Picked up a used fox 36, swapped out a new steerer tube and installed it. Front end feels very vague and loose while riding. Is this flexing too much on a static drop? I am noticing it flexing similarly while riding too. Any advice welcome
by henderviks
11 Comments
Seems prettu normal
Weird flex bro /s
Everything is a spring. As long as there’s no play in the headset you should be good.
Is there any play in the fork stanchions? If so maybe the fork needs to be rebuilt.
Watch the huck to flat videos. If frames and forks were incredibly stiff, they’d have to be ridiculously heavy to be strong enough to survive. Light = flex = flexing is better than snapping. Like bamboo surviving in the wind, but with a higher stiffness.
Bushing knock can be detected in isolation by removing the fork and fixturing the fork
This is normal
Normal but also shi++y fox.
Yes. Forks do flex.
Yep, standard.
The flex seems about normal for a 34 / 36 / lyrik / pike level fork. Is this fork longer than the fork you had on the bike longer? Thta could make it feel more vague as you’ve added front center and stack and you need to compensate and get your weight more over the bars when the front gets longer/taller to keep weight on the front wheel for steering input.
You say you got a new steerer tube, did you have Fox or a qualified suspension shop do that? It requires a hydraulic press and some precision jigs / tooling AFAIK. If you had it done, did they warrant their work?
I got another fun one. Sit on your bike hold the brakes and put force into a pedal while your other foot is on the ground and you’ll see the rear end flex.
Yes, conventional forks are noodles when it comes to fore/aft stiffness.