Formula ThirtyFive suspension fork review

Despite meaty 35mm stanchions and decent steering accuracy, Formula’s new fork is lighter than a lot of 140mm travel, 32mm legged trail forks. It’s only available with a tapered steerer though, and isn’t recommended for use with rotors bigger than 180mm.

The nest of dials and levers on the fork top includes lockout, lockout threshold and low-speed compression adjustment. The damping cartridge is removable for servicing and you can rotate it in order to put the adjustment knobs exactly where you want them.

The low-pressure air spring and oil bath lubing mean an extremely supple and smooth start, with decent mid-stroke support for consistent cornering geometry.

Progression can be increased by adding oil to the air spring, but the default set-up was fine for us, keeping the fork’s head held high rather than diving into corners or braking bumps. The damping occasionally got overloaded and spiked during repeated high-speed hit sections but it’s an impressive performer otherwise.

Production forks will come with a quick-release 15mm axle instead of the bolted one sampled here.