.com/standard.xml?vpID=434&SID=1189969350_164100000000000f07b6, http://www.azfreeride.com/?q=node/308 (including a ride report!).

• 100-200mm infinitely adjustable suspension travel, control switch on handlebar
• Air-Coil spring combination with linear suspension rate
• Safety spring and integrated bottom out protection
• Bomber head set and steerer tube System (F.I.T. Front Impact Transmission)
• Infinitely adjustable stem angles (for oversized 31.8mm Handlebar)
• Hardened 7075 aluminum stanchions (35mm, black) and upper legs (up to 43mm!)
• Hub 35: Large 35mm hollow thru-axle with AntiTwist technology always remainsa part of the hub and is easy to remove from the fork; Rohloff disk standard
• Quick-locking mechanism axle system

James HUANG reported from "Sea Otter Classic 2007" that X-FUSION presented the "Delta 8" fork with the "old" upper and lower crown as well as with the "old" straight dropouts.

So it has no damping mechanism?

 

[rosenamedpoop]

Beautiful machine work on the crowns here, but funky steerer and dropout positioning.

Here you can see a noticeable difference in positioning.

 

[Wilhelm]

@Jm
I wonder why they say nothing about the damping mechanism too. All the characteristics of the fork I posted above were taken from the BIONICON hompage (http://www.bionicon.com/standard.xml?vpID=438&SID=1190006170_fcf0000073c8d32712c7).

 

[DhDork]

From what I know, it was produced by X-Fusion. My buddy rode for X-Fusion a while back, and they were asking what he would want. I gave him a bunch of ideas. ie: Air + Coil, integrated stem, and a few other things. I did however also tell him to tell them not to put on the proprietary hub. I think it's completely retarted to tell you the truth.

 

[gonefirefightin]

From what I know, it was produced by X-Fusion. My buddy rode for X-Fusion a while back, and they were asking what he would want. I gave him a bunch of ideas. ie: Air + Coil, integrated stem, and a few other things. I did however also tell him to tell them not to put on the proprietary hub. I think it's completely retarted to tell you the truth.

Who is your buddy?

 

[DhDork]

Who is your buddy?

Kenne Johnston.

You can see one of his X-Fusion ads from when he did ride for them. It's in the June/July issue of Bike from last year. That's if anyone even has one from that long ago.

 

[Wilhelm]

A picture of the "old" version of the Delta 8 fork with dropouts for standard 20 mm axles can be seen here: http://www.reset-racing.de/x-fusion/x-fusion_index1.htm. The company KOEHN makes the technical and warranty service for X-FUSION in Germany.

The Delta 8 fork made it´s official worldwide debut at Eurobike 2006 and was presented at Interbike 2006: http://content.mtbr.com/TRP_13_253_2crx.aspx.

The "old" version with the proprietary 35 mm hub was shown at Eurobike 2007 yet: http://picasaweb.google.de/TFJ777/Eurobike07Part4/photo#5104941492124468242.

 

[Wilhelm]

The statement of BIONICON about the similarities between their "Special Agent" fork and the X-FUSION "Delta 8 Pro/Delta 8 Pro TA" fork (http://www.mtb-news.de/forum/showthread.php?t=258247, #13):

• it´s a BIONICON fork
• X-Fusion is allowed to produce the fork under the licence of BIONICON
• BIONICON gets know how from X-Fusion in the field of production and development of forks and shocks. So it´s easier for them to get prototypes into production.

 

[Prettym1k3]

Brett, tell John Hauer @ X-Fusion I said what's up and then punch him in his taint for me.



How'd the fork work out over the weekend?

 

[gonefirefightin]

bionocon and x fusion are two different things. x fusion bought the design from bionocon back in the day. but now it is a completley diffrently engineered fork and has nothing in comparison or similiar to bionocon.

 

[DoubleDown]

Did I miss the post where it said why this fork is cool?

Does it have some new unheard of damping system?

Is it supposed to be inexpensive?

It doesn't sound very light, it uses a non-industry standard hub, non-industry standard disc rotor. Did I miss any thing else?

Oh yeah, who is X-Fusion?

I've seen their Velvet fork on 4X bikes and rear shocks on cheap Specialized bikes but it looked like their DH racers have been riding Boxxers without decals all season...

 

[gonefirefightin]

Did I miss the post where it said why this fork is cool?

Does it have some new unheard of damping system?

Is it supposed to be inexpensive?

It doesn't sound very light, it uses a non-industry standard hub, non-industry standard disc rotor. Did I miss any thing else?

Oh yeah, who is X-Fusion?

I've seen their Velvet fork on 4X bikes and rear shocks on cheap Specialized bikes but it looked like their DH racers have been riding Boxxers without decals all season...

Did I miss the post where it said why this fork is cool?

um....whould it make a difference to you if someone said it was "cool"

Does it have some new unheard of damping system?

most new systems are unheard of, or at least different from others

Is it supposed to be inexpensive?

did you miss the "prototype" part of this thread?

It doesn't sound very light, it uses a non-industry standard hub, non-industry standard disc rotor. Did I miss any thing else?

its weight is comparable to any other race fork on the market, the hub is cheaper than industry standards, the rotor is cheaper and lighter than yours.
Oh yeah, who is X-Fusion?

I take it you dont know what google is?

I've seen their Velvet fork on 4X bikes and rear shocks on cheap Specialized bikes but it looked like their DH racers have been riding Boxxers without decals all season

Thier OEM components are comparable to the same type of any other manufacturer, and you cant expect the pros to ride prototypes all year long when nothing is in production do you?

do a little research next time you post.

Brett, tell John Hauer @ X-Fusion I said what's up and then punch him in his taint for me.



How'd the fork work out over the weekend?

I would kick jonnie for ya but I am afraid of catching something, ha

forked was a blast, i putting together pics and report to post as we speak.

are you or todd racing the CCCX winter series?

 

[norbar]

Wonder if it's gonna end the same as dnm's short adventure with front susp (very bad single crown, quite good dual[very good for the price])

 

[DoubleDown]

I just want to know why this is such a big deal? What makes this fork a viable alternative to RockShox, Marzocchi, Fox, Manitou etc?

So what is this new damping system then? You didn't mention it's features at all. Seems like that would be a key selling point of any DH race fork. All you talked about was the travel adjust. What place does on-the fly travel adjust have on a "Race" fork?

I totally understand the nature of prototypes, but is there no target pricing or market?

So a 7.69 pound fork and hub is as light as my 6.1 lb Boxxer WC plus a hub. I'm pretty sure my DT 240 hub and maxle don't weigh 1.5 lb...

I know exactly who X-Fusion is, but as of now they haven't been known as a high end brand. For a company who is trying to make inroads into the big leagues, comparing itself to different companies OEM products isn't a great way to go.

 

[rosenamedpoop]

Yo Double, I think you might be confusing info about Bionicon with the limited amount of info available to give currently regarding X-Fusion. Nobody has said anything like "this is a big deal", but I would imagine for the people who are putting heart and soul into getting the company of the ground it is a pretty big deal, no?