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2015 Fox 36

202K views 1K replies 179 participants last post by  Pontyrider 
#1 ·
Has anyone got any info on the new 2015 Fox 36?

From what I have seen it looks like they have moved away from using a spring on the air side to using air.

I think I will have to get one for my new bike when they come out.
 
#338 ·
The tech at Fox who worked on my fork kindly emailed me:

"When I was working on your fork I fixed the issue with the neg travel and that system was working fine. I had another issue with the fork , it was not that the fork wasn't working but because we have a very high standard for what we ship out of the service center. In all it was more of a noise issue that I felt wasn't up to our standards. I compared it the fork I sent you and was happy with that one. I haven't seen many of those forks come in for that issue that was the only one I have worked one so far. I would just make sure you don't cause any negative pressure when taking the fork part when changing air volume spacers or oil changes make sure you put the fork together when it most extended or close to it and that should go along way to preventing the issue. "
 
#359 ·
Whelp, cracked my fork!

I recently removed my 15mm adapters (because my 20mm axle finally arrived) to find huge amounts of porosity in the casting, and the area to be riddled with cracks. The lowers should have immediately failed any visual inspection, but somehow they slipped through.

They're currently on their way back to fox. I find it interesting though - I bought my fork through Santa Cruz, who supplies the fork with a 15mm axle only. It was highly likely that this fork would never have the 15mm adapters removed. Is this the only reason that Fox let them through the QC process?

I'm just glad I found it before I had the dropout shear off. The cracks were huge.
 
#360 ·
Funny. I purchased a Float 36 2015 for testing purposes and when I received it, I removed the 15mm adapters to run a 20mm axle and I found A LOT of casting porosity inside the dropouts. Long story short I sent the fork back to the Fox distro for a full refund.

I urge all people on this thread to check the inside of the dropouts for porosity.

Fluid Glass Light Transparent material Still life photography
 
#162 · (Edited)
So my bushings are slightly loose, had my pal sanity check for me. Called Fox, they said it's find to ride (just annoying) and to send it back when I have a bit of downtime. So NBD really, not keeping me off the bike.

I did take the stock blue bottom out spacer out, and had to bump up my PSI to about 82 (from 72 or so) to get 20% sag. Thing is I had two really solid hard rides since I did that, and still didn't close to bottoming it out on the trail, and that's with the HSC wide open. Seems odd, unless running that high of psi to get the right sag is just keeping me from bottoming?

Personally I'd rather be able to bottom it and dial in some HSC, but maybe I'm still just figuring out the fork.
 
#166 ·
I am sure what's going on with your fork, considering that I am now running 78psi with an orange. The orange spacer is providing more end stroke bottom support.

I know I have more time on the fork than you in the sense break in period and doing laps in the bike park helps this a bunch.

All and all, I really like the fork. I am not sure if I ever get all of its travel. I have about 165mm of stanchion showing and when I would bottom-out harshly (based on feel), I think I used about 155mm of travel. This is a guestimate.

I will confirm my LSC, HSC, and rebound settings and post these later.

There was a good description that I think NSMB provided. This is their analogy. When a door is closed and the room is dark, opening the door a tad (1 click) increased the light by 50%, and each subsequent click has a smaller affect. So the clicks that are near wide open has less affect than the clicks when closed.
 
#395 ·
Let all the air out of your fork. Push all the way till it bottoms out. Press the zip tie down inside the seal. If you hear a pssshhh of air then you got it. If you don't then one of two things. Your not though the seal on the lower with your zip tie or you don't have any air trapped in the lowers. I find that the first is more common.
 
#450 ·
So I stripped my 36's RC2 damper down as I wanted a look at the innards. The first thing I noticed is it's definately not using 10wt red oil but a 5wt oil of some brand as mentioned on the press day, it was also full of swarf from machining, clearly some parts had not been cleaned properly and finally Fox are using a straight shim stack for HSC compared to tapered in the past RC2's I have seen.
 
#563 ·
I've got a new 36 at 150mm for my Tallboy LTc. I've got about 10 good rides on it. Yesterday I noticed while on a long climb a noticeable 'clunk' as the front of the bike unweighted. It felt like the top-out was undamped for that last 15mm or so. I hadn't noticed this on other rides.

Anything I should be looking at?
 
#564 ·
I've got a new 36 at 150mm for my Tallboy LTc. I've got about 10 good rides on it. Yesterday I noticed while on a long climb a noticeable 'clunk' as the front of the bike unweighted. It felt like the top-out was undamped for that last 15mm or so. I hadn't noticed this on other rides.

Anything I should be looking at?
Did you adjust air pressure recently...added more (+) spring air? If so, equalize your (-) air chamber.
 
#649 ·
LUBE THE SEALS...... They come dry from FOX, doing this dramatically changes the way the fork feels. Use a small hand held grease gun with a tube of slick honey on it, gently pry off the seals edge with your "purging" zip tie and inject grease all the way round seal. Cycle fork, clean off excess, RIDE.
Do it, you'll see, MUCH BETTER.

If you live in slightly cooler climates, removing the 20wt Gold bath oil with a lighter fluid will help a lot as well, but a potential warranty issue. But a few good suspension re-builders do this anyways.

As for getting your wheel off, GET THIS FlowZone | Maverick Suspension and Service
Simple, easy, works, light, uses FOX Factory Axles (15 or 20mm)
 
#695 ·
LUBE THE SEALS...... They come dry from FOX, doing this dramatically changes the way the fork feels.
Confirmed this.
When I had my tune/shim stacking updated at the factory, I suspect the tech might have wiped off the grease I had put on the main seal and didn't relube during reassembly. So, dropped the lowers last night and sure enough, no sign of fresh grease.
So I soaked the foam ring w/ motor oil from a syringe, covered the foam ring w/ Slickoleum (same thing as Slick Honey) and the main seal. Last time I did this I went from ~62 psi to ~72 psi in the air chamber to achieve the same sag (~22 to 25%).
 
#969 ·
Ok folks, I must eat crow and say that my buddy (the one who told me about the upgrades on the 2017) just saw my post, and I immediately got an email saying "You know I was joking right?"

Haha, got lost in email translation I suppose, I thought he was dead serious. Or maybe I had a one too many IPAs at the time I read it and the joke flew past me. Either way, sorry to put out false info.
 
#979 ·
It sounds like it's packing up then. Start over but this time count your clicks from closed. I read an article that during testing of the 36, the rider had a hard time setting it up. He consulted with Fox and they told him to close up all the dials and open them up as he went along until he was happy. You might have to do that. I'm thinking one of two things: you don't have enough compression damping to keep the fork from diving too deep into the travel and letting it pack up. Or you need a volume spacer to add some progression to keep yourself up in the travel more.
 
#2 ·
I would love to see a ride report from anyone. Rumor is that this is the best fork they have released in years. I know they were benchmarking the Pike for ride quality and think they have it beat. The 20 mm through axle is very appealing along with the stouter chassis.
 
#5 ·
I think it looks cool, like the 20mm option and independent hi/lo adjustments, but will reserve judgment until it's been beat on for awhile. Fox's annual marketing schpiel of "last year's forks had lots of issues, but this year's are awesome!" has become a farce (same goes for the annual "first look" reviews that regurgitate the ad copy). The Pike is obviously the fork to beat, if Fox hasn't been benchmarking against it for ride quality for the last several years, what on earth have they been doing?? it'd be great if they hit the mark with this one but frankly I'm surprised people are so optimistic given the recent track record. I'd be much more excited about a new Lyrik that shed some weight and sported the Charger damper, can't imagine it is far off.
 
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