Our initial setup was on the firm side with roughly 20-percent sag. Unlike some other forks that require a break-in period, this thing felt supple right out of the gate. The first descent on our new 36 showed us how buttery smooth Fox can make a fork right out of the box. We then set the compression and rebound adjustments to the middle of their range as a starting point and hit the trails. We followed the guidelines and found them to be spot-on. Fortunately, Fox provides a setup chart sticker right on the fork leg. During the setup we noticed the air pressures were different than our previous fork. On the Trails: We bolted the new 36 to our tried-and-true Pivot Mach 6, which was the perfect candidate, because we’d been running the previous-generation 36 on it for the past year. The fork came to us with no volume reducers installed, and that’s how we rode it for the bulk of the test however, riders who like to jump and huck off drops may prefer to add some of these volume reducers to keep the fork from bottoming. Smaller air volumes are more progressive, which means they resist bottoming out more. These little plastic pucks snap to the top cap and take up space, effectively making the positive air chamber smaller without affecting the EVOL negative spring. Turn Up the Volume: The EVOL air spring has a higher volume negative spring than the previous design, but the positive air spring is still tunable using Fox’s volume reducers. That’s fancy suspension-speak for, “They made it smoother and more tunable.” The EVOL system uses a larger “negative spring,” which is essentially the same patented technology Fox uses in its rear shocks to deliver less feedback by reducing the breakaway force. “EVOL” is what Fox named its extra-volume spring, which increases the size of the air spring to deliver a more linear spring curve that’s supple off the top on small bumps and still has the support to handle big hits and resist bottoming. The Evolution: The biggest difference on the new 36 is the EVOL air spring. The more basic Performance Elite version with a FIT4 damper sells for $890. Our test fork tipped the scales at 1986 grams (4.4 pounds) and sells for $1050. The Performance Elite version, which is slightly less expensive, comes with black-anodized uppers and has the same damper options. The 36 fork is also available with the simpler FIT4 damper, which brings the price down by $70. The 36 fork tested here comes with Kashima-coated upper tubes and independent high- and low-speed compression adjustments. The new 36 is also available at multiple price points with different tube-coating and damper options. The fork is available in 26- (say what?), 27.5- and 29-inch versions, with travel ranging from 150 to 180 millimeters. Tech Info: Fox took its existing, podium-winning 36 chassis added its EVOL air-spring technology tweaked the spring curves and dialed in the damper to make the new 36. We brought one of these burly single-crown beasts into our test fleet to see if the designers at Fox could improve on an already stellar fork. The new 36 may look much like the ones from years past, but as with all of Fox’s suspension, the magic is on the inside. It’s the choice of back-to-back Enduro World Series champion Richie Rude, and if it’s good enough for a guy that fast, it’s certainly good enough for the rest of us mortals. The Fox 36 is arguably the most versatile fork in Fox’s lineup and is able to tackle everything, including gravity-fed chutes and the most technical downhill trails.
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