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Fox’s long-travel lightweight fork gets superb new damping for 2008, but its structural stiffness still feels stretched at 140mm.

Fox forks have always set the standard for a smooth, succulent feel over all bump sizes, from roots to serious drops. Small tweaks to the damping for ’08 has given every Fox fork phenomenal control at the crucial compression/ rebound turnaround point, too.

However, while this puts the new 120mm fork and the 36 series head and shoulders above the opposition, the stretched 32 can’t match the damping control in structural terms. As soon as you start pushing it hard through corners or under braking, there’s just too much twang and flex in the tips to inspire confidence. Fox and Shimano's imminent 15mm through-axle standard should be very effective solution to the stiffness issues for 2009, however.

Weight is reasonable, and Fox’s reputation for reliability and resistance to UK conditions is going through a renaissance. We’ve certainly had no problems at all, despite nearly a full year of day-in, day-out riding on all the sets here.

Even with a quality shock pump included, the price is still relatively high for the features you’re getting, with the RLC (with added Lockout and Compression damping) version coming in at £489.

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