Fox Rocks the 40

Writer Mitchell Scott rocks the 40--Canadian Style, eh?

There are certain places in this world whose name oozes cool. Santa Cruz, California is one of those places. Surf culture, progressive ideologies, septum piercing hipsters and badass illegal trail. Cool is crown in this NorCal community. Not surprising then that a double crown front fork for the ages emerges from the seafoam and the redwoods…travel as sweet as its birthplace.

No hesitancy then when asked to join Fox’s product manager Mark Fitzimmons and marketing manager, Elayna Caldwell, not to mention mountain bike savant Mike Ferrentino (who was testing the new Fox 36) for a spin through Santa Cruz’s magnificent redwood and fern carpeted forests on Fox Racing Shox’s new 40 downhill/freeride fork. Manufactured, created and designed at Fox Racing’s factory just outside of Santa Cruz, the new 40 is a deep, highly adjustable, well-thought out fork, and a welcome addition to the monopolized world of long travel forks.

Weighing in at just under seven-pounds, the new 40 uses 40mm (not a coincidence) stanchions and huge, oversized aluminum cast lower legs for an incredibly stiff BIG feel without the weight its appearance would suggest. The fork’s oversized castings allow for added strength with reduced material, as well as the added bonus of increased turning radius thanks to a wider distance between stanchions.

The left stanchion holds a titanium coil/oil spring with external spring preload adjustment, while the right stanchion houses Fox’s proprietary externally adjustable dual-speed, position-sensitive damper as well as an externally adjustable rebound.

Fox is one of the very few remaining companies that can bill its products as "Built in the USA"

An Internal Travel Spacer System provides adjustability from 8 to 6 inches in half-inch increments, letting the rider adjust the travel to suit their riding style (the fork must be taken apart to make this adjustment). The 40 also has a stepped 20mm thru-axle allowing the lower leg to settle into a lower friction point, as well as a new disc mount that’s stiff and light. Built entirely in the U.S., where quality control and testing lay right under the all-knowing noses of its designers, the 40 is as real deal as it gets.

On the damp rolling singletrack above Santa Cruz I found the 40 provided a tasty combination of smooth, progressive travel that doesn’t rush into anything without thinking about it first. Bouncing the front end of the bike lightly and the fork barely engages. And while I know the 40’s application isn’t climbing, it climbs better than any other long travel fork I’ve ridden, resisting the pull and push of body movements where other long travel forks would be rushing into their travel path like a kid who’s just entered the candy store. But once the threshold is gained, the 40 ramps it up beautifully.

On one particularly rocky descent the fork ran its full eight inches of travel sans the slightest twinge of a bottom out. It will be interesting to see how the fork performs over time, but knowing Fox, it’s a safe bet this it will be sucking up ill-landed hucks and delirious descents for a long time. It will have to, actually. A top of the rung price-tag maybe the only barrier to the 40 being the long-travel fork of choice. At $1599 for the RC2 and $1299 for the RC, the 40’s as pricey as it gets in the dual crown world. But, upon first impressions, the ride Fox’s new 40 throws down might just be worth every penny.