Downhill bike = Dual crown fork... Or does it?

I have always been of the belief that if you want a proper downhill bike you have to have either Boxxer or a Fox 40 (sorry Marzochhi/Manitou). They both have a proven track record, they're reasonably light and are appropriate for most downhill tracks and rough trail riding situations. The problem however is that they are not suited to all situations; super tight tracks, bumpy but not too bumpy tracks, tracks with lots of fast pedally straights, the list goes on. The big issue is weight. Here in Australia 90% of tracks do not require an 8 inch travel fork. In fact you could probably argue the same for a 7 inch fork. I haven't exactly surveyed all the pros but a couple prominent riders share this same sentiment. They say if you had to have one all round bike 6 inches will do you 80-90% of the time. If you wanted to setup the ultimate light weight Australian national series downhill race bike then don't be suprised to see a single crown fork on there.

The intention of this review is not to pull the fork apart and examine it with a fine tooth comb, making sure every machined and fabricated part is absolutely perfect with the laws of physics and the pope. This is a lazy man review (for people like me)... I don't want to know how it works, I just want to know that it does work.

Specs

Weight: 4.8lb (2.18kg)
Travel: 6.3 inches (160mm)
Spring: Air
Adjustments: High/Lo Speed compression, rebound and air spring pressure.

The Head Angle

The head angle (Wikipedia) is a very important factor in the making of a good downhill bike. It has a big impact on a bikes handling at various speeds. Generally speaking, slacker (smaller) head angles are suited to high speed tracks giving you more control and stability. Steeper head angles are better for low speed and tight corner situations. Downhill bikes bask in the  presence of speed and therefore love slack head angles. The faster the track, the slacker you want it. The issue with a shorter travel fork can be a shorter axle to head tube length which steepens the head angle. This alone is quite a  barrier against a downhiller opting for a single crown fork. For this reason I have prepared this set of photos of my V10 going from a Fox 40 set at 7 1/2 inch travel to the Fox 36 float. As you can see there not a significant change. In all probably 1-2 degrees steeper which is more than acceptable in most situations.

Installation and Setup

Not a great deal to note about installation, it was very straight forward. The only significant change for 2008 is that the 36s have the IS post mounts so you'll need a brake adapter for pretty much all situations. The post mounts are apparently stronger than the old IS (Shimano style) brake mount system.


Setup wise there are four ways to adjust the fork. Rebound dampening and air pressure on the crown of the fork, low and high speed dampening on the lower left leg. With the exception of air pressure all adjustments can be made quickly without the use of tools. You'll also be happy to know that Fox include a shock pump with every set of forks.

I could go into great depth about how I setup the fork, but Fox do a much better job in the video below.


Maintenance

Or lack thereof as we lazy men prefer....... We all know that a good fork requires little maintenance, that doesn't mean none! In the two months that I have had the fork all I have done is put some slick honey under the fork wipers (which everyone should do). Other than that I haven't had to touch them. They're as plush as the first day I got them.

The Ride

First thought was damn, how low are my bars! Awesome. Next impression was they feel the same as my 40s just riding around the front of my house on small stuff. Heading to the trails is a different story, whilst they resemble 85% of the feeling of a longer travel dual crown fork they just don't have that same bottomless travel feeling. However this is not all a bad thing, on our local track "Flaggon" the fork actually proved to better suited than its longer travel bigger brother. While the square edge big hits were felt a little more in my arms, the control was still there. It just mean that I had to take a little "harden the f*** up" advice from uncle chop chop. Small bump performance is very good, on par with the 40. Flex is pretty much non-existent. Other owners of 36s will tell you the same thing, especially those who have seen the inside of the head tube. It's burly!

Light..... did I mention it's light? Weighing in at 4.8 pounds (2.18kg) is incredible! Right off the start you notice the difference. It's just easier to manouvre, pick up the front end over obstacles etc.

Rounding up

Rather than review this fork the normal way (by comparing it to other long travel single crown forks), I decided to pose a question. Would a light weight, long travel single crown fork be suitable for your downhill bike? In short yes, most of the time. With a few exceptions I believe that the 36 float is the ultimate light weight downhill fork on the market right now. Should everyone ditch their dual crowns forks an and grab them now? No. While I made the statement above it has a couple of small text exceptions that should be noted. Long rough tracks like Thredbo demand longer travel forks. Your arms really demand them! (unless you're superman with muscles only viewable in the 4th dimension). Price wise the fork is a bit of a wallet killer at around $1700 compared to other forks in its category. Compared to its dual crown bigger brother (40) though it doesn't seem so bad. Overall Fox are on a winner with the 36 float. It's light, has excellent performance and definitely has a market. If I was set with the task of making a super light downhill bike it'd definitely make the build.


Big thanks to Fox Racing Shox and Dirt Works for the review sample.



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