This well-made, four-cross-specific fork from new manufacturer Society offers a reasonably supple ride and useful adjustability and versatility.
New kids on the scene Society have released their debut 80mm travel Xeno fork, a single crown fork designed with four-cross and dirt riders specifically in mind.
Construction details
First impressions of these forks are good. They have burly-looking 36mm hard anodised gold stanchions, and butch one-piece magnesium, 20mm bolt-through lowers, with some nice attention to detail with grease ports in the back of the lowers, grooves in the crown for easier headset race removal, a nicely finished damping adjuster and a guide for brake hose. However, brake choice is currently limited to disc only, with an international standard mount intended for 180mm rotors. If you want to go bigger, you'll need a suitable calliper adapter.
Spring rate can be adjusted by changing the coil spring, or fine tuned with the air spring in the right-hand leg. Damping is controlled with the clicky dial on the top of the left leg and ranges from instant extension to very slow, easily covering most people's speed settings. It might sound insignificant, but the damping adjustment has an awesome tactile feel, adding to the fork's 'well made on a budget' appeal.
Dropouts can be either 20mm through-axle or quick release compatible, through use of the neat alloy converters that are secured with grub screws. The resulting drop-outs are the no-lipped non-safety variety though so it would be wise to keep a close eye on quick releases. The 20mm axle fits easily and secures well with a single 8mm Allen key.
The ride
In use these forks have a reasonably supple ride, with a good progressive action, and their progression is increased along with the spring rate by adding some air to the air side of the fork.
They are stiff enough for it not to be a concern and, while we'll have to wait to see how well they fare in wet conditions, the sealing seems to be fine so far. Their weight is low enough (total weight with most of the steerer attached and the axle is 2.5kg) to be competitive against forks of a higher price.
Heavy hitters may be concerned about the aluminium steerer tube but that hasn't been a problem so far under reasonably heavy riders. This can't be held against the fork because it was designed for four-cross and playing about, so it's more about smoothing out a race trail than 20ft drops to flat.
With this in mind, it may be worth noting that the crown looks a bit less burly than we like on a fork, but once again if the fork is kept in its intended uses it shouldn't cause any problems.
Dropouts can be either 20mm through-axle or quick release compatible, through use of the neat alloy converters that are secured with grub screws. The resulting drop-outs are the no-lipped non-safety variety though so it would be wise to keep a close eye on quick releases. The 20mm axle fits easily and secures well with a single 8mm Allen key. >