FYI, that fork has 34 internals. Some of the 36/38 E-Optimised forks have 34 and 36 internals respectively, to allow for thicker stanchion walls in order to make it stiffer for ebikes. You can tell because those are Fox 34 tokens.
Yep...and these E-forks get discounted a lot more than the standard forks because the demand isn't nearly as high. It would be easy for anyone to make this mistake if they didn't know better prior.
Very interesting. I intentionally bought an e-tuned 38, partly because it was $100 cheaper than the regular, for my e-bike. I had no idea this might be the case. I've emailed the seller, and it's honestly not a huge deal (my e-bike came stock with a Yari fork, that I upgraded with a damper to a Lyrik, which is less robust than a 36, and I love the 36 on my trail bike), but I am very curious whether there would be any trade-offs.
Oh Man, I made the same mistake last year when Fox was running their Black Friday deals and bought my wife the e-optimized fork on accident. Also like you I just went ahead and installed it and turns out she’s loved it. It has been a bomb proof upgrade.
Haha no way! When researching online, I found a whole bunch of people on a forum talking about creaking CSU with Fox. So I did mental gymnastics and want to believe the E-Bike version won't have a creaky CSU cuz it's "robust" 😂
I accidentally got 29er plus an extra 20mm travel. Threw them on anyway. Oh boy. My trail bike doesn’t know what it is now but it destroys downhill. Didn’t measure anything before and after but it looks super slack, and height wise it’s more like pushing my motocross bike ha ha feels great when I’m on it though.
It's always so funny to me, how break pads affect the break performence. I remember, when I was working at a bike shop, people used to turn in with tektro breaks installed, and requesting shimano for perf. Every time, I said to them, change them pads, if you don't like them, pads are on the house. Majority of people came back not to change the break, but to service them after the season.
With Sram it's the other way around, the stock Code R pads are SO MUCH BETTER than everything else it's insane. I went with Galfer pads thinking it'd get me an extra edge in performance only to find out that they're a little worse and have a far shorter life span
Interesting about the challenges with the latest rockshox fork. I would appreciate a video where you showcase components parts and bikes you didn't get along with, and have heard or seen similar issues in research.
It might be that you just need full service. I upgraded my charger 3 with 3.1 upgrade kit while giving fork for full service, day and night perfomance, all dials works perfectly. Best zeb i've ever had
First off, Happy belated Birthday. This was my first 1/4 season on a coil. I ended up buying a sprindex. Haven't had a chance to ride it, season is done up here.
Happy Birthday, Evan! The new Fox stuff over the last few years has really improved, and I've always preferred a coil over the air. Once you find the right spring, it's set-it-and-forget-it from there. Cheers!
Cool to see another fellow former BMX racer on the MTB! I got my first one a few years ago and haven't touched my BMX race bike from 2008 since! Keep up the cool videos, enjoy watching them. If you are ever in Nor Cal to ride, hit me up!
Oh heck yeah what's up Travis! I remember you from back in the BMX days. I stuck around BMX way too long and so do many other bmxers. I can't imagine traveling to a race for a few 30 seconds laps. MTB is where it's at
Happy birthday! Bike color looks sick in the sunshine. For fork top caps, I use Lunar bike custom top cap tools. Basically a flat wrench that fits the top cap perfect. I can easily carry the tool in my Camelback and change tokens on a ride if needed.
Happy birthday man! Nicely looking bike! I could watch that suspension work all day :D Imagine a video where you do a setting or two, describe it as you think it should feel, then record video of how it goes. Then readjust, do same and see if even on a video you can see difference how fork works :)
Happy Birthday and congrats on the build! Fox has the fork market nailed down for sure. I’m not super impressed with my ZEB Ultimate because it seems stiff and doesn’t really tune down the trail chatter. I’ve been playing with it a lot but see a Fox 38 or DVO Onyx in my bike’s future if I can’t get it straightened out.
You should create Zoom sessions to teach people how to work on bikes, record the sessions, and post them. Call it Evan's Clinic. I think it could be fun, educational and entertaining.
I go back and forth between coil and air on my Ripmo. The coil is amazing for erasing high speed chatter. I get better power transfer with the air though. The coil shock is so incredibly active that I find myself reaching for the lockout lever, where I never feel the need when I'm on air.
The faster I ride, the more I appreciate Fox forks. Rockshox lost me with their forks when they went to "Torque Caps" a few years ago. Speaking of which, did you have to change the end caps on your front wheel? Finally, happy birthday, Evan!
I never seen torque caps on a bike out of the box. Looks like nobody cares about that. Each time I see them, owner ordered them separately or made custom ones for his hub.
Not everything needs to be shown or said. I hadn't revealed the spring yet and when I did I said it's 100g lighter than the regular steel version. Then I showed the completed before and after weight
Got my first Fox fork on a new bike a 38 Grip2 and I'm not getting on with it so far, especially as they seem to have gone out of their way to make it difficult for a home mechanic. 2 different size chamferless sockets for the air spring and damper, 2 different sockets to remove the footnuts, 2 special tools to be able to knock back the footnuts without damaging them, airspring is a separate unit you have to remove, special clamp for the air spring to remove the footnut, a source of heat eg. Butane torch is needed to heat the end of the airspring to be able to loosen the footnut (which i could not do) that damages the o ring so you have to replace it. Then there's the crush washer you're meant to replace too 🤯WTF! IIRC with a rockshox its an allen key, cassette tool and some circlip pliers 🤷 I wouldn't mind but the Fox feels really fidgety and wooden 🤨
The Fox can be taken apart super easy with an adjustable wrench, no need for the special socket. Just make sure to hold down on the wrench while you turn it. Even better than rockshox cause you dont need a cassette tool, just a common wrench you can find in any department store.
Ohlins the only way to go. I opted for the grip X in my fox 36 and it’s definitely better than my fit for, but it’s just not as good as my grip2. When I watched the tech talk from what I heard the only difference was just the circuit separation for rebound so I wouldn’t think it would’ve affected how plush it is. Your E optimized chassis has thicker walled tubing, I think that’s where you’re getting your super Plush feel from. I wrote a friend of mine’s Marzzoci and it was noticeably more plush than my lightweight FOX 36 factory. it has much thicker walled tubing as well. Maybe that’s where it comes from.
Happy belated birthday my fellow Scorpio! The bike upgrades are pretty awesome and I'm glad that you're happy with them as lord knows that is not always the result with upgrades! That CC 40 headset bearing is definitely destroyed, also if I were you I would ask your LBS to warranty that ZEB as something isn't right with it. Did the Red Label MTX pads make a difference?
Yeah that headset cup wasn't working properly once I put the new fork on and swapped it with a spare. The red label pads feel more like semi metallic, feels close to metallic with a slightly soft resin bite point
The bearing split open. I’ve only seen that when the headset cups are out of spec/out of round. It basically eats the bearing apart because there isn’t equal force all the way around it
The Bronson looks really sick now!! Even you are not the biggest fan of the TRP parts but they look just awesome on this frame and colour! I was wondering if you would go with the Podium Gold Fox fork as you said the theme is gold, but this looks better in my opinion. 👍
IMO a Smashpot for the Zeb would have been a better choice than moving to the E36. But a coil build in B'ville is overkill. Pretty happy with DVO forks.
running 2x 10cc in the fork on a 54lbs levo, 90psi air spring, 10-12clix, ~180lbs rider(w/ gear), 1token is my best feel but will BO too easily on what I ride maybe start with 1 and then go from there, you got the socket; it's an easy swap, plus you got 3 to play instead of one or none 👌
besides being broke the other reason why i don't go with a higher priced fork is all the dang adjusting that is required. My current fork is a 160mm RS Domain and I love it. While it's not top of the line it's great for what I use it for which is some light enduro and best of all it doesn't require a bunch of adjusting. I was considering changing out the damper with the more expensive Charger II (I think that's the right one) but after seeing the damper cost more then what i paid for the fork on sale i decided not to.
No offence to anyone, but I never liked Rockshox when I ever started. Now, story time about that, I used to have a Suntour heavy gravel fork, just about 60 mm, and when I upgraded to an Orbea Alma, I purchased with a rockshox judy, then I sold it, replaced it with a domain, and from the start, it never felt smooth, and the compression was too harsh. After about 2 years, I got a Knolly Endorphin from Craigslist, Super good deal. It came with a fox factory, and started rough, but once I lubed the stanchions, so much better. Never changing unless I grow out of it.
I have 2-3 tokens in my fox 36. You can run lower psi and have it ramp up nicely with more tokens. The Lost Co. has a great video on setting up the fox 36; I was no where near the recommended settings.
I recently got a 2021 Fox 34 Factory for 50% off. It’s my first Fox fork and it was immediate how much better it felt. I only own a HT so a good fork matters!
Charger 3 and 3.1 are both so much worse than 2.1. It’s a shame, but at least it was still a semi functional damper unlike Grip2. Their rear shocks are also becoming way less home serviceable. It’s nice that Fox finally has a working fork damper again with the new Grip X and Grip X2. Hopefully the next step is a multi-chamber air spring like Ohlins and Manitou. The DHX2 is also really easy to service at home, just order the bullet tool and charge the IFP with a shock pump.
Dude I agree with everything you said. I remember saying in a video in early 2023 that I don't like Fox suspension, and I was using the Grip 2. I still love the Charger 2.1 and looking forward to install my grey Zeb again. I try to avoid servicing dampers 😭 but I remember looking up a full service on a Fox shock before and it's basically impossible with the nitrogen charge
Happy birthday man !!!!!🎂🎂🎂
FYI, that fork has 34 internals. Some of the 36/38 E-Optimised forks have 34 and 36 internals respectively, to allow for thicker stanchion walls in order to make it stiffer for ebikes. You can tell because those are Fox 34 tokens.
that's interesting info!
Well, learnt something new today, thanks.
It kinda makes sense. Now, what's a tradeoff? Less volume to work with, that will get hot(ter?) faster?
Yep...and these E-forks get discounted a lot more than the standard forks because the demand isn't nearly as high. It would be easy for anyone to make this mistake if they didn't know better prior.
Very interesting. I intentionally bought an e-tuned 38, partly because it was $100 cheaper than the regular, for my e-bike. I had no idea this might be the case. I've emailed the seller, and it's honestly not a huge deal (my e-bike came stock with a Yari fork, that I upgraded with a damper to a Lyrik, which is less robust than a 36, and I love the 36 on my trail bike), but I am very curious whether there would be any trade-offs.
Happy birthday!! I love your videos!!
Bro this goes so well together
Oh Man, I made the same mistake last year when Fox was running their Black Friday deals and bought my wife the e-optimized fork on accident. Also like you I just went ahead and installed it and turns out she’s loved it. It has been a bomb proof upgrade.
Haha no way! When researching online, I found a whole bunch of people on a forum talking about creaking CSU with Fox. So I did mental gymnastics and want to believe the E-Bike version won't have a creaky CSU cuz it's "robust" 😂
I accidentally got 29er plus an extra 20mm travel. Threw them on anyway. Oh boy. My trail bike doesn’t know what it is now but it destroys downhill.
Didn’t measure anything before and after but it looks super slack, and height wise it’s more like pushing my motocross bike ha ha feels great when I’m on it though.
It's always so funny to me, how break pads affect the break performence. I remember, when I was working at a bike shop, people used to turn in with tektro breaks installed, and requesting shimano for perf. Every time, I said to them, change them pads, if you don't like them, pads are on the house. Majority of people came back not to change the break, but to service them after the season.
So Shimano brake pads are way better than ones from Tektro?
People that work on brakes, but write it out as breaks is funny to me. You don’t know what you don’t know.
@@gregoryneal2852 to be fair, bleeding brakes and changing pads have very little to do with grammar
With Sram it's the other way around, the stock Code R pads are SO MUCH BETTER than everything else it's insane. I went with Galfer pads thinking it'd get me an extra edge in performance only to find out that they're a little worse and have a far shorter life span
*brake
Your damper is knackered! The new Zeb is unreal! It smashes the fox 38 definitely
The Lost Co guys are super helpful. Mike personally helped me choose the spring and shock hardware.
Yeah dude those tech sections have been a staple since he told me about them
Interesting about the challenges with the latest rockshox fork. I would appreciate a video where you showcase components parts and bikes you didn't get along with, and have heard or seen similar issues in research.
It might be that you just need full service. I upgraded my charger 3 with 3.1 upgrade kit while giving fork for full service, day and night perfomance, all dials works perfectly. Best zeb i've ever had
Love how that Bronson is coming along! Love all the gold accents 💛
More gold to come believe it or not 😂
@EvansMTBSaga 😄 Looking forward to it!
First off, Happy belated Birthday. This was my first 1/4 season on a coil. I ended up buying a sprindex. Haven't had a chance to ride it, season is done up here.
I love the way you work on your bikes. I would love to learn to work on mine.
Happy Birthday Evan🎉I love your content.
Happy Birthday, Evan! The new Fox stuff over the last few years has really improved, and I've always preferred a coil over the air. Once you find the right spring, it's set-it-and-forget-it from there. Cheers!
As a Bellingham local, it’s super rad to see you partnering with the Lost Co! I’ve been going there for years mostly for suspension
Happy Birthday brother!
I've enjoyed the series on the Bronson, great content!
Cool to see another fellow former BMX racer on the MTB! I got my first one a few years ago and haven't touched my BMX race bike from 2008 since! Keep up the cool videos, enjoy watching them. If you are ever in Nor Cal to ride, hit me up!
Oh heck yeah what's up Travis! I remember you from back in the BMX days. I stuck around BMX way too long and so do many other bmxers. I can't imagine traveling to a race for a few 30 seconds laps. MTB is where it's at
Happy Birthday!😊
🎉 Happy birthday 🎉
Happy BD...😎
I have two fox forks. I love their feel, and the reliable predictable behavior.
Gold one up bar decals would be cool, gold bolts and thru axles (better bolts do some) and also a custom gold paint job on the spring
Happy birthday! Bike color looks sick in the sunshine. For fork top caps, I use Lunar bike custom top cap tools. Basically a flat wrench that fits the top cap perfect. I can easily carry the tool in my Camelback and change tokens on a ride if needed.
Happy birthday man! Nicely looking bike!
I could watch that suspension work all day :D
Imagine a video where you do a setting or two, describe it as you think it should feel, then record video of how it goes. Then readjust, do same and see if even on a video you can see difference how fork works :)
Well happy birthday and enjoy your new bike🎉
Happy belated birthday man, enjoy your content!
Hell yeah. Fox does it for me hope you stick with it❤
Happy Birthday! Your reviews are great!
Happy birthday!
Keep it up, good videos!
All the best!
Happy birthday man!!🎂🎂
That bike is a ripper, congrats and great upgrades! Also Happy Belated Birthday!
Happy birthday man 🎉🎂hope you have a great birthday
Happy Birthday! I enjoy watching all your videos.
Thanks Jesus!!
Happy Birthday and congrats on the build! Fox has the fork market nailed down for sure. I’m not super impressed with my ZEB Ultimate because it seems stiff and doesn’t really tune down the trail chatter. I’ve been playing with it a lot but see a Fox 38 or DVO Onyx in my bike’s future if I can’t get it straightened out.
I love that he likes biking so much he even does it for his birthday. 😁
It's wild that the rear shock was on sale and was still more expensive than my current mtb
Happy Birthday, i love your Videos, especially the bike build videos, it’s always very interesting to hear your opinion on things. Keep riding!
Man that’s a clean build!! 🔥
Happy Birthday dude ! Nice bike :D
Happy Birthday! Great video.
Happy birthday ride hard be safe out there
You should create Zoom sessions to teach people how to work on bikes, record the sessions, and post them. Call it Evan's Clinic. I think it could be fun, educational and entertaining.
I go back and forth between coil and air on my Ripmo. The coil is amazing for erasing high speed chatter. I get better power transfer with the air though. The coil shock is so incredibly active that I find myself reaching for the lockout lever, where I never feel the need when I'm on air.
Happy Birthday Evan!
I recently upgraded my Lyrik damper to an RCT3 2.1 ,new air spring etc...Love it...Ha!!
The faster I ride, the more I appreciate Fox forks. Rockshox lost me with their forks when they went to "Torque Caps" a few years ago. Speaking of which, did you have to change the end caps on your front wheel? Finally, happy birthday, Evan!
I never seen torque caps on a bike out of the box. Looks like nobody cares about that.
Each time I see them, owner ordered them separately or made custom ones for his hub.
You compared the weight of the air shock to the coil shock minus the coil spring.
Not everything needs to be shown or said. I hadn't revealed the spring yet and when I did I said it's 100g lighter than the regular steel version. Then I showed the completed before and after weight
happy birthday evan!!!
Got my first Fox fork on a new bike a 38 Grip2 and I'm not getting on with it so far, especially as they seem to have gone out of their way to make it difficult for a home mechanic.
2 different size chamferless sockets for the air spring and damper, 2 different sockets to remove the footnuts, 2 special tools to be able to knock back the footnuts without damaging them, airspring is a separate unit you have to remove, special clamp for the air spring to remove the footnut, a source of heat eg. Butane torch is needed to heat the end of the airspring to be able to loosen the footnut (which i could not do) that damages the o ring so you have to replace it. Then there's the crush washer you're meant to replace too 🤯WTF!
IIRC with a rockshox its an allen key, cassette tool and some circlip pliers 🤷
I wouldn't mind but the Fox feels really fidgety and wooden 🤨
Happy Birthday!!!
The Fox can be taken apart super easy with an adjustable wrench, no need for the special socket. Just make sure to hold down on the wrench while you turn it. Even better than rockshox cause you dont need a cassette tool, just a common wrench you can find in any department store.
Happy birthday 🎉🎉 keep posting awesome content
Had the exact same experience with the charger 3.0 zeb and went to öhlins, happy now!
have a fox 38 on another bike. Very good fork too!
I honesty feel that with the technology there is, suspension could be way better, but rockshox especially
Yeah I agree. It seems motocross has it figured out. Maybe MTB is really limited with the space inside the stanchion
Happy Birthday! Great content as always. I've considered a coil on my Megawatt. Might have to give it a go.
Oh man imagine getting an Ohlins coil for that! The yellow spring would look insane
Happy Birthday Evan! My birthday was on Friday turning 51.
I love the videos [especially the Hardtail content] Keep it going🤙🏻
Scorpios are the best! Happy belated birthday!!
happy birthday dawg!🎉🎉
Sick upgrade!
When I first saw that bike I instantly thought “oh fox Kashima coating would look sick on that” 😂
You need a gold fox dropper
Too expensive! Still might do it though haha
@@EvansMTBSaga lol
@@EvansMTBSagadon't do it black looks better
Ohlins the only way to go. I opted for the grip X in my fox 36 and it’s definitely better than my fit for, but it’s just not as good as my grip2. When I watched the tech talk from what I heard the only difference was just the circuit separation for rebound so I wouldn’t think it would’ve affected how plush it is. Your E optimized chassis has thicker walled tubing, I think that’s where you’re getting your super Plush feel from. I wrote a friend of mine’s Marzzoci and it was noticeably more plush than my lightweight FOX 36 factory. it has much thicker walled tubing as well. Maybe that’s where it comes from.
He bought a x2 not x
Happy belated birthday my fellow Scorpio! The bike upgrades are pretty awesome and I'm glad that you're happy with them as lord knows that is not always the result with upgrades! That CC 40 headset bearing is definitely destroyed, also if I were you I would ask your LBS to warranty that ZEB as something isn't right with it. Did the Red Label MTX pads make a difference?
Yeah that headset cup wasn't working properly once I put the new fork on and swapped it with a spare. The red label pads feel more like semi metallic, feels close to metallic with a slightly soft resin bite point
happy birthday . love the fox suspension upgrade
Thanks dude!!
That is a great looking bike, have fun!
Happy birthday!
This bike is starting to look so good but, HAPPY BIRTHDAY EVAN HOPE YOU HAVE/HAD A GREAT DAY!!
Thanks Liz!
happy birthday!🎂
Happy Birthday man 🎉
Thanks Gazz!!
happy birthday man
I just wanna go through the screen and steal your project bike. Frankly, you're giving the bike a whole level of value and it's... Freaking tasty!
Man I'd be devastated if this got stolen
@EvansMTBSaga No need to be worried. I'm 4 hours and thousands of kilometres away from you. 😂
But seriously, that's one rad bike. Work very well done.
Love the build
Happy birthday🎉🎉🎉 i wish you good ridesss🎉🎉🎉
Happy birthday 🍰
The bearing split open. I’ve only seen that when the headset cups are out of spec/out of round. It basically eats the bearing apart because there isn’t equal force all the way around it
Happy belated birthday sir
Happy birthday 🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉
Happy birthday awsome video
Great bike Man i love these fox 36 and the cool shock. Keep up the good work man
That shock comparison without spring on the coil is even FURTHER off!
Yeah man I couldn't believe it. The superlight spring added another 420g!
happy bday✨
I’m loving the Bronson series!
Happy Birthday!
Thanks Florian!!
Sick video! Happy Birthday! Btw when is your birthday?
Happy birthday 🎉🎉🎉🎉
The Bronson looks really sick now!! Even you are not the biggest fan of the TRP parts but they look just awesome on this frame and colour! I was wondering if you would go with the Podium Gold Fox fork as you said the theme is gold, but this looks better in my opinion. 👍
IMO a Smashpot for the Zeb would have been a better choice than moving to the E36. But a coil build in B'ville is overkill. Pretty happy with DVO forks.
running 2x 10cc in the fork on a 54lbs levo, 90psi air spring, 10-12clix, ~180lbs rider(w/ gear), 1token is my best feel but will BO too easily on what I ride
maybe start with 1 and then go from there, you got the socket; it's an easy swap, plus you got 3 to play instead of one or none 👌
You can just buy a regular socket and grind down the chamfer with a grinder. I did it my self and it works just as good.
besides being broke the other reason why i don't go with a higher priced fork is all the dang adjusting that is required. My current fork is a 160mm RS Domain and I love it. While it's not top of the line it's great for what I use it for which is some light enduro and best of all it doesn't require a bunch of adjusting. I was considering changing out the damper with the more expensive Charger II (I think that's the right one) but after seeing the damper cost more then what i paid for the fork on sale i decided not to.
I blew up the same head bearing on my v4 bronson. Noticed when i took it apart around 7 months of riding.
No offence to anyone, but I never liked Rockshox when I ever started. Now, story time about that, I used to have a Suntour heavy gravel fork, just about 60 mm, and when I upgraded to an Orbea Alma, I purchased with a rockshox judy, then I sold it, replaced it with a domain, and from the start, it never felt smooth, and the compression was too harsh. After about 2 years, I got a Knolly Endorphin from Craigslist, Super good deal. It came with a fox factory, and started rough, but once I lubed the stanchions, so much better. Never changing unless I grow out of it.
Happy belated birthday.
If you are interested in racing an enduro on that bike, on December 7-8 in Jasper Arkansas, it’s called blaze of G’narly bike stampede
You should try Öhlin dampers, them are so cool, niece clean and has just a Ö as the logo on the fork!
Fabio Wibmer rides with Ölhins
Happy birthday 🍰🍧🍺
CAMERAMAN NEVER DIES MENTIONED
I have 2-3 tokens in my fox 36. You can run lower psi and have it ramp up nicely with more tokens. The Lost Co. has a great video on setting up the fox 36; I was no where near the recommended settings.
I recently got a 2021 Fox 34 Factory for 50% off. It’s my first Fox fork and it was immediate how much better it felt. I only own a HT so a good fork matters!
Charger 3 and 3.1 are both so much worse than 2.1. It’s a shame, but at least it was still a semi functional damper unlike Grip2. Their rear shocks are also becoming way less home serviceable.
It’s nice that Fox finally has a working fork damper again with the new Grip X and Grip X2. Hopefully the next step is a multi-chamber air spring like Ohlins and Manitou. The DHX2 is also really easy to service at home, just order the bullet tool and charge the IFP with a shock pump.
Dude I agree with everything you said. I remember saying in a video in early 2023 that I don't like Fox suspension, and I was using the Grip 2. I still love the Charger 2.1 and looking forward to install my grey Zeb again. I try to avoid servicing dampers 😭 but I remember looking up a full service on a Fox shock before and it's basically impossible with the nitrogen charge
Happy belated birthday 🎉🎉
Thanks Nils!!
🎉🎉 happy birthday.. I’m turning 47 next month
Thanks man! Happy early birthfay to you!