Review: NSMB - Fox 34 Factory Grip X Fork

When the cut of your jib is judged by the girth of your chops, the smaller-stanchioned forks often get overlooked. It is interesting the way the major players position their forks in their line up. While RockShox gives their forks catchy names that don't describe their girth, Fox chooses to classify the names (and intentions) of their products by the diameter of their stanchions. I've always found this approach fascinating from both parties. For the unsuspecting customer, it usually doesn't matter if their new ride comes with a Lyrik, Zeb or a Domain, unless they have done their homework in advance to pick apart the differences. The intentions of 34 vs 36 vs 38 are a little more clear. Why would I want a 34 when the 36 is obviously two better? Or is the 36 good enough for me when the bike next to mine has a 38 that will allow me to huck from two levels higher?

The new Fox 34 uses the same chassis as the previous generation. The sleek no-nonsense design of the lowers and the arch and the glossy and beautiful crown that connects it all together draw your eye to the Kashima-coated legs. It is all familiar up to this point. The colour-matched decals are subtle and work well on this aftermarket unit, though it may be colour-matched to your frame if it comes as an OEM fork.

The new fork damper naming aligns them with corresponding shocks and their intended purposes. The Grip X forks line up with the Float X or DHX shocks - they all share the same number of external adjustments.

The Grip X damper replaces the Fit4, which no one really gelled with anyway, and bridges the gap between the old Grip damper and the Grip 2 that we all loved, even though we left all the compression adjustments fully open. The idea is to give riders a usable window of adjustments instead of forcing lighter riders to one side of the spectrum and heavier riders to the other. The Grip X might just be the most important damper Fox has to offer and while delivering the downhill performance of the more complicated Grip X2, it sheds 120 grams of weight thanks to a diameter reduction in its lower shims and valves.

Compared to the outgoing Grip 2 damper, the new Grip X has larger base valving at 22mm and a spring-backed IFP design, compared to pressure tube IFPs.

I mounted the new 34 on the extremely capable Scor 2030. With 120mm out back and 140mm in the front, this is currently one of my favourite bikes: built burly, slack and extremely fast both up and down. The Fox 34 replaced the Pike Ultimate that came with the bike and while the differences were subtle, there were some key points that separated the two forks.

The Pike with its Charger 3 damper was set to 80psi and -1 on both high and low speed compression circuits. This suggested a larger air spring and heavier damping compared to the 34. The Pike was easy to ride but the Grip X Fox 34 took composure a little further. Playful and eager to get airborne, the Scor was a little less nervous on the front end. It resisted diving deeper into its travel on the steeper trails yet seemed to erase the trail chatter a little more. I have not performed back-to-back testing to confirm these findings but the feeling was there. These observations were perhaps accentuated because the Pike weighs 1,880 grams, making it 200 grams heavier.

The Fox 34 hasn't felt flexy or insufficient in the situations I've put it through. I am 160 pounds of flesh who pretends to ride hard but smooth. I never asked for burlier stanchions on the front of the Scor. If the Fox 36 came in 140mm travel, it would be interesting to see if it made any noticeable difference but the 34 was more than adequate for the job. Bumping the rear travel to 130 on the Scor with a longer stroke shock and slapping a 150mm Fox 36 would be an experiment I could get behind. While I still believe the Fox 36 is underrated and probably the appropriate fork for the majority of the riders in the world, the little 34 is an exceptional performer in every way and serves the category well.

It seems like Fox's latest improvements transformed a fork that was "too weak to be a trail fork and too heavy to be an XC fork", into a decent option for both of those riding disciplines. I took the 34 out of its element on a few occasions and it had my back the entire time. Supportive and supple, it took the already excellent Scor 2030 to another level. I would love to find the opportunity to do some back to backs with a RockShox Pike on a short section of trail to see if the gap is closed with the new Charger 3.1 damper. In the meantime, for me and probably you, the Fox 34 serves the 130/140mm category very well.

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