Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126017
• ;; • • ~ S t 10 r- O"l 1"'""'1 10 C'l I-< ~ ..0 S ~ :> 0 Z '"" .:.- o o .J .J I- ~ U lU > lU I- • '- "'- '.", > 'o " I- o t Fo x Air Shox at left. $ 2 19 .5 0. Fox Shox at right, $ 9 9 plus $ 19.95 fo r special dual rat e springs sho wn. Pu rsui t of perfection doesn't come cheap. By Steve Castillo Ever SInce the GP Maicos made their U.S. debut back In 1973 with their then revolu tionary forward mounted shocks, moto- .~ cross riders have sou ght better answers to th eir suspension problcms . The t ri c k was findin g reliab le, , .... 36 ye t effect ive, su spension co m po nen t s that would hold up under tough motocross co nd it io ns, we ek after week. One shop that stands out amon g others in developing suitab le equipment is the Moto- X Fox in Campbell, California. Deriving its name from owner Geoff Fox, the shop was opened as a mail-order di stributor of m o to cr oss products. From there Geoff Fox has expanded his shop in to t he design and ma nufacture of sho ck absorbers and fork k its. Like m an y oth er people , Fox wanted to find a bette r shock a bsorbe r than was being offered to th e general p ubli c . Unlike most other pe ople Fox has an ex te nsive p hysics ba ckground, including teaching o n th e Un iversity level and . jus t as im portan t, he raced Maic o s for several yea rs , so he knows wh at rough b um ps feel like. Fo x spent ov er a ye ar in major design and experimen ta tio n o n his Fox Shox, Work began with th e c o nst ruc ti o n of a shock dyno to measure im po rt an t data such as damping fade characteristic s an d temperature chan ges. After testing every major shock sold, Fox believes th at his shock is superior to any o th er b ra nd now on th e market. Fox Shox are cu rr e n tly the o nly gas pressurized sho c k ab sorbers which are rebui ldable and can also have their damping alte red to suit rider and track requirem en ts. Fox Sh ox are made in California. So if yo u want to ask questio ns, bitch, co mp la in o r whatever. Fox wel comes them from ni ne to five: Mo nday th ro ugh Friday. Gas or air shocks' main fun ction is to eliminate the probl em o f fad e asso cia ted with con ve n t ional sho c ks. Fo x Sh ox allevia te th is problem b y a simp le, e ffect ive des ign us in g a p red ic tab ly fo amed shock flu id . The shocks work as we 11 in the upside-down position as compared to co nventional shocks. Unsp ru ng wei ght is reduced that way. By changing a jet inside th e shock , a rider can adj ust d amping to suit his or the tr ack's specific needs. Fox Shox have been out about seven mon t hs and have become, at least in Northern California th e shock to have. Besides Lackey, Ken t Howerton, Terry Clark, Mik e Kesseler, and Jim West hav e been using Fox Shox on t he T rans-A:\1A circuit this ye ar and are reportedly pleased with the units. Bob Fox, older brother of Geoff, has also been busy in the search for a better shock. The elder Fox has spent the bette r part of a year developing and testing his "Fox air shox " , \Vhat sets the Fox ai r shox ap ar t from anything else is that t he shock is ac tually an in tegral shoe k absorber-air-spring unit. The ad van tages of the Fox ai r shox are numerous. Firstly, the spring has been co m plet ely eli minated. The smoot h, p rogressive action of air provides an excep tio nal ly soft co ntro lled rid e with virtual ly no bottom-out. Secondly, dam ping adjust ments can be mad e externally in a matter of seconds t o sui t co nd it io ns. Fo x a ir sho x h ave an extensively-fi n ned alu m inum bo dy fo r ex ce llen t heat dissipa tion. Te sting on the d yn o sho ws, in c o mp ariso n to all other m aj or shoc ks o ffe red cu rren t ly , Fox air shox pe rm it less damping fade tha n any other shock, in cluding Geoff the Fox read in g th e dyno. alu minum body or ni trogen pressu rized types. . Im p o rt a n tl y , Fox air shox offer 4 inch st roke in th e 13 inch m o d el and 4;' inch in th e 13 '; ' inch mode l. This is up to o ne-half inch more than typical sh oc k /spri ng co mbinations and as everybody k nows travel is where it's at. After 600 ,000 cycles o n th e shock dyno, Fox says wear is barely measu reable, The shocks th emselves ar e "wo rks 0 f art " , no thing has been le ft o ut fo r cheap ness sake o r fo r cutting man ufact uring co sts which co uld jeopardize th e pe rforma nce or life of the shock . Th ese things don't co me chea p, the Air S hox will retail for $2 19 .50 per pair , th e fork ki ts fo r $5 0 and the Fox shox fo r $99 per pair less the new dual rate springs whic h sell for $ 19. 9 5 and as of late ha ve p roven more effective than the standard type springs.