X-Fusion Trace RL2 Fork - Review
All three of X-Fusion's 29er specific Trace series of forks feature 34mm stanchion tubes, 15mm thru-axles, and an option to use the company's one-piece crown and steerer tube that sees both machined from a single unit rather than two that are then pressed together. X-Fusion says that the Uni-Crown design ''increases chassis strength at that junction by over 50%,'' which could be worth noting when you consider that it isn't uncommon for more traditional two-piece designs to begin creaking early in their life. The $659.99 USD RL2 is the least expensive option in the Trace lineup, and it therefore features the least amount of damper and spring adjustments: one dial for low-speed rebound, a blue dial atop the crown to control the lock-out, and an air valve to adjust spring rate. The damper isn't X-Fusion's highly praised HLR twin-tube setup, but rather a simpler cartridge unit. Travel options include a version that can do 120mm or 140mm via an internal adjustment, and one that can do 80mm or 100mm, but X-Fusion is simplifying that by planning to offer a single Trace that is able to be run at any of the four travel settings. Our 140mm travel, tapered steerer fork weighed 4.4lbs.
![X-Fusion Trace review test]()
The Trace RL2 is simple, costs a reasonable amount of money, and performs exceptionally well. What more can you ask for?
Pinkbike's Take:
www.xfusionshox.com
Pinkbike's Take:
 | With a single compression and single rebound dial, and no spring rate tuning besides adjusting air pressure, the Trace RL2 is simpler than some more expensive options on the market. Does that hurt its performance relative to the pricier competition? Not in our minds, as the relatively easy to understand RL2 comes out of the box swinging. And that is really its strength: install the fork on your bike, set your air pressure and rebound rate, and hit the hills. We ended up running 5 - 10 PSI more than recommended for our weight but that's not uncommon, and the white Trace was impressively smooth straight out of the box, with zero break-in time needed for it to feel silky. That suppleness, combined with a good amount of progression in the later stages of the stroke, made for what felt close to being a compromise-free setup that provided both traction and bottoming resistance. Part of this is also down to the just-right amount of low-speed compression that helps to control the fork's stroke from diving wildly when on the brakes, and the 140mm Trace honestly felt like it had more useable travel than the more linear 150mm Marzocchi 55 Ti that it replaced. Chassis rigidity is on par for what we'd expect, with the tapered steerer tube, 34mm stanchions, and 15mm thru-axle adding up to a trail-worthy package that shouldn't disappoint anyone. The Trace impressed us immensely with its on-trail manners, and it's obvious that X-Fusion has a good handle on how to make a relatively simple fork perform well. Having said that, we did find some foibles that, while not affecting performance, are worth mentioning. The first is the impossibly small hardware that holds its crown mounted compression dial in place, a tiny 1.5mm hex screw that we'd bet a lot of mountain bikers would round out within a few minutes. Why would they round it out? Because that little screw backed out a few times on us, and we didn't really want to put any Loctite on it given its small size. Now, we know this complaint is small beans, especially given how well the fork performs, but we absolutely despise such small hardware being used. Our other criticism is levelled at the fork's 'LockX' thru-axle that would work well enough if the QR lever didn't make contact with the casting when trying to back the axle out. It goes like this: release the QR lever and align it into the slots in the axle shroud, now start turning the lever to the left about three hundred degrees until it hits the casting, then re-align the lever so you have more room to continue to back the axle out. This is annoying, but we have to admit that the Trace's action is so impressive that we'd probably even look past the front wheel being held on with with nuts from the hardware store. We can't keep being surprised by how well X-Fusion's forks perform given that we've now had plenty of time on a number of their offerings, but we have to admit to having our eyes opened each and every time we get on one. The Trace proves, once again, that X-Fusion is the real deal, and riders who give the fork a chance will not be disappointed.- Mike Levy |
www.xfusionshox.com
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I've never EVER had this happen. ever.
during factory assembly, the stanchions are press fitted into the crown using a smear of assembly grease
over time, and especially if the bike is regularly cleaned (using Muc-Off style cleaners) this grease leaches out, and you end up with metal on metal contact. not a safety issue but just plain annoying to have a nice bike that creaks when you brake hard or pedal!
Fox cannot remove the stanchions to regrease (like you could with old press-fitted Marzocchi) because their crown is at the limits of strength / weight which means the initial assembly is a one-time process, they actually reject a number of CSU during this assembly as they have a tool which measures how much the crown has stretched when the stanchions are pressed in
I've had this issue on a number of Fox forks I've owned (and Rockshox to be fair..) and its always been taken care of through a warranty process, which involves a new CSU and fork rebuild. However once the 1 year warranty expires its crazy expensive to buy a new CSU and have the rebuild
*never mind the NSA, TSA, DHS, DOS, ACA, etc
I also find it amusing, and unexpected, that you raise this point as an American. I'm a Brit living in Canada so whilst I can talk both, my default is metric.
And it isn't like i'm cheap. The bike is a canfield nimble9 spec'd with carbon bars, carbon wheels, carbon cranks, thomson stem and post, titanium seat rails, chris king front hub, true-precision stealth rear hub, spank spike pedals... and yet I went with an xfusion trace. I am willing to spend stupid amounts of money if it results in better gear. And yet I chose the trace over a fox fork.
In other words, these forks are great!
That bolt rounding out and then creating an immense hassle for me when I want to service/ adjust my fork seems like more than a minor issue and a bit of an oversight on X-Fusion's part... hopefully they have a solution.
That's an amazing weight considering it will cost 1/2 of the Fox or RS.
www.themountainbikelife.com/2013/07/x-fusion-trace-rl2-product-preview.html
I'm guessing you have an older version...
my only complaint is that to change the travel in the metric and vengence, i need to press a pin out with a arbour press, not the most common shop tool or easy to bring to a race, i think that this could be achevied witha hex key , as well as a couple more holes in the rode to give you more travel options , quickly.