Fox Racing Shox Float CTD Boost Valve Remote Shock Review
Fox Racing Shox has been methodically working to simplify its shock and fork tuning options without taking away their ride performance. The focus of this activity is on its trail and cross-country offerings, the categories where most of its customers fall into, and where the benefits of a simplified setup and use strategy are most welcome. Remote fork and shock damping are not new and Fox was late to the table with its three-position CTD Remote system, but Fox rarely rushes a project, and after riding it, we discovered some noteworthy attributes, specifically for trail an all-mountain riders. Fox sells two Float shocks with the remote setup, one with and one without its position-sensitive Boost Valve. In this feature, we review the top-range Float CTD Boost Valve Remote shock, as well as its handlebar-mounted control.
![Fox Float CTD Remote Shock with lever inset]()
The Boost Valve, first used on the RP23, employs an air
-pocket, trapped under the boost piston that allows internal
shock pressure to compress it against the valve stack.
The Details
Fox CTD remote levers have an ultra positive indexing mech,
so there can be no question about a successful mode shift.
![Fox Float CTD Remote details]()
Performance
Setup
No worries here - assemble the system, take the slack out of the cable and clickety click, the CTD remote is good to go. Set your shock spring pressure in 'Descend' mode to ensure that compression damping won't create a false reading, and don't be shy about setting the sag as low as 30 percent, because you'll have all the pedaling firmness you'll want at the push of a lever. Float shocks have a negative spring that activates in the first 15-percent of the shock's compression stroke and it resets to your chosen shock pressure. Don't make the mistake that many users do and assume that the half-inch of sag that the negative spring creates signifies a proper setup. It will settle there at 300psi. Always set your sag beyond the negative spring - 20-percent or more - to get it right.
First Impression on Trail
Most of us will use remote ride settings until their novelty wears thin, after which we tend to leave the shock or fork in the selections that give us the best overall ride. Not so with the CTD. The action of the levers seems odd at first and the fact that the suspension never fully locks out in Climb mode blurs the rider's ability to discriminate between settings. Oddly, we discovered that we began to regularly use the CTD Remote system after a more lengthily time interval. The advantages begin with the notion that those big levers make a lot of noise - the good kind of noise - because each selection comes with a reassuring 'clack clack', there is no angst while the rider waits to sense the impending change. When you aren't interested in the levers, they remain in position, well away from your hands, so you don't get the urge to reach for the wrong lever when you are frantically trying to shift your way out of a stupid error. Later, when the CTD Remote is showing signs of age, the longer levers keep the feel of the levers consistent as the cable gets dusty and doesn't slide so well in the housing.
![Fox Float CTD Remote shock and lever multi]()
Suspension Action
We paired the CTD Remote system with a Fox 34 Float CTD 150 fork so we could play with matched suspension settings. As we are well familiarized with the Float shock, there were no surprises to be discovered on the trail, which was a combination of super fast hardpack, littered with embedded stones and a number of boulder drops. Together, there were enough features with which to measure small bump sensitivity in each mode, as well as to gauge the shock's performance during larger events.
There is a moderate, but beneficial improvement in pedaling effectiveness in Trail mode and it comes with a slight increase in ride stiffness. That said; the difference between the ride quality in Trail and Descend is not so great that it would compromise handling should one forget to switch the shock wide open for a downhill segment. (Something we managed to do, often.) In climb mode, however, the rear end rides noticeably higher and the compression begins to approach lockout. Such an evil combination of forces drives the fork low into its travel and makes descending in technical situations a succession of 'Hail Mary' moments. The ride-height lift in the rear that Climb mode is also a gift, because when you are climbing, it prevents the rear suspension from sagging into its travel and thus provides a much more powerful platform for the rider to get the job done. Experimenting with ride height changes revealed also, that Trail mode provides additional support for the shock while climbing. In the end, we switched between Trail and Descend, only using the Climb position for extended suffer-fests on relatively smooth terrain, as Climb mode compromised rear-wheel traction up steep or loose ascents.
Pinkbike's take:
Fox Racing Shox
Fox took some heat for its simplified 'Climb-Trail-Descend' system, but as we discovered, with the addition of a handlebar remote, that the three options become user friendly.
The Boost Valve, first used on the RP23, employs an air
-pocket, trapped under the boost piston that allows internal
shock pressure to compress it against the valve stack.
Float CTD Boost-Valve Remote Highlights:
• Intended for XC, Trail and AM use
• CTD (Climb, Trail, Descend) low-speed compression options are preset at the factory
• Cable -operated system driven by twin-lever handlebar remote.
• Cannot be retrofitted to existing Float shock without replacing the damping dial assemblies.
• Fully adjustable low-speed rebound and spring pressure.
• Spring-rate is adjustable via internal air-volume spacers
• Low-friction composite eyelet bushings
• Internal Boost Valve increases compression damping as IFP pressure rises to prevent bottom-out.
• Eye-to-Eye x Travel options(inches): 7.50 x 2.00, 7.875 x 2.00, 7.875 x 2.25, 8.50 x 2.50
• Weight: 0.46 lbs / 208 g (shock only in shortest option)Lever mech: 80g +/- housing and cable
• MSRP: $460 USD
• Intended for XC, Trail and AM use
• CTD (Climb, Trail, Descend) low-speed compression options are preset at the factory
• Cable -operated system driven by twin-lever handlebar remote.
• Cannot be retrofitted to existing Float shock without replacing the damping dial assemblies.
• Fully adjustable low-speed rebound and spring pressure.
• Spring-rate is adjustable via internal air-volume spacers
• Low-friction composite eyelet bushings
• Internal Boost Valve increases compression damping as IFP pressure rises to prevent bottom-out.
• Eye-to-Eye x Travel options(inches): 7.50 x 2.00, 7.875 x 2.00, 7.875 x 2.25, 8.50 x 2.50
• Weight: 0.46 lbs / 208 g (shock only in shortest option)Lever mech: 80g +/- housing and cable
• MSRP: $460 USD
The Details
Fox CTD remote levers have an ultra positive indexing mech,
so there can be no question about a successful mode shift.
About CTD
Climb-Trail-Descend are three preset low-speed compression settings that Fox believes will give trail riders the most effective options - nearly locked out pedaling firmness in the Climb setting, a compromise between pedaling firmness and suspension action in the Trail selection, and a wide-open shock for fast and furious riding in Descend mode. Non-remote controlled Float CTD shocks also feature a black ring beneath the blue CTD control that gives the rider three levels of pedaling platform when the 'Trail' option is selected. Those extra compression damping settings are missing from the remote version of the shock, presumably because there was not enough room to fit the cable housing stops in the limited space in the damping control head.
Remote Lever
Being asked to comment about the Fox remote CTD lever at first glance is like having your girl ask you if she is fat - there is no proper comeback. There probably is a vantage point from which the CTD remote looks perfectly proportioned, but I have yet to find it. There are two large levers on the CTD remote. The longer silver one pulls cable and the shorter black lever releases cable. As ugly as the remote looks, it operates remarkably well, with a
decisive sound and a positive engagement. The escapment mechanism that indexes the lever is a track, cut into a stainless steel plate - a design that has been in use for a thousand years and which should last a lifetime without missing a click. The cable entry point is exposed, so you won't need a plumber to replace a cable. Its hinged clamp has a three-position shoe which allows the user to set the lever plus or minus 20-millimeters fore and aft, and Fox designed a clever threaded cap that allows the lever assembly to be reversed. This means that the Fox remote can be configured under the left grip for single-chainring bikes, as well as left or right in the conventional top-mount position.Climb-Trail-Descend are three preset low-speed compression settings that Fox believes will give trail riders the most effective options - nearly locked out pedaling firmness in the Climb setting, a compromise between pedaling firmness and suspension action in the Trail selection, and a wide-open shock for fast and furious riding in Descend mode. Non-remote controlled Float CTD shocks also feature a black ring beneath the blue CTD control that gives the rider three levels of pedaling platform when the 'Trail' option is selected. Those extra compression damping settings are missing from the remote version of the shock, presumably because there was not enough room to fit the cable housing stops in the limited space in the damping control head.
Remote Lever
Being asked to comment about the Fox remote CTD lever at first glance is like having your girl ask you if she is fat - there is no proper comeback. There probably is a vantage point from which the CTD remote looks perfectly proportioned, but I have yet to find it. There are two large levers on the CTD remote. The longer silver one pulls cable and the shorter black lever releases cable. As ugly as the remote looks, it operates remarkably well, with a
A look at the zig-zag track of the escapment mechanism (left). Three positions are available on a sliding track (center) to adjust the ergonomics of the levers. Fox learned that simply squeezing a derailleur cable with a set screw (like many fork-crown remotes do) leads to failures in the field. The CTD pulley uses a more elegant through-hole strategy.
Float Boost Valve Shock
Few dual-suspension XC or trail riders exist who are unfamiliar with the air-sprung Fox Float series shock. The Boost Valve version features a small piston that fits inside the damping piston of the shocks that exerts pressure on the compression valve's washer-stack as pressure builds inside the shock. The Boost Valve function automatically slows the shock as it reaches full compression, but it does not affect the damping to a great extent while the shock is in the sag position, where its small-bump sensitivity is most important. By altering the pressure behind the shock's internal floating piston (IFP), Fox engineers can tune the progressiveness of the shock. The Boost Valve tune is printed on the lower seal-head of the air can in PSI. Seal friction can be a problem for air sprung shocks, so Fox employs its Kashima coating throughout the body and the air can, which has been simplified with an enlarged head to add substantial air-volume to the air can. Rather than offering a number of air can volumes, Fox now downsizes the air-spring's volume when necessary using plastic spacers. Low-speed damping functions are stacked at the shock head with a conventional red rebound dial on top of the blue, three-way CTD dial. Fox discovered, like most top suspension firms, that the shock's eyelets were a source of friction, especially at high loads when the shock was asked to move quickly, so it developed a slippery new composite bushing system that makes a noticeable improvement over the metal-backed DU bushings it used in the past.
.Few dual-suspension XC or trail riders exist who are unfamiliar with the air-sprung Fox Float series shock. The Boost Valve version features a small piston that fits inside the damping piston of the shocks that exerts pressure on the compression valve's washer-stack as pressure builds inside the shock. The Boost Valve function automatically slows the shock as it reaches full compression, but it does not affect the damping to a great extent while the shock is in the sag position, where its small-bump sensitivity is most important. By altering the pressure behind the shock's internal floating piston (IFP), Fox engineers can tune the progressiveness of the shock. The Boost Valve tune is printed on the lower seal-head of the air can in PSI. Seal friction can be a problem for air sprung shocks, so Fox employs its Kashima coating throughout the body and the air can, which has been simplified with an enlarged head to add substantial air-volume to the air can. Rather than offering a number of air can volumes, Fox now downsizes the air-spring's volume when necessary using plastic spacers. Low-speed damping functions are stacked at the shock head with a conventional red rebound dial on top of the blue, three-way CTD dial. Fox discovered, like most top suspension firms, that the shock's eyelets were a source of friction, especially at high loads when the shock was asked to move quickly, so it developed a slippery new composite bushing system that makes a noticeable improvement over the metal-backed DU bushings it used in the past.
Performance
Setup
No worries here - assemble the system, take the slack out of the cable and clickety click, the CTD remote is good to go. Set your shock spring pressure in 'Descend' mode to ensure that compression damping won't create a false reading, and don't be shy about setting the sag as low as 30 percent, because you'll have all the pedaling firmness you'll want at the push of a lever. Float shocks have a negative spring that activates in the first 15-percent of the shock's compression stroke and it resets to your chosen shock pressure. Don't make the mistake that many users do and assume that the half-inch of sag that the negative spring creates signifies a proper setup. It will settle there at 300psi. Always set your sag beyond the negative spring - 20-percent or more - to get it right.
First Impression on Trail
Most of us will use remote ride settings until their novelty wears thin, after which we tend to leave the shock or fork in the selections that give us the best overall ride. Not so with the CTD. The action of the levers seems odd at first and the fact that the suspension never fully locks out in Climb mode blurs the rider's ability to discriminate between settings. Oddly, we discovered that we began to regularly use the CTD Remote system after a more lengthily time interval. The advantages begin with the notion that those big levers make a lot of noise - the good kind of noise - because each selection comes with a reassuring 'clack clack', there is no angst while the rider waits to sense the impending change. When you aren't interested in the levers, they remain in position, well away from your hands, so you don't get the urge to reach for the wrong lever when you are frantically trying to shift your way out of a stupid error. Later, when the CTD Remote is showing signs of age, the longer levers keep the feel of the levers consistent as the cable gets dusty and doesn't slide so well in the housing.
Suspension Action
We paired the CTD Remote system with a Fox 34 Float CTD 150 fork so we could play with matched suspension settings. As we are well familiarized with the Float shock, there were no surprises to be discovered on the trail, which was a combination of super fast hardpack, littered with embedded stones and a number of boulder drops. Together, there were enough features with which to measure small bump sensitivity in each mode, as well as to gauge the shock's performance during larger events.
There is a moderate, but beneficial improvement in pedaling effectiveness in Trail mode and it comes with a slight increase in ride stiffness. That said; the difference between the ride quality in Trail and Descend is not so great that it would compromise handling should one forget to switch the shock wide open for a downhill segment. (Something we managed to do, often.) In climb mode, however, the rear end rides noticeably higher and the compression begins to approach lockout. Such an evil combination of forces drives the fork low into its travel and makes descending in technical situations a succession of 'Hail Mary' moments. The ride-height lift in the rear that Climb mode is also a gift, because when you are climbing, it prevents the rear suspension from sagging into its travel and thus provides a much more powerful platform for the rider to get the job done. Experimenting with ride height changes revealed also, that Trail mode provides additional support for the shock while climbing. In the end, we switched between Trail and Descend, only using the Climb position for extended suffer-fests on relatively smooth terrain, as Climb mode compromised rear-wheel traction up steep or loose ascents.
Pinkbike's take:
 | Cross-country competitors who prefer rear suspension must have some sort of remote lockout to go wheel to wheel with attacking hardtail riders. Trail riders, however, have distinctly different needs and the Fox system seems to lean more in our direction than for racing purists. For one thing, the CTD remote takes up a lot of real estate on the handlebar - something that trail riders have in abundance, and more importantly, the heavier action of the levers and the milder, more traction friendly Climb and Trail compression settings seem to be tailored for the needs of a trail/AM type rider. Granted, Fox can fine tune the magnitude of each of the three CTD settings for dedicated XC racers, but for our needs - riding rapidly changing terrain with an emphasis on enjoying technical descending - the stock package is surprisingly well adapted. We banged the levers repeatedly and they look no worse for the wear. We are admittedly against complicated gizmos bristling from the bars, but in the end, CTD enhanced our trail experience - and we used the three options a magnitude more often than we would have, had we needed to reach under the top tube to access the standard CTD lever. - RC |
Fox Racing Shox
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Like, push a button and set the seatpost all the way up, fork and shock on "climb".
Push a different position for flowy pedally trails.
Different button for a low seatpost and "descend" damping settings.
Little servos aren't that expensive. Fox already makes all three (fork, shock, post). Integrating them shouldn't be too far off.
This may be a dumb idea, but why doesn't fox make an air (trail) rear shock with high and low speed compression settings? This way you could set the shock up to how you want it and leave it. I understand this makes tuning more complicated, but someone who wants this level of sophistication from their rear shock will spend the time to get it dialed in.
Seriously, it isn't really that bad guys. If it does something useful, then having an extra lever is worth it. I mean, you car has at least 20 controls and your brain can handle it.
On the other hand, I appreciate simplicity too. Clean bars are cool.
we have control over what we put on our bicycles. we have no control over what car companies put in their cars (to an extent, they dont either!- govt standards, etc)
and then make it a gripshift kind of adjuster?
like twist to change the shocks and seatpost
although that might be too easy to accidentally twist
unless they made the twist on it very long enough to make it difficult to do accidentally
or just a safety so it wouldn't happen accidentally.
If you didn't catch on that RS are aiming directly at Fox and Fox only then you have unfortunately missed the whole point of that advert lol. It's the perpetual war between the "great" two, considering all else are at the bottom of the pack (as in number of units sold and not performance here folks) when it comes to all things suspension lol.
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"Here is a little video to brighten your Monday. Lets hear more about friction reduction in the new AVAILABLE TO ALL RockShox Vivid and Vivid-Air. Hope you all had a killer weekend and got out on a ride!"
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From the past 5ish posts from RS....
www.pinkbike.com/u/erlkonig/blog/Autoplatform.html
Works perfect. I can't ever remember to hit the little lever, and that giant remote looks cool but it's so huge.
What an unsightly setup for what it does
One control, your dropper post. Seat post fully up = Climb, somewhere in the middle = Trail, down =Descend.
Hide the computer and battery at the bottom of the dropper post so its not as ugly as sin. Internal routing so everything is tidy.
If you ran a single chain ring set up this would be such a clean set up with your one shifter and one Dropper/ctd button.
Plus Reverb posts from what I can see whip them in the market place so this might boost there sales in that department as well.
Yes at first it's a bit overwhelming and the single speed guys will ask what school you had to attend to work all the levers, but honestly after a week you get used to it and it amazing. Instead of having to set your suspension stiff as hell so that you can climb, you can set it loose in full open mode and then just click it up into trail mode. A little bit of intense uphill in the middle of a big down? No problem just lock it out for a sec and stand and crank up.
You all sound like old people afraid of smart phones because they are more complicated... Never realizing how much better they make your life.
I'm definitely not for the CTD-like platform shocks ... XC riders on 100mm bikes may want that (afterall, on such travel, adjustments don't matter as much as on 140+ frames), but pleaaaaase don't put it on 140+ bikes! Worst shock I ever had on my Orange Five ... It definitely didn't like the slightly degressive ratio and the single pivot of the frame, and I definitely didn't like the dodgy rebound assembly. Switched to a BOS, and now I have a proper air shock.
Front lock out remote, rear lock out remote, dropper post remote, nitrous remote, beam me up Scotty remote....where does it end bike nerds? If you need a remote for everything, you should not be on a carbon bike!!
Can somebody confirm, please? No need of the specific bar mounted remote lever.
Does anybody have fit a system like that ?? thanks
My RP23 has 3 settings on the blue dial.....I've still not bothered finding out what they do. My Trance's Maestro linkage is so effective that it eliminates any pedal-bob when I'm cranking up hills.
Climb mode ? Well, it's a good idea if it lowers front travel. My DT Swiss forks have a red button that I slam down before a steep climb, and it lowers the front end by 40mm and locks it. Works great, doesn't really need a remote lever.
Keep It Simple!!! and Ride the damn thing.