I got an in-depth technical walkthrough, and nice hands-on of the 2011 Fox fork and shock line up. There were a couple of interesting things, mostly over in the fork realm, including a slippery coating, the Terralogic system has return, new 32 fork 29′er versions, and a 180mm has been added to the 36 forks.
Kashima Coating
The Kashima Coat technology has been used for quite some time in the motorcycle world, and the distinct gold colored coating has recently debuted on the MTB racing circuit. The coating process, involves depositing lubricating molybdenum disulfide, via electrical induction, into the billions of micropores on the surface of hard-anodized aluminum. The coating gives better lubrication characteristics, higher hardness and abrasion resistance (durability), and a significant decrease in friction. I can vouch for its slipperiness, when I took a short ride with a coated fork.
36 Forks
The 36 now has 2 versions, a 160mm (All Mountain) and a 180mm (Freeride). The 36 160 comes in 3 flavors, the TALAS FIT RLC, FLOAT FIT RLC and the VAN RC2 (coil). The 36 180 comes as the FLOAT FIT RC2, TALAS FIT RC2 and VAN RC2. A slight change to the TALAS, it now uses 2 steps instead of 3, the 160 variant is 160-120, while the 180 is 180-160.
The 160 version has changed to the RLC in contrast to the RC2 (except for VAN), while the 180 is all RC2. RLC trades the RC2′s high speed compression for a lockout with threshold adjustment. The FIT RLC damper has gotten a revamp this year, and it’s lighter and has been inverted to mimic the 32 series. The 160 series went on a diet, with a new light crown and upper tubes.
32 Forks
The big news for the 32 forks is the return of TerraLogic, which is, in essence, an automatic lockout, that is sensitive to terrain and not rider input. The Terralogic threshold adjuster has 15 position platform adjustments, from a lockout firm to full open, and provides full velocity sensitive shimmed damping at any setting. TerraLogic is available on the entire F-Series line (80, 100 and 120mm), F29 (80, 100mm), TALAS 29 and TALAS (140, 150mm). The F29 comes in a full range now, from the FIT Terralogic (80,100), FIT RLC (80, 100, 120), TALAS FIT Terralogic 120 and FIT RLC 120, and all come with the Kashima coating. All the 32′s have an updated air spring with a more linear feel. The 15 QR axle has been lightened up by 22%, with new forged lever and axle shaft, and no loss in stiffness.
40 Fork
The 40 downhill fork gets the new inverted RC2 damper, spring guide system, crowns and the Kashima Coat on the upper tubes.
Rear shock
The new Van RC has the same chassis architecture as the DHX shocks, and offers the best combination of performance, durability and value (budget minded).
What is the big deal with Terralogic coming back out? RLC (C) already has an auto blowoff from lockout and threshold adjustment at the bottom which is very similar to Terralogic? (aside from the compression damping adjustments). or if you don’t like to have it with the compression damping adjustment, there was RLT.
“The F29 comes in a full range now, from the FIT Terralogic (80,100), FIT RLC (80, 100, 120), TALAS FIT Terralogic 120 and FIT RLC 120″ so they are no longer available in open bath damping? No more RL?
Terralogic: similar yes, but the new version is pretty nice and somewhat different, I tried it out and it works well, set it up stiff, and then hit some jack hammer bumps and you are isolated from them, then it returns to stiff when done, plus if you hammer hard pedaling there isn’t any change, rider immune and terrain sensitive, it is not the old terralogic
F29: Yes, no open bath
So I am guessing the new RLC (C) feature will have similar feel to the new Terralogic?
If Terralogic has improved to a new stage, that I can understand and will be a good thing. I still don’t get why Fox makes a fork just call ‘Terralogic’ (F80X, F100X) as all their RLC & RLT have Terralogic already.
i.e. What is the differences between F80X and F80RLC? Both feature “auto blowoff from lockout and threshold adjustment”
I can’t wait to try out the Fox 36 180mm.