Inside Fox's 36 180 FIT RC2 Cartridge - Eurobike 2010

 mtbkr,

To each his own, but a big part of the sport for me is understanding the technology that lets us shred so hard. Maybe I'm just a nerd?

 no, don't get me wrong. i think its freakin siiick that riding has progressed so much even in the just the last 3 years. I'm just saying that Fox doesn't even have to explain all of the orgasmic awesomeness they put into every new advance on their product line. I'm always going to buy fox and will never buy another fork brand.

 another thing is: it is so advanced that there is no way you can understand it from the single vid. They would need to release like 10 installment blog here so someone might get some deeper idea. I do believe it works though and every single piece there is necessary for making the product perform better than ever.

Joe Graney from Santa Cruz spent like 3 installments on explaining VPP and bicycle suspension in general (virtual pivot migration, spring rates, leverage ratios, bearings etc.) and I still don't get most of it... and I consider myself as a bike tech geek.

I have my own message to everybody! People! Buy 36 160 Talas RC2 in large quantities! These are the best forks on the market! then please: get bored fast! so I can get one from ebay... I do it just for the sake of the environment, second hand FTW!

 I have the cartridge in my fork, it seems to work great but I don't have an older fox to compare it to.

 My Fox 40 fit Rc2 2010 is not working good,have a feeling that its defectiv

 I agree with mikelevy, I didn't really find it that confusing. his explanation wasn't bad. just study the pictures for a minute or two and it becomes really clear. i've been curious about suspension for a long time, though.

 send them to fox then vladislav

 yes ill do that but i didnt buy it from FOx it came with my bike vili send it to were i bought the bike hope they change it!

 mtbkr123456789 yes, lets all just blindly buy whatever

 need some fox forks lyk

 I found his explaination and the cut-away great! I'm just glad companies have gotten away from the hide all attitude, and opened up like this to let us see how it works! This also allows people to understand what is happening when they turn those dials, so they can get the best performance out of the product by being better able to set it up propperly...

 I wonder how the ride is compared to the old 36's now the oil has moved up the fork...
Baring a few differences the new Fox cartridge is not a million miles away from the 2006 Boxxer cartridge (it does seem better machined though).
As for fit and forget with the rebound, that is because Fox rebound on the older fork is so limited in usable range. I wish the range was better and more usable with them.
Don't get me wrong, I love my 2009 36 Fox Float RC2's.
For me Fox are where it is at for a 160mm (can't comment on 180mm), SC fork, they beat a Lyric hands down, but go bigger and 2010 Boxxers are so much nicer than 40's.

 that went way over my head. some crazy technology going on in there. fox forks= amazing

 Shit thats confusing! it must be good then

 i have no idea what i just saw. but its fox so its cool.

 While I like to know whats going on inside. I did find the person telling us about it seemed to be more someone re'itterating what he's been told to be happening instead of the engineer that knows for certain what is going on.

The marketing chick was even worse. Woot maledbamen impregnation makes kashima coating noticebly better. Try it. Pretty much just restated what the front page of fox's fork web page probably says.

 True. It's easy for people to complain about the price - which is quite high - but then I've found fox forks do offer something higher in quality than most and there simply wasn't forks like this ten years ago to compare these to price-wise. If people can't justify these prices (which must be plenty) there seems to be a few decent forks for half the price, that still do a reasonable job at damping out the trail. A rockshox recon isn't too bad and can be picked up for less than £200. Still, like Kovaldesign I want to see some justified figures regarding kashima and ideally some side by side tests with non-kashima if that's possible?

 We will never see the figures, the whole point of new coating in my opinion is to visually mark the difference between the 2011 line and older products + to have another excuse for high prices.

 Sure there is a TON that goes into the design of these forks. The part that kills me about the price is that I could get the same part (obviously slightly different) for my dirtbike and it was the same or less, yet way bigger!!!
Simply supply and demand.

 yeah it's because the motorcycle market is huge compared to mtb suspension market, with much less variation between products and less models.

 yea, I think I am actualy going to start looking for 2010 36 Talas before there will be only this super expensive Kashima coating around. Just to be very honest... who on earth cares for fork smoothness when you are going fast on rough stuff? Pro guys might, for they are riding at the edge of traction, but me Simpleton from the village? In places where the fight for traction 90% of people fight for survival


The only thing that I am buying here is well separated LSC from HSC in the new Fit cartridge. So te fork stays more active while still having good anti brake dive LSC action. My Lyrik truly sucks with that. Smoothness or brake dive, that's what I can get with Mission Control. Other than this Fox, F-it!

But yes, there is certain number of people that buy stuff for looks and some do it for parking lot tests. Though the last ones should follow Marzocchi for these are the ultimate parking lot supsension performance test winners. These are as plush as a wee Willy meeting a firebreeding whore with a bucket of vaseline

 Okay, '09 Talas 36 over '11 Float 36 w kashima coat; There is a difference. Before, in order to reign in fork dive, i had keep the LSC at full choke, significantly reducing traction/smoothness. In addition, I would always have to fuss with the dampening and pressure to get what I wanted in ride quality. Not as easy when the controls are locked away on the bottom of the fork. It's true that once you set your Pressure/spring rate that you also set your rebound (and forget it). Not so with LSC and HSC. It's great having these controls up top. I'm still fussing to find the exact settings for my frame (travel) but I will say this....I'm having to change the way I ride my stomping grounds because my overall speed and control at speed is higher. Read into that what you like.

 As I wrote: new FIT cartirdge feels alright, dramatic weight loss is a great plus too. But Kashima seems bit like XTR yumeya, or carbon fibre covers on SRAM X0 and XX shifters: an excessive luxury with a big question mark: are they doing it to increase the performance or the price, really?

Haven't tried it so be welcome to cast the first stone. Obviously not many will ever try the fork with new FIT cartridge with and without Kashima to tell how much does it differ... I'm personaly sad for I could pay a lot for this FIT cartridge and feather weight 2,1kg 36 Talas 160, but this coating: just breaks my balls. I want to shift from RS Lyrik for it does exactly what you wrote about 09 Talas: stability or plushness - can't have both in Lyrik.

 Hope you guys know that all the pre-2010 36's featured FIT cartridge, then in 2010 the FIT was taken out of the 'R' models.
The weight loss in new 2011 models is due to redesigned internals and updated TALAS system.

 Sell me yours, doo it' Naaauuu!

 It's my second TALAS RC2 and it's sweeeet, so forget about it until I can get my hands on the second hand 2011's

 maaah just kiding, shipping from UK to Sweden for a private person is bullocks. I would pay for it the same in total as for new 2011

 It has lubrication advantages because of the micropores it creates. It also happens to be tough. Combine the two factors and it lasts longer, as oil coats the surface better. There is no clear "friction advantage" as the film of oil is reducing the friction/stiction, not newtonian physics.

 And the it looks kick ass too can't forget that!

 anything OEM spec'd wont carry Kashima.. price point for bike manufacturers I guess.

 Shipping to Japan from CA takes ~7-10 days via great circle routes.

 Kimbers,
The company in Japan is actually protecting what they have. To my knowledge they are the ONLY facility in the world with the rights to Kashima and that has the ability to apply it. ALL manufacturers that use this system ship their stuff to them for coating.

 kimbers you should stop ordering things online.