[Video] Fox 32, 34, 36, 38, and 40 Forks...What's the Difference???

Words by: Liam Woods

Fox Forks, What Is The Difference?

Comparing the Fox 32, 34, 36, 38 & 40

In this comparison, we go over the main differences within the Fox fork lineup. Offering some of the best suspension products on the market today, Fox has become the go to for world class champions like Aaron Gwin and Rachel Atherton & Richie Rude. With options for all riders and skill levels, it is no surprise that Fox has become one of the most well known names in the mountain bike industry. 

Fox 32

The Fox 32 was designed to be the ultimate lightweight cross country fork. The chassis uses a narrow stance to save weight and the step design makes room for the spokes and brake rotor. The 32 SC features 32 mm upper tubes and ample bushing overlap for a quality ride and the hollowed out lower legs provide even more weight savings. 

Specs:

• Damper options: FIT4 3-Pos Lever w/adj,  FIT4 2-Pos Remote w/adj 
• Travel: 100mm 
• Same stiffness as 34 
• Lockout for increased efficiency 
• Optional remote lockout 
• 1387 gram starting weight (3.06 lbs.) 
• FLOAT EVOL air spring 
• Axle options: 15x110 Boost and 15x100 
• Wheel sizes: 27.5” and 29” 
• Offsets: 44mm and 51mm 
• Factory Series models feature Genuine Kashima Coat 
• Available in Factory and Performance Series 
• MSRP: USD $739 - $999

Fox 34

The Fox 34 offers more travel than the 32 to make it perfect for any all mountain bike. With 34mm upper tubes, the 34 is a great all around fork. There are two chassis models for the Fox 34, the standard 34 with travel options from 120mm-140mm and then the Fox 34SC, stands for Step Cast. The Step Cast version has been made specifically for 120mm travel and cuts weight down as much as possible, perfect for that beefy xc bike when the 32mm Fox fork doesn't cut it. The standard Fox 34 is also available now with a Grip2 damper, giving you that ultimate tunability in a lightweight package. 

Specs:

• NEW GRIP2 damper option 
• Damper options: GRIP2 Damper with VVC (Variable Valve Control), FIT4 3-Pos Lever w/adj, FIT GRIP (34 SC - FIT4 or Grip)
• Travel options: 120mm-140mm (34 Step-Cast 120mm only)
• FLOAT EVOL air spring adds plushness 
• Wheel sizes: 27.5" and 29" 
• Offsets: 44mm and 51mm 
• Air Spring: FLOAT 
• Axle options: 15QR x 110 Boost, 15QR x 100 
• Steerer: 1.5" Taper 
• Starting Weight: 3.90 lb / 1770 g 
• Factory Series models feature Genuine Kashima Coat 
• Available in Factory, Performance Elite, Performance, and E-Bike models 
• MSRP USD $749 - $979

Fox 36

The Fox 36 is a classic enduro travel fork from Fox. For 2021. The 36 received a redesign with a curved arch that provides more clearance, lower leg air bleeders, and the updated Grip2 damper, the 36 is now better than ever! Best suited for 150-170mm travel options, the Fox 36 is the perfect enduro fork with a ton of options to fit almost any bike.

Specs:

•     ALL-NEW chassis
•     NEW lower leg bleeders
•     NEW air/oil channels
•     NEW floating axle
•     NEW arch shape offers improved head tube clearance with shorter rakes
•     Matching 8-click HSC and HSR adjustment on GRIP2 forks and X2 shocks
•     Damper options: GRIP2 with VVC, FIT4, Live Valve, GRIP
•     Updated EVOL air spring
•     Travel options: 150mm-160mm
•     Increased crown diameter to match modern frame shape profiles
•     Wheel sizes: 27.5" and 29"
•     Offsets: 37mm, 44mm and 51mm
•     Optional mud guard
•     Factory Series models feature Genuine Kashima Coat
•     Available in Factory, Performance Elite, and E-Bike models
•     Starting weight: 1965 g
•     MSRP USD $849 - $1099

Fox 38

The newest fork in the Fox 2021 lineup is the Fox 38, meant for that hard charging super enduro rider looking for the best performing fork you can get. Splitting the difference between the Fox 36 and the Fox 40, the Fox 38 has 38mm upper tubes and has been winning races before it was released to the public. Richie Rude piloted this fork to a few EWS wins in 2019 and since then we have only sesen positive reviews. Handling travel from 160-180mm, the Fox 38 is ready for anything you can throw at it. Following the same design as the updated 36, the Fox 38 has a curved arch with clearance for larger head tubes, a grip2 damper only option and the lower leg bleeders, the 38 is ready for EWS racing or your local trails. 

Specs:

•     NEW elliptical steerer tube maximizing stiffness to weight
•     NEW lower leg bleeders
•     NEW air/oil channels
•     NEW floating axle
•     NEW arch shape offers improved head tube clearance with shorter rakes
•     Matching 8-click HSC and HSR adjustment on GRIP2 forks and X2 shocks
•     Damper options: GRIP2 with VVC FIT4, GRIP
•     Updated EVOL air spring
•     Inner air sleeve/cartridge tube
•     Travel options: 160mm-180mm
•     31% stiffer transverse shear, 17% stiffer fore/aft and 38% torsionally stiffer than 36
•     Wheel sizes: 27.5" and 29"
•     Offsets: 37mm, 44mm and 51mm
•     58mm crown diameter to match modern frame shape profiles
•     Optional mud guard
•     Factory Series models feature Genuine Kashima Coat
•     Available in Factory, Performance Elite, Performance, and E-Bike models
•     Starting weight: 2180 g
•     MSRP USD: $949 - $1199

Fox 40

A legend on the race circuit, the Fox 40 has become known as one of the best performing downhill forks on the market. Since its introduction 10 years ago, Fox has continually found a way to improve the design and performance of the fork. Offering a smooth and stable ride, this fork generates incredible confidence no matter how difficult the trail. Getting a redesign in 2021, the Fox 40 also gets the curved arch and retains the lower leg bleeders you have seen in the past on the fox 40. 

Specs:

•     ALL-NEW chassis
•     NEW lower leg bleeders
•     NEW air/oil channels
•     NEW arch shape offers improved head tube clearance with shorter rakes
•     Matching 8-click HSC and HSR adjustment on GRIP2 forks and X2 shocks
•     Damper option(s): GRIP2 damper now with VVC (Variable Valve Control), GRIP
•     Updated EVOL air spring
•     Pinch-bolt 20mm x 110mm floating axle
•     Travel option(s): 203mm
•     Offset(s): 48mm, 52mm and 56mm
•     Wheel size(s): 27.5" and 29"
•     Optional mud guard
•     Factory Series models feature Genuine Kashima Coat
•     Available in Factory Series
•     Starting weight: 2816 g
•     MSRP USD $1749

This article was written / authored by Liam Woods. Liam has been in the bicycle industry for over 10 years as a racer, professional mechanic, service manager and as of late, media and content creator. Liam has ridden thousands of different bikes, ridden countless components, tested endless MTB apparel of all kinds and written reviews on it all. He's a key piece to the Worldwide Cyclery "All Things MTB" content creation puzzle. He also makes consistent appearances on the Worldwide Cyclery YouTube channel and Instagram.

If you're one strange human and would like to read a transcript of the video above, continue reading below!

Ladies and gentlemen, today I'm going to tell you the differences between the fox fork line - the 32 34 36 38 and 40.

So those numbers literally mean the stanchion diameter. This is the stanchion of a fork and this is how you measure the diameter. Boom, simple as that. 32 on the 32. Why the stanchion diameter is so important and fox decided to name their like their naming convention after the stanchion diameter is because the longer travel the fork gets you typically need a larger stanchion diameter because it allows that fork to be more sturdy and not flex. So the 32 which is offered in just a hundred millimeters of travel, a step cast, and a non-step cast version. Step cast is just the lighter weight version where they mess with the lowers a little bit. This is fox's lightest weight fork made for cross country bikes, 100 mil travel bikes, or hardtails because again the 32 is going to be the lightest fork there is, all the way up to the 40 which is the heaviest fork there is and they sort of fit bikes as they progressively go up in travel ranges so the next one up is the 34.

there you go 34 once again 34 millimeter stanchion diameter. This could go on a trail hardtail which is what this Yeti arc is, or it could go on just a trail bike or a down country bike. They do have these in a step cast version that comes in 120 mm travel only and they also have it in just the regular version which comes in 120 to 140 mm travel so that's the 34. next one is the 36 - 36 millimeter stanchion. There's definitely a bit of a blurring of lines between the 36 and the 38 um the 38 was new for 2020 which is why we remade this video to introduce that thing to you guys. But the 36 is offered in 140 to 160 travel and the 38 160 to 180 so just a little less travel you could call this your enduro fork. I mean I like to call these enduro forks at that travel range and then I called the 38 a super enduro fork. I kind of just made that up. I don't know if it's gonna catch on. The 38 we have a whole standalone video just about this, we also compared it to other forks that are similar in terms of stanchion diameter, that sort of thing. But much longer travel, very stiff, race inspired fork made for people going really fast or big riders that are really demanding absolute stiffness and precision out of their long travel single crown fork. So bumping up from there then you get the fox 40 which is a 203 millimeter travel full blown dual crown downhill fork. This thing is a monster. You basically only ever see this on downhill bikes period. They only ever made them for 26 right then it went to 27.5 when they introduced the 29-inch wheeled version which is still fairly new when they introduced that they actually called it a 49. They have since redacted that because they realize that totally ruined their whole naming convention because it's still just a 40 mil stanchion. So for 2020 and moving forward it's uh just gonna be the fox 40 available in 27.5 or 29 inch wheels. But 40 mil stanchion 203 ml travel ultimate downhill fork.

So there you go. That is the difference between all the different fox forks, a fairly simple topic. This video we just wanted to stay very high level and for those of you that didn't know the difference between the 32 all the way up to the 40. Now you know stanchion diameter which also directly correlates with the travel range they're offered in and what type of bike they are used for. So thank you very much for watching, see you guys the next one.