Vursprung Fox 34 upgrade

Has anyone had there Fox 34 upgraded?I am interested in some feedback and reviews.

Looks goofy to me with the top being open. I would go for the Push kit it looks cleaner and you don't need Allen keys to adjust it.

PUSH KIT

http://www.pushindustries.com/2009/index.php?menu_id=38[HTML_REMOVED]type=products[HTML_REMOVED]title=FOX FLOAT 34 CTD[HTML_REMOVED]product_id=108

Looks goofy to me with the top being open. I would go for the Push kit it looks cleaner and you don't need Allen keys to adjust it.

We did have a good look at this during the design stage, originally intending to use a fully-covering topcap like most forks do. However, in order to have two separate LSC adjusters, the "open top" is necessary unless you want to use a system like Fox use in the RLC or CTD Trail Adjust dampers, where there is a LSC knob with machined ramps that push a needle down. The reason we avoided that system is that due to the tight tolerances required coupled with the tolerance stacking involved, it's both highly ineffective and inconsistent between units (as proven on the dyno) as well as expensive to make. Expensive + inconsistent + ineffective = not a good choice. We recessed the topcap too because the alternatives were either a higher stack height (which interfered with some frames when you turned the bars 90 degrees) or insufficient purchase of the lever on the adjustment post mechanism (basically making the lever feel cheap and wobbly). This does mean that dirt can settle in the recess, however all adjusters are properly sealed and won't give you any issues - it was our opinion that having a system like Fox's that stayed cleaner was not as valuable as having precise adjustment. This may not sit well with everyone, however from a design point of view we saw it as a better compromise than the alternatives. Is it perfect? No - nothing is.

As far as allen key adjustment - while it isn't a big issue either way really, we are a fan of tooled adjustments because they force you to actually put some consideration into your adjustments, rather than just twiddling knobs trailside without much thought. You can see the effects of this with the CCDB, whereby people take their tools with them in order to focus on setting the damper up, then once it's done properly, they put the tools away and don't need to bother with it again. While it sounds good in theory to have completely tool free adjustments, our experience is that forcing people to actually concentrate on setup means that they do a better job of it. Plus, if you ride with allen keys, it's not too hard to pull them out to make adjustments :)

Hopefully this explains why we've done some of the things we've done. I have no doubt that not everyone will agree with our methodology, and that's fine, but at least you'll see that there's reasoning behind the decisions we've made :)

Just wanted to give you some input from my perspective on the TLA damper upgrade. Disclaimer; I know Steve from Vorsprung but would be more than happy to call him out if there was anything wrong with this upgrade. I did pay retail for my TLA damper.

Whether or not the TLA damper is going to work for you depends, I think, on what you perceive as issues with the existing CTD damper in your 34 and how you want that fork to behave and ride. There is also the issue of whether you feel that dropping another $350 odd to 'fix' someone's top-of-the-line trail fork is money well spent. I'm fortunate I feel in that my 34s came second-hand on a bike that I picked up for a great price, so I didn't have any real emotional or financial investment in the fork. If I'd paid retail for those 34s aftermarket I don't know that I'd have gone the upgrade route quite as readily, buyers remorse and all that.

The 34 is for me, a fantastic chassis with a massively compromised damper. Fox really threw the baby out with the bathwater when they committed to this design and the result is a damper with 3 modes, of which only one really works in any way acceptably and with zero fine tuning. My 34 was the CTD with the trail adjust feature, which made so little difference to the feel of the fork as to be essentially useless.

Climb mode worked, it was a lockout, good for grunting up roads and honestly pretty hard to get wrong. Trail mode offered some LSC, but not enough in my opinion and nowhere near enough HSC to be useful. The fork rode too deep into the midstroke most of the time and blew through the travel on big hits. It was tolerable at best. Descend mode, terrible. If they were looking to emulate the feel of an early 2000s Marzocchi Bomber they nailed it. Just far too little compression damping to be acceptable.

So being that I had a good chunk of change in my pocket from getting a screaming deal on the bike I decided to fork some over for the TLA. Steve will ask you to rate the aggressiveness of your riding on a 1-10 scale to set a baseline tune for the damper. I went with a 7 in the hopes that I would get a reasonably firm but not overly aggressive tune to work with. I also had my rear shock receive an R-Spec tune from them at the same time, to match the fork.

The improvement that the TLA damper offers is huge. The fork now has a much higher level of both LSC and HSC and a wide range of useable, useful LSC adjustment in both modes. The fork rides higher in the stroke with much more support and control, dives appreciably less under all circumstances and manages big hits in a much more controlled manner. Ride-wise, it's now like a tiny version of the 40RC2 on my downhill bike. Pretty weapons grade for a lightweight trail fork if you ask me. I'm very happy with it. I generally prefer a firmer ride from my fork and will usually tune most forks at the mid-to-upper range of their LSC adjustment and middle of the range for HSC. The fork was easy to get set up exactly how I like it in both modes with the tune that Steve provided. I suspect that if you're not a fan of a firm ride you would want to make that clear from the outset and discuss how you'd like the baseline setup done.

Regarding the aesthetics and ergonomics of the design; I agree, it does look goofy. In practice though, having the lever to switch between modes is brilliant, much better and easier to use than a dial while you're moving, big fan of that.

The allen-key adjusters are kind of a non-issue for me in that I've always been someone who spends time on initial setup and then leaves the fork setup like that once I'm satisfied. I spent a few rides dialling in both modes with an allen key in my pocket and haven't touched them since. This is no different to what I've done with previous forks other than the minor inconvenience of carrying around a loose allen key for a few rides. The adjusters do seem to trap in dirt and grime though so you will need to keep on top of keeping them clean.