2018 ZERO FX
FULL TEST
P88
(Above) Any more hang time than this and we predict you'll
almost certainly snap the drive belt. (Below) Belt drive is good
for silence on the road but fragile on the trail.
On dirt, on standard set-
tings, the fork will bottom eas-
ily and the shock is so harsh it
feels like it's going to punch up
through the seat.
There's a claimed 8.6
inches of fork and 8.94 inches
of shock travel, and let me as-
sure you, you'll use every one
of them if you take the bike
off-road. The fork and shock
are both fully adjustable, so at
least that's something.
The front brakes are nothing
short of rubbish. Graced with a
J-Juan twin-piston front caliper
mitigated by a Bosch Gen 9
ABS system, the FX will stop
quickly if you're doing 20 mph.
Any more than that requires
lots of forethought. A couple
of times on dirt the ABS would
front and 18-inch rear wheels. The
ride quality on tarmac is mediocre,
but the suspension performance
off-road is not up to the price tag.
