First Look: ?hlins RXF 34 Fork
There's a major new player in the mountain bike suspension fork market. Today, premium motorsports suspension maufacturer ?hlins launched the RXF 34. Selling for $1,150, the single-crown, air-sprung fork for 29-inch wheels features 34mm stanchions, 15x100mm thru-axles, 120-, 140-, or 160mm travel, adjustable high- and low-speed compression, and rebound damping.
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Inside the fork is a twin-tube damper, claimed to be the first installed in a trail fork. According to the press release, a twin-tube damper allows “parallel and separated oil flow to control the pressure levels, ensuring initial smoothness while staying high in the travel with excellent bump absorption, traction, and stability.”
The spring side is also unique. A typical air-sprung fork has two chambers: one positive, one negative. The RXF 34 has three air chambers: one negative and two positive, giving the rider more control over the spring curve.
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Another feature called out in the press release is a forged “unicrown” which helps the RXF—with 34mm stanchions—achieve stiffness greater than competing forks with 35mm, like the RockShox Pike, and equaling forks with 36mm legs, like the FOX 36. That’s the claim, anyway.
While known for its high-end motorsports offerings, ?hlins has quietly and methodically rolled out a few mountain bike products: the STX 22 Air shock; a damper replacement for the FOX 40 fork; and the TTX coil-spring shock, the company’s first mountain bike product. A prototype upside-down dual-crown fork has also been spotted in the wild.
The RXF 34 fork was developed in cooperation with Specialized, a partnership started with the TTX shock (spec’d on higher-end, gravity oriented, bikes like the Demo 8 and Enduro Evo). Specialized's dealers will be the first to offer the RXF 34; while there is no specific on-sale date available, Specialized's press release notes the fork should be in shops “soon.” ?hlins’ forks and shocks will also now be sold directly from its US website. Additionally, ?hlins’ US operation is now set up to service the company's mountain bike forks and shocks.
The press release is very light on details, but FedEx tracking says I’m scheduled to receive my review fork on Thursday (December 23) and will follow up with more information and better photos.
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