Fox 34 SL Evaluation – Sure, it is as Good As They Say

The brand new Fox 34 SL is what occurs if you mix three generations of particular person upgrades of a fantastic suspension fork with much more superior designs.

No, it’s not lighter than the 34 Step Forged mannequin it replaces, nevertheless it’s inside a number of grams, and the efficiency is significantly better. Which is saying one thing, as a result of I actually favored the 34 SC. So much. However the brand new 34 SL is best. Right here’s why…

Corners like a Champ

Fox went again to a normal “full width” chassis for the SL for 2 causes. First, it permits greater tires than the narrower step-case design, and that’s a welcome enchancment.

Second, it’s torsionally stiffer, which interprets into extra assured cornering. Yeah, the professionals take corners so much sooner than me, so it’s good for them. However I’m so much heavier than them, so it’s additionally capable of deal with diving into a decent nook…

…and maintain me popping out the opposite aspect, on my line, and pointing the place I wanna go. For a light-weight XC fork, that’s nice, and it’s let Fox push journey as much as 130mm for people constructing light-weight path (aka “downcountry”) bikes, too.

I’ve been using mine at 130mm on the new Ari Sign Peak, which is designed round 120mm forks, and it’s been superior. A lot in order that I’m delaying my go to to Fox’s NC service heart for the 120mm air spring swap as a result of, nicely, 130mm is superior. However I’ll get there, after which I’ll add a bit to this assessment later.

Climbs like a Light-weight

…and that’s a praise. The fork seems like a light-weight XC race fork, however not noodly.

That’s to not say their 32 SC fork is noodly, I don’t know. I haven’t ridden it. Cory has, and he favored it high quality. But it surely tops out at 100mm journey, and most racers at each stage are on 120mm forks nowadays.

You may even get it with a distant lockout, if that’s your jam. It’s not mine, and I hardly ever take the fork out of full-open mode. Perhaps on lengthy street transfers to the trailhead, however not all the time.

I went with the Grip SL damper as a result of it’s lighter. Like, 100g (or extra) lighter than the GRIP X2 with all of the changes.

I like plenty of changes, however for shorter journey forks, I prioritize weight financial savings, and I haven’t missed the additional high-speed changes right here in any respect.

The fork nonetheless affords loads of assist for seated hammering. Yeah, it bobs a bit when standing and hammering (or simply utilizing a variety of physique english), however that’s a tradeoff I’m personally OK with to have an uncluttered cockpit or not have to achieve down and fiddle whereas I’m using.

As a substitute, I tune my fork with the air spring quantity and strain, and even right here I’m operating it extraordinarily mushy.

How mushy?

Fox’s chart suggests about 95 psi for my using weight.

I’m at 85 psi.

I additionally added a quantity spacer. Extra on that in a minute, however simply know this: You may run this fork actually mushy and it’ll really feel superb and it’ll nonetheless have loads of assist for many of what you’re going to do on a brief journey bike, as a result of…

It additionally Descends Actually Properly.

I put the video overview on the backside of this assessment in the event you wanna see shifting footage, however right here’s the deal:

On the launch in Arizona, I ran a bit extra air strain (in regards to the beneficial quantity) to account for the larger drops and tougher hits on the descents. This was with none quantity spacers, so the additional air quantity stored it extra linear, and the additional air strain stored it using mid-stroke the place it ought to be with out bottoming out on huge hits.

Again house (not pictured), I added the amount spacer (and I would add one other) so the fork would ramp up sooner on the finish of its stroke to stop backside out, which is what’s letting me run the ridiculously low air strain.

None of that’s unique to the brand new Fox 34 SL. You may tune virtually any fork’s air spring to attain comparable outcomes.

The place this one actually shines is simply how a lot smoother it’s, which lets these refined tweaks to the air spring actually shine. That is fingers down the smoothest quick journey, air-sprung fork I’ve ever ridden, That, too, is saying so much, as a result of I actually just like the current SID fork, too (full disclosure, I’ve not ridden absolutely the newest mannequin, however have ridden a lot of the iterations over the previous 5 years).

For those who like a fork to absorb all of the little stuff however nonetheless want it to deal with huge hits, give the brand new Fox forks a very good, onerous look. The new 36 and 36 SL take the smoothness efforts much more significantly, with options that the 34 SL doesn’t get.

These are most likely nice for greater bikes (I additionally haven’t ridden these but). However in the event you want a 110-130mm fork in your race bike, I’d suggest the 2026 Fox 34 SL. It’s the closest but to creating path chatter disappear, even mitigating these late-season, teeth-rattling braking bumps, which ought to be the final word litmus check for any suspension fork.