Fox float R reliability

Ive been thinking of a Blur 4x frame this season, and noticed it is specced with a Fox float R rear shock. How much use can these shocks handle? I'm not a big hucker or jumper, I love the steep and technical, which around nelson means alot of chundery rock with rock faces, sustained steep pitches and the occasional smaller drop if it's to a good smooth transition. Will the Float R rear shock blow out constantly or can it take some abuse?

yo julien, i havent ridden any santa cruz bikes… but a couple of the guys around here are on them..IMO the 4x wouldnt really be the best choice for chundery style riding..a nomad however might handle nelson pretty sweetly. no comment on the shock..im holding out for a ROCO.

werd.

talk to stubs!

I have one of those shocks on my Dawg, and it's been fine after 2 years.

If you have to run high pressure because either a) you weigh a lot, or b) the bike has a high leverage ration, then you'll be prone to quicker failure. Otherwise, it works pretty good.

I've beat on a couple Floats in the past couple years, they can handle hard riding just fine, another great thing about the, is you can rebuild the air-sleeve yourself in [HTML_REMOVED]30min if the seals go. I'd try to get an RP23 if you can the variable platform is great for climbing.

i personally have beaten the crap out of three different float air shox over the past 4 or 5 years, 2 xc bikes and one on my old blur …. have yet to see one of them die… not like the old RS sid shox i blew out 2 of those. ps.. i never went over 200lbs of psi

Yo Julien,

I've ridden my Blur4x for 2 years off and on now, and I really wish I had gotten a coil shock in the first place.

Not sure how different the Fox Float R and Fox RP3 are, but the RP3 on my bike was definitely not a good spec. At first I was stoked on it because its lighter and I just didn't go hard enough to need a coil. Something to keep in mind with the RP3s is that there are 3 different valving specs for different applications (this is all hearsay so correct me if I'm wrong). I guess the one I got was spec'd for XC riding, because it's got a great pedaling platform, and is smooth all the way through the travel, but once I open it up in corners and pumps, even with 200psi, I'll bottom it out. Theres no low-end compression at all, and no adjustability for it either.

And now because of this, my DU frame linkage is cracked in 3 spots :(

So basically if you're gonna get an air shock, just make damn sure you can get bottom resistance with it.

frame cracked in 3 spots? :(
I do think the Nomad is better suited to the riding I do, but it also comes with the float r…if I went the nomad route I don't think I could afford the dhx air 5.0 upgrade, it'd bump the frame way out of my budget…
You find it just bottoms from pumping singletrack? that's kinda disapointing..good info to know.

did you compete in the test of metal this year barry?

Yea I rode 4:31. Not on the blur though…

The bottoming during pumping is totally due to the shock, and not the frame, and only when hauling ass.

And it's the small black linkage plate thats cracked… not the frame. phew!

wicked, you got it painted! lemme know if your coming to the kootenays this summer, we can hook some rides.
i'm taking some time off work in the first week of september and will be around the coast/squamish with my bike..we should do some runs in crumpet woods

Not sure how different the Fox Float R and Fox RP3 are, but the RP3 on my bike was definitely not a good spec.

The RP3 is a better version of the Float R. It would as good or better.

An air shock doesn't feel the same as a coil shock. The initial stiction is a usually greater, and the ramp-up is different.

Air shocks shouldn't be used in higher leverage ratio setups. 3:1 on a coil shock (in general) is fine, but on an air shock that is too much, IMO. I wouldn't go above 2.5:1

I ride a heckler with a 5th element/fox 36rc and it can handle anything you throw at it. Big climbs/descents, bike park. etc. I bought a kona stab last year for the bike park and sold it at the end of aug. because the heckler was way more fun in the park. The only downside was the really choppy stuff on no joke.

pretty sure you would kill it with the travis(or totem)/vpfree combo…could make it like 3-4 pounds off the 4x. if you are riding stuff like elephantitis, i don't think a tiny bike is ideal. the vp free's climb like mad and are much funner down the hill than a nomad….unless of course that blows budget but your frame is worth a pretty penny or two.

i'm gonna try to come in this weekend when i gots some time and look at a few options. I want the totem 2 stem/nomad combo but I don't know if I trust the totems after all the horror stories I been hearing.
of course, that 1.5 totem that you have is pretty nice..good price too!