I've had my 2019 Fox 36 Grip2 fork for around a year now and really love this fork, especially after adding a Vorsprung Lufkappe. It may not be the most supple fork ever, but the amount of control when launching at full speed into a rough, rocky, rooty descent or landing off a jump in this kind of terrain is next level.
Unfortunately this also exposes its biggest weakness IMHO; the the steerer tube and/or steerer tube to crown junction feels really flexy to me under 'full huck' conditions. To be fair, I'm kind of the engineering worst case nightmare: my riding weight is likely 230lbs plus, I'm running max travel of 170mm on a 29er fork with a head angle somewhere around 64 degrees.
I feel the flex most when turning on rough, steep downhills when it often results in creaking in the headset bearing interface. I can get rid of this creaking by over tightening the headset but then my bearings don't last long. I use to have around a 20mm spacer under a Renthal Apex stem and got rid of that for a 45degree high rise stem that I can clamp directly above the headset which definitely yielded an improvement in perceived rigidity but I'm still not happy. I'm wondering if there is some sort of insert you can get that goes inside your steerer to re-enforce it (Maybe some sort of dual collet arrangement? So far all I have been able to find is the Intend "Stiffmaster" headset but it sounds like it would not last long in PNW wet conditions. (I'm currently running a Cane Creek 40 headset).
Short of getting a dual crown fork, anyone have any ideas?
