FOX 34 Step-Cast Factory Suspension Fork [Rider Review]

Our "Rider Review" article series features the honest reviews from verified purchasers of Worldwide Cyclery. They contain the photos, thoughts, feedback & overall review you are looking for. 

Fox's Step Cast forks bring a whole new world of performance to the lightweight XC/Trail crowd. These forks punch way above their weight class, which is why you see them on so many bikes these days. Geoff recently upgraded his Norco with a Fox 34 Factory fork and hasn't looked back. Read on for more!

Overview

I recently bought a Fox 120mm fork from Worldwide Cyclery. (Specifically, a FOX 34 Step-Cast Factory Suspension Fork).

The fork is awesome! I put it on a cross-country bike (a full suspension 2018 Norco Revolver 9, which came with a 100mm fork, a Rock Shox SID RLC). The SID was definitely a nice fork, but the Fox is better. It looks cooler in the first place. Almost as important as how it looks, it’s also nicer on more technical trails. Despite having 20mm more travel than the RLC, the Fox fork is a little lighter (okay, and more expensive, which could be connected), so no performance penalty there. The Fox fork definitely makes the bike feel more stable and adds a little confidence to my riding on aggressive, technical trails, especially steeper downhills, all while keeping the bike solidly in the cross-country race category.

Now that I’ve ridden the bike a bit with the Fox fork, I think the benefit is more than just 20mm of additional travel. Compared to my old SID fork, the crown of the Fox fork sits a little over a centimeter higher, which slackens the frame angles a little, gives the bike a little more bottom bracket height and clearance, and moves my center of gravity a little further back on the machine.

The more time I spent riding my bike with the new Fox fork, I could not be happier with the overall effect. And as far as the performance of the Fox, it feels fantastic, smooth as silk, like riding on butter, or maybe marshmallows.

I had been thinking about getting a trail bike, and this was sort of a compromise (upgrade the fork to make my cross-country bike a little more trail-oriented). I still want a new trail bike, but I’m not splurging on one this year. When I first started thinking I might want to put a 120mm fork on my cross country bike, I looked at a video about different kinds of MTB forks on the Worldwide Cyclery website. Having educated myself, I decided I wanted the Fox 34, I looked around for the best price. I didn’t really have any loyalty to Worldwide Cyclery, despite having relied on their nice video about forks to figure out what I needed.

Final Thoughts

All in all, the Fox 34 Step Cast was just the upgrade I was looking for to make my bike more capable out on the trails. Thanks WC!