Feb. 5, 2022, 4:59 p.m. -  Andrew Major

I know this is beating around the bush but… Fox 2013 CTD forks were legendarily bad… in 2014. I don’t have any insider knowledge on their development but I’ll say this: I rode a 2012 Float air system with a 2013 damper and it was okay. I rode a 2013 air system with a 2012 RLC damper and it was good. My 2+2 assessment is the damper and air system were developed separately using the opposing 2012 component and then combined at the last moment. My fork was so brutal that I ended up buying an Avalanche damper. Holy crap was it brilliant combined with the ‘13 air system. I didn’t write about bikes then, and I was surprised that I was one of a few folks having issues (North Shore issue?). With smaller wheels the FIT RC2 dampers were an option (and awesome) but riding a 29’er the 34 was The Fork and there was no RC2 option. When Fox released 2014 CTD it was so much improved and the check-valve update made a night-and-day performance difference if you owned a 2013 CTD FIT. All of a sudden everywhere on the internet people were crushing keys talking about how shite the ‘13 dampers were. It would have been enough to make me a cynic if I hadn’t maxed that stat out years before. Certainly I suspect when we are boiled into Super Boost these chainline issues will be presented, all over the internet, as a key reason we should serenely swallow the new standard. Then we two can remind each other of this conversation. Cheers,