RockShox 35 Gold RL 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. 

In the world of entry level suspension forks, RockShox reigns king. They have multiple variants aimed at providing value, durability, and performance. One of which is the RockShox 35 Gold RL fork. Read on to hear what this customer had to say about his!

Overview

I recently purchased a Rockshox 35 Gold RL for my hardtail build and it has been the single best upgrade I have done. This fork handles everything like a pro. It soaks up the small vibrations of the trail so that I don't feel them in my wrists or hands. The added stiffness from the 35mm stancions really give you the confidence to take that big rock roll or send that drop you've been eyeing. Honestly, though the suppleness of this fork is absolutely amazing. I had been looking around for budget options for an air fork for a while. Posted questions to Facebook pages, looked up reviews and everything just pointed to this fork. The video on Worldwide Cyclery Is what finally pushed me over the edge to get this bad boy.

On Trail Performance

I'm from New Mexico and I ride in Colorado a lot and we have almost nothing but rocks on our trails here and in Southern CO. I am a newer rider and have kept myself to green or low blues for the majority of my riding bit I finally decided to take my bike out to Pueblo Lake to test it out on the trails there and it handled everything without batting an eye. My previous fork made me really think about what trails I had to take and made me go over the bars a couple of times for pushing it over bigger features.

This fork instilled a confidence in me that I had yet to feel on the bike and I decided to try out my first Black Diamond trail. This thing took the Waterfall and Freeride black trails like it was made for them. It took the bigger rock drops and rolls and made them feel almost smooth my last fork had a tendency to buck me as I could ever get it to feel right with the air pressure and rebound but as you know since this fork is RockShox I had the app to help me set it up to my weight and it was perfect. It was supple and responsive and never made me feel like I was out of my depth on the trail. I love the boost spacing which I was hesitant about at first and I couldn't have been more wrong. Just another reason this fork feels planted when you're riding, and I cannot wait to get some 2.6 wide trail tires on this beast to give it just that little extra grip I'm wanting. If you are hesitating on a new fork because you don't know what to get between different styles/brands just do yourself a favor and snag this fork.

Final Thoughts

You cannot beat it for the price and it will give you real confidence in the trail. I now feel like I have stepped up from being a total newb to an intermediate rider and cannot wait to get on the trails more with better riders on harder and harder trails. Thank you Worldwide Cyclery and Rockshox for giving me a dream of a fork to shred on.