Canadian FOX Riders Take Note
Inside The Official FOX Canada Service Centre
On December 5th, 2014, Fox Factory Holding Corp. (FOX) announced they had purchased Race Face/Easton. At the time it left a lot of riders curious of the effects from the acquisition. Thankfully it's been quite positive and more recent business moves have included Marzocchi also becoming part of Fox Factory Holding, which I believe has also been a good thing for riders. Now four years later Canadian riders have something else to appreciate from the merge. FOX has moved to take advantage of Race Face HQ in Vancouver, offering full service from their location. It’s a move that will greatly benefit all Canadian riders on FOX suspension.
The Canadian Race Face/Easton shipping warehouse supports customers across the American Continent (North, Central and South America). And while there are Asian facilities primarily servicing Europe and Asia, the Canadian HQ does help cover customers in these regions when needed and able. FOX Canada taps into these shipping capabilities and is targeting a quick countrywide three-day turnaround for service and repairs. Provinces east of Manitoba will be served with express freight at no extra cost and FOX Canada believe these consumers won't feel the difference. There are currently three full-time service technicians but as you will see below, there is room for more. FOX Canada note they will hire additional qualified technicians in order to continue to meet the turnaround times being targeted.
See how easy it is to register for a service. You can also use a preferred FOX dealer if you would rather them look after everything.
There’s an additional benefit to the new FOX Canada service centre; going direct. Canadian customers now have the ability to book service through the FOX website, box it up and ship to the Canadian Service Centre themselves. Those who prefer to work with their local bike store can, of course, continue to do so.
As with other official FOX Service Centres, FOX Canada will deal with routine servicing and warranty repairs. Savvy riders can also work with the team on custom tuning to get the best out of their FOX products. I visited the new facility to see the integration with Race Face HQ first hand and meet the team.
Where the magic happens. There are currently three full-time technicians but there's room for a total of seven in the current space.
FOX Canada is integrated into the Race Face/Easton headquarters and from the service centre, staff can connect into the staff locker room area but also, and this is important, connect to the shipping department.
The Race Face/Easton and now FOX Canadian shipping warehouse. Twice daily staff from this department come through to the service centre to pick up completed orders to ship back to customers (morning) and deliver shipments to be serviced (afternoon).
Each of the seven workbenches is fully outfitted with everything the techs need to service FOX products.
A range of soft-jaw clamps.
A range of necessary syringes, sockets, seal press tools and more.
Being an official FOX service centre, each station is loaded with FOX specific tools.
Kashima q-tips? Not quite, but they are a unique FOX orange. Each tech keeps a selection of regularly used small parts for their servicing needs in these wall-mounted bins for easy access.
Each workbench also includes a computer for the techs to log services and check on parts when necessary.
Given the location, the techs see Float X2 shocks most often. But it's not all new, high-end dampers…
They also service plenty of non-Kashima, not-so-new shocks. FOX Canada will service parts going back "three plus" years.
Each tech can service shocks or forks and they follow specifications provided, down to the torque spec on the fasteners.
Signs of a well used fork… In addition to keeping your suspension running as well as it can, regular servicing helps remove greater issues from developing.
Once finished everything is tested to make sure things are working as they should. The fork dyno with some specially-fitted Race Face grips.
Products are serviced using all of the bells and whistles. Does your current service centre use a vacuum bleeder?
FOX Canada have two vacuum bleeders to keep the techs moving through their service efficiently. Each tech can complete between 5–8 services daily.
A vacuum bleeder does a more comprehensive bleed and is faster than bleeding a shock by hand.
Pumping a nitrogen charge into a freshly serviced shock.
Like the forks, shocks are tested on a dyno, one that provides the techs with a digital reading…
FOX fluid everywhere.
Big bottles…
… and small.
And parts to cover the most common products on the market. If there's something needed for an older than three year old product, the team will see if it's possible to access it from FOX HQ.
My guide, Eric, will lead the customer service team and is currently the guy. Eric was also instrumental in setting up the FOX Canada facility. As with the technician side, there is room for expansion, with space for a total of four customer service reps.
Welcome FOX Canada.
Comments
RNAYEL
5 years ago
Article synopses: There is no lack of facial hair at Fox Canada.
Reply
AJ Barlas
5 years ago
There’s less now! Eric ditched the mo since I was there.
Reply
Tim Coleman
5 years ago
The space looks fresh and well prepped! Stoked to see such strong factory support here in our backyard.
Reply
Rob Gretchen
5 years ago
Its good to see the integration of Fox Canada with RF, but compared to Suspensionwerx their current turnaround is not yet up to speed.... they need to fill those other tech service benches!!
Reply
Cambo
5 years ago
These techs have offered fantastic support to bike shops over the last few months. With that said, we’re looking forward to the day that all seven service bays are full! You must be so busy!
Reply
atb
11 months, 3 weeks ago
gosh darn, thats a nice lookin desk, i bet it was build by a real pro...
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