Review: PinkBike - 2023 Rockshox Zeb VS Fox 38 Fork - Head to Head Review

PinkBike has put the Fox 38 against the RockShox Zeb. Here is what they had to say:

If you buy a phone, it's going to be Apple or Android. If you board a plane, it's probably built by Airbus or Boeing. If you're after suspension for your mountain bike, it'll most likely be from Fox or RockShox. The duopoly has been battling it out for MTB suspension supremacy for years, and while there are plenty of other brands out there, they corner most of the market because they make consistently good products.

For that reason, the Fox 38 and RockShox Zeb are natural rivals. Both have 38 mm upper tubes and are designed for enduro, ebike and (dare I say it) freeride use. Soon after they launched, Dan Roberts compared the two here on Pinkbike and concluded that performance-wise, there was no clear winner, but added that "bringing in the factors of weight, price and setup alongside performance makes the Zeb stick its nose ahead of the 38". On the other hand, I did my own testing at my previous employer and favoured the Fox 38.

Weight, Cost and Options

Let's start with the easy stuff. The weight of the two forks is essentially identical. At 170 mm travel with uncut steerers, my sample 2023 Zeb weighs 2,337 g, while the 38 comes in at 2,363g. That's a small enough difference that it could potentially go either way depending on manufacturing variation, and it certainly shouldn't be a deciding factor.

The Fox 38 Factory is the more expensive fork in every currency. In the USA, the difference isn't huge, but in other regions, it's much larger. It's worth remembering that Fox also offers the Performance Elite 38, which has all the same features minus the Kashima stanchion coating, for a chunk less cash. It's hard to say for sure, but my feeling is that any differences are imperceptible on the trail. There's also the Performance model, which does without the bleed buttons and has a simpler GRIP damper, which I think is a superb choice, especially for lighter riders due to its lighter damping range.

Similarly, RockShox offers the entry-level Zeb Select, but that lacks the Charger 3 damper, pressure relief valves and extra bushing overlap of the Zeb Ultimate. There is the Zeb Select+, which is identical to the Zeb Ultimate except that it lacks the damper-side Buttercup and the extra Bushing overlap. Unfortunately, that's not for sale aftermarket.

Technology and Features

These forks could trade blows all day long when it comes to feature count. And while the Fox 38 hasn't been significantly updated since it launched in 2020, the Zeb has seen a major overhaul to almost everything but the chassis.

Verdict

Performance-wise, I think the Fox 38 is still king of the hill. Compared to the 2023 Zeb, it offers a little more off-the-top sensitivity, mid-travel support, and more room to manoeuvre for those who like fast rebound or a less progressive end-stroke (and I would include myself in that camp).

But leaving aside the out-of-the-box stickiness from my test sample, the 2023 Zeb is an improvement over the original and is therefore a very good fork. The compression adjustment is intuitive and effective, the long-run comfort is superb, and the balance of support vs sensitivity is good, just not quite as good as the Fox 38. I'd put the Zeb ahead of the Ohlins RXF38 M.2 but still slightly behind Fox.

Is it worth the extra money? I can't answer that for you, partly because the price difference changes so much by region, and partly because the on-trail performance differences are fairly subtle compared to the setup window each fork has. To tell them apart, I had to spend a long time dialling in the setup, and then test them back-to-back on the same track. Even then, there were only a few sections where I felt the 38 was performing better. But on the subject of value, what I would say is that it's mostly the air spring that makes the Fox 38 so good, so consider the Performance or Performance Elite versions, both of which are excellent.

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