X-Fusion Suspension News - Interbike 2011

Sep 19, 2011

by Richard Cunningham

X-Fusion was happy to announce that its suspension products will be appearing on select Specialized mountain bikes for 2012. For Interbike, X-Fusion had its 430-gram, air-sprung Vector Air downhill shock on display in cut-away form. X-Fusion said that it reconfigured the Vector reservoir lengths to fit a wider cross-section of frames, (a re-occurring nightmare among downhill designers), and added check valves to the rebound and compression circuit in its popular coil-over Vector shock to sharpen up its tuneablity and damping performance.

X-Fusion's Vector Air shock features separate damping circuits and offers a lighter-weight option for advanced downhillers.

The Vector Air downhill shock cutaway reveals the gold adjustable HLR valve body that controls low-speed compression (blue dial) and high-speed compression (gold dial). The threaded piston at the base of the IFP chamber in the reservoir adjusts bottoming resistance. The low-speed rebound clicker is the red dial beneath the upper shock eye. X-Fusion says that the shock’s single-wall construction cools better than a double-wall (read: Double Barrel) shock. Available in five configurations: (eye-to-eye length/shock stroke) 200/57mm, 215/63mm, 222/69mm, 240/76mm, 267/89mm.

X-Fusion’s single-crown gravity/enduro fork lineup is gaining traction among enthusiasts and racers. The most important of the genre has to be its 36-millimeter-stanchion Vengeance HLR DLA (Down Low Adjust) fork, with travel adjustable from 170 millimeters to 140 millimeters with the flick of a switch. With magnesium sliders and X-Fusion’s tool-free 20-millimeter through-axle system, the Vengeance DLA is reported to weigh 2495 grams. The fork’s cartridge damper features high and low-speed compression and low-speed rebound adjustments. All popular steerer types are available. Colors: white or black.

X-Fusion XC and trail forks feature the Syntace X15 through-axle system

There’s a taste of X-Fusion’s extensive lineup of suspension products. See it all at X-Fusion’s global headquarters and while you are there, check out their dropper seat posts.

Posted In:
Reviews and Tech First Looks X Fusion Shox Interbike

Author Info:

RichardCunningham
Member since Mar 23, 2011
974 articles

Report

Must Read This Week

Kona Bicycles' Parent Company Appoints New CFO, Intends to Sell Brand
65057 views

Downhill Bikes of Sea Otter - Part 1
47836 views

Brian's Randoms from Sea Otter 2024
45671 views

Randoms Round 3: Dario's Treasures
45008 views

Pinkbike's DH Fantasy League: Get Your Team On The Line - Fort William is in 10 DAYS!
40292 views

Randoms Round 1 - Sea Otter 2024
38552 views

[UPDATED] Final Elite XC Results & Overall Standings from the Araxá XC World Cup 2024
38274 views

Spotted: Frameworks Racing DH Bike with Electronic Fox Shock & Unreleased Enve Rims
37560 views

PB Newsletter Signup

36 Comments

Mountain-Manic (Sep 21, 2011 at 19:20)

If I had a job, and didn't need a car, I would totally want to get a Vector Air and a Vengeance HLR DLA to take my bike down a notch in weight and travel, because it seems like I do more DJ / AM riding than DH anymore.

fad4u (Jul 6, 2012 at 12:41)

The X-Fusion brand was started in 1999, but the company had been manufacturing suspension products for at least 10 years prior to that.
. Inside the Velvet RL you will see a fully-adjustable CNC’ed-machined damping cartridge, lightweight full-air spring system, as well as all aluminum knobs and adjusters.
Fox uses the same principle. CNC'ed internals, the other two "big names" use plastic internals. Also their lower end forks are made overseas. X Fusion, Fox, both made in USA.

deeeight (Sep 19, 2011 at 11:10)

The bottom fork is a Velver RT 29", personally I wish they'd ditch the lockout and give me an external low-speed compression damping adjustment on the Velvet and Velour forks. Lockouts are for pussies. I never use the one on my Fox Talas RLC. The rebound and low-speed compression damping adjustments I have used though.

wRxOne (Mar 13, 2012 at 15:52)

I've been running the Vengeance HLR 160mm for about a year and a half and have loved it. Zero issues and looks just as awesome as the day I installed it. I've had nothing but the best experience with their customer service. I'm switching to a Vector HLR for the rear and will probably switch all my bikes to run X-Fusion suspension. Can't wait for a DC long travel fork from these guys.

*side note, there seems to be another Xfusion company but they sell hair restoration products.

deeeight (Sep 19, 2011 at 9:24)

Best thing for me about X-Fusion's forks is that they are all officially endorsed for 650B wheel setups (the vengence takes the wheel/tires without any changes, the velvet/velour forks need a 10mm travel-reducer to be installed to ensure the tire doesn't smack the underside of the crown at full compression).

luigi (Sep 19, 2011 at 9:29)

what about the fact that they are one of the best forks for the money!

The-Medic (Sep 23, 2011 at 1:53)

So a 650B just fits on W/O and mods other then the travel limmiter??? Interesting and very cool imo... I can't think of another fork that can say that (not a big 650B guy so maybe there are, but I don't know fo any)

deeeight (Sep 29, 2011 at 6:21)

There are actually lots of 26" forks that fit 650Bs... practically every freeride/all-mtn/DH fork that was listed as being able to clear a 26 x 2.7 or larger tire can fit a 27.5 x 2.35 (which is as wide as 650Bs come currently).

The-Medic (Sep 29, 2011 at 13:32)

Ahh, I dod NOT know that... Cheers.

sortafast (Sep 19, 2011 at 9:40)

I am thinking my enturage will be getting x-fusion front and rear. The vector HLR is a dam nice shock and I have heard really good things about the air shock from those who have ridden them.

14 0

melikebikealot14 (Sep 19, 2011 at 10:29)

Who else thinks they should make a dual crown?

The-Medic (Sep 19, 2011 at 10:58)

That's exactly what I was thinking... Seems kind of odd that they haven't yet seeing as they have a bunch of riders on their stuff and NO DH fork for them to ride (Those guys all seem to be riding BoXXers) ... Sure would make alot of sence for Xfusion to fill out the line-up. Anyone know how the Vengance stacks up to other long-travel SC forks like the 66 and the Totem in terms of strngth??? And is the Vengance a coil sprung fork or air??? I'm hoping it's coil cause I could REALLY see one of these finding it's way onto one of my rigs in the near future... sure seem to be GREAT in the value department.

suicidedownhiller (Sep 19, 2011 at 12:02)

X-Fusion HAD a Dual crown, the Delta 8 for a while. I have ridden 3 of them, different models/years, and they all broke pretty quickly. I assume they're just working out the bugs before they introduce a new one, but as far as I know they still produce the internals for bionicons Dual crowns...or perhaps it was the other way around. But when my delta's broke, I had to contact bionicon...As they still ran them on their DH bikes

The-Medic (Sep 19, 2011 at 12:47)

Interesting... I had never heard of that fork before. Thanks for the info.

golfkook (Sep 22, 2011 at 13:00)

Suicidedownhiller- You are correct with a few of your statements. We did sell a DH fork for about a year. Between 2006-2007. I believe there were 2 models... A travel adjust model and a non travel adjust model. However it was not an X-Fusion product. We licensed the fork from Bionicon but quickly realized that if we put out a DH fork we want it to be done the X-Fusion way. So if and when we decide to sell a DH fork you can sure bet it will be done correctly and follow similar guidelines that all our products do.

suicidedownhiller (Sep 22, 2011 at 16:42)

Makes way more sense, thanks for clearing it up. I knew x-fusion wouldn't put out such a low-end product, though it did perform great.

melikebikealot14 (Sep 23, 2011 at 0:26)

I'd totally buy a dual crown from you guys!

The-Medic (Sep 23, 2011 at 1:52)

Sweet, gotta love places like this where you can get dirrect personal feedback from the guys AT the actual companies were looking at... Keep it up Xfusion, I'm REALLY liking the stuff you guys are putting out. You guys have solid riders on your teams (can't argue with a guy like Aron Chase riding your gear can you aye...) and you're cahllenging the notion that only the "big 3" make a decent fork. More quality options can only be a good thing for us end users/riders aye. I agree with "Mebikealot14", I would TOTALY run one of your DC forks (if you ever bring one to market) on my future race rigs... From a purely cosmetic standpoint your forks sure look nice. I can't wait to throw a leg over a bike with a full X-Fusion set up to see how they feel.

fergiesindahoose (Sep 19, 2011 at 10:36)

They've got the looks to make porn invalid

DrSanchez (Sep 19, 2011 at 11:03)

Been on a Vengeance for a year and loving it. Also have a Vector HLR coil shock and it easily performs along side of Cane Creek, Elka, and is miles better than Fox or the other bigger brands.

Billy-C (Sep 19, 2011 at 11:06)

From what I remember, x-fusion manufactured fox air shocks, or at least used to...

Enduro27 (Sep 19, 2011 at 9:22)

Vengeance hlr dla looks promising!

DARKSTAR63 (Sep 19, 2011 at 9:54)

Its a robust looking 29" fork?

Icculus19425 (Sep 19, 2011 at 10:56)

looks like it

The-Medic (Sep 19, 2011 at 11:02)

Yeah they pretty much tell you above that it's one of their XC or Trail forks, and it's clearly a long-legger so I'm guessing an LT 29" fork... I like the use of the Syntace system in them, that's a nice standard.

DBomberMan (Sep 19, 2011 at 10:53)

cant wait to be running xfusion shocks! Gonna be the first upgrade of 12'.

primodevil01 (Sep 19, 2011 at 11:45)

I would like to see them bring a dual crown or a long travel 180mm fork to the table.

wastedqba (Sep 19, 2011 at 12:28)

Why Vector Air is not in 200/50 mm configuration? X-Fusion keeps looking great, but is hard to find on second hand market.

gowans (Sep 19, 2011 at 11:07)

Forks look very similar to RS Lyriks, and rear sus design is similar to the Scott Genius Equalizer. Just saying. But overall look a good quality fork/shocks.

extrememtb (Sep 19, 2011 at 10:53)

the only thing wrong with X-Fusion in the name, just doesnt have the same prowess the big 3 have got.

chyu (Sep 19, 2011 at 11:04)

Rock shox? lol

DARKSTAR63 (Sep 19, 2011 at 11:33)

Im not sure you know what prowess means. Also not sure if you have experience with these forks, therefore you shouldnt make such a claim.

rdb423 (Sep 19, 2011 at 12:15)

Nah extrememtb is correct. They don't have nearly as much experience in their field as the bigger names that have been around for considerably longer.

extrememtb (Sep 20, 2011 at 8:54)

the forks/shocks are probably brilliant! just the company name doesnt sound great, like at all.

DARKSTAR63 (Sep 20, 2011 at 10:17)

I see what you mean. Yeah X-Fusion is sort of a silly name.

The-Medic (Sep 23, 2011 at 1:57)

Yeah I get where you;re coming from. When I hear/see the letter X used in a name/marketing, I imediatly think of "Generation X" or "Xtreme" or any number of hip things they tried to sell folks of my generation on over the years (I love mountain DEW, but man did I get sick of the whole EXTEREME marketing garbage) Still, X-Fusion seems to be killing it and bringing really NICE products to market so I would NEVER avoid them just because of a name aye... But, as I said I can see where you're coming from on that one. X just has bad connotations in marketing for me...