Last week Fox finally announced the details of the bright orange fork we have seen gracing the bikes of riders like Dan McConnell, Bec Henderson, Julien Absalon and Jolanda Neff – plus many more. Known for their outstanding damping and stiffness, Fox forks have never truly been class winners for total weight. However the new 2017 model 32 SC (Step cast) fork resets the weight barrier – bringing fork weigh as low as 1355g.
Based on the same FiT4 cartridge that current 2016 models forks run, the true changes are external, with the crown stance being narrowed to 120mm from 130 mm, and the lowers scalloped out to allow for the appropriate rotor clearance. All while still having Boost (110mm) compatible models, along with regular 100mm QR15 models. All 32 SC forks come stock with the Kabolt bolt up skewer – which is part of the weight saving too.
Emily Batty – the 32 SC poster girl.
The FiT4 cartridge has 22 steps of compression damping, plus the 10mm shaft allows increased oil flow. Best of all, the SC units have a specific tune. Without full details, we would suspect it’s built to cope with the demands of XCO racing and being built specifically for 100mm applications. So small bump compliance will be important, a high lock out force, and probably a really rising rate and fast rebound to allow for hard successive hits.
The Factory series forks come with the super slick Kashima coat, and colour options include factory orange, gloss white and gloss black.
Orange matches everything!
Being optimised for XCO racing, the forks are available in 27.5″ and 29″ options. With just 45mm rake available in 27.5″, but both 45 and 51mm options for 29″. The 29″ fork weighs 1360g, a whopping 255g saving over the 2016 32 Factory fork.
The forks do have some tyre limits – at about 2.3″. That should be fine for XCO and XCM racing, but it might limit the use for someone who wants to make a super light trail bike – if the 100mm limit didn’t do that already. The 29″ fork can take a whopping 203mm rotor though, if you wanted it to!
Forks should be available in June – but you can pre order now via your Fox dealer.