Fox Racing Shox has a habit of rolling out its latest suspension technology around Sea Otter in April. (We’ve already seen the new 40 Float FIT RC2 suspension fork.) Despite being only four months into 2013, Fox is already adding two more products to its 2014 line, including a 160mm-travel 34 TALAS CTD fork with updated internals and an all-new piggyback version of the popular Float CTD air shock.
160mm-travel 34 TALAS CTD fork
TALAS stands for Travel Adjustable Linear Air Spring, the system uses a multi-chambered air spring to allow the user to select between two travel modes while maintaining a similar spring rate. The new 160mm-travel model can be dropped to 130mm to help keep the front end planted on steep climbs.
The new 160mm-travel 34 TALAS CTD fork has several updates that will be found throughout the TALAS line.
A frequent criticism of Fox CTD forks has been that they tend to blow through their travel and dive under braking. Fox appears to have addressed both with a more progressive spring curve and increased low-speed compression damping.
The TALAS system was also revised. We don’t have details on specific improvements, though Fox claims the updated TALAS is smoother than previous versions, which suffered from more seal drag than the Float series of forks (a consequence of having more seals in the TALAS system).
The new fork weighs a claimed 4.33lb/1,964g for a 26-inch model. Fox will be also offering the 160mm 34 TALAS in a 650B version.
Float X CTD shock
Fox has also developed a version of the Float rear shock to meet the needs to aggressive trail riders. Lessons learned in the development of the DHX Air shocks were used to develop the lighter Float X CTD model. A 8.5x2.5in Float X CTD weighs a claimed 365g, about 80g heavier than a similarly-sized Float CTD shock.
Like the DHX Air, the Float X CTD has a piggyback reservoir, allowing it to hold more oil. More oil flowing through the damping circuits allows provides more consistent performance by allowing the shock to better cope with the high temperatures generated by aggressive riding.
The Float X CTD shares the same adjustments as the standard Float CTD shock: Climb, Trail, Descend modes, with a three-position low-speed compression adjuster to fine-tune damping in the Trail mode, as well as adjustable rebound damping.
We’ll take a closer look at these and other new Fox products this week at Sea Otter. More information on the new forks and shocks is available at the Fox Racing Shox website.
