X-Fusion Sweep RL2 Fork - Review
X-Fusion’s Sweep fork is aimed at trail or all-mountain riders—people, in other words, who want a bike that climbs well, doesn’t weigh a ton and is still capable on rowdier descents.. Enduro? Yeah, sure, whatever...Sweep handles that too. Silly labels aside, the Sweep RL2 offers up 160-millimeters of air-sprung travel and weighs in at a competitive 4.2 pounds. In other words, it plays in the same corner of the sandbox as RockShox’s Pike and Fox’s 34. Stiff competition, particularly when the models you’re up against sell for hundreds more. Is the more affordable Sweep truly a contender?
Sweep RL2 Details
• Travel: 160 mm (adjustable, internally, down to 100 millimeters)
• Spring: Air
• Stanchion Diameter: 34 mm
• Weight: 4.2 lbs/1905 grams
• Adjustments: Rebound, Lockout
• Max Rotor Size: 203mm
• Price: $650 USD
• www.xfusionshox.com
• Travel: 160 mm (adjustable, internally, down to 100 millimeters)
• Spring: Air
• Stanchion Diameter: 34 mm
• Weight: 4.2 lbs/1905 grams
• Adjustments: Rebound, Lockout
• Max Rotor Size: 203mm
• Price: $650 USD
• www.xfusionshox.com
The Sweep has been a mainstay of X-Fusion’s line for a couple years now and has 26er and 29er X-Fusion twins (the Slant and Trace, respectively). There are actually two versions of the Sweep—the fancier Sweep RC HLR, which features both high and low-speed compression damping adjusters, and this simpler, less-expensive ($650) Sweep RL2.
A season and a half of abuse and the Sweep has yet to crap the bed or develop noticeable stiction despite a maintenance regimen consisting of me doing my best to avoid pointing the pressure washer at the wiper seals.
The 15-mm, through-axle quick release is very Maxle-like and that's a good thing. Unfortunately, you can't rotate the thing the full 360 degrees without bumping the lever back into the fork leg. Sorta annoying.
Out of the Box
The Sweep RL2 is a straight-forward affair. You won’t find a dizzying array of knobs to futz with here. There’s a rebound damping adjuster at bottom of the right leg. There’s a lock-out knob atop the crown. You fill the fork with the right amount of air, dial in your sag and off you go. So, if you’re all about adjusting the firmness of your low-speed compression damping) or fiddling with high-speed rebound adjusters, this just plain isn’t your pony.
The RL2 also lacks a fancy, trademarked stanchion coating or travel-adjuster knobs. You can open the fork up and adjust the travel from between 100 and 160 millimeters. Switching up the travel is a matter of pulling the lowers and the base plate on the air-spring side, and moving the pin from one travel stop to another. It's not rocket science, but you are going to need a pin spanner, some sockets, some new suspension fluid, an RLD damper-removal too.... Oh, yeah, having a bench vice or an arbor press handy wouldn't hurt either. In short, eking out some extra travel (or, conversely, shortening it up a bit) isn't rocket science, but if you dream of flipping a switch and suddenly enjoying more or less suspension travel from your fork, the Sweep RL2 really isn't going to cut it.
It's a lock-out lever in the traditional sense--flip the switch and the fork is firm as hell. It works for out-of-the-saddle fireroad climbs and the obligatory pedal on the road, but I'm a bigger fan of more subtle and tunable compression damping adjusters.
How sexy is this? Okay, it's not. Still, I'm always happy to see companies list pressure guidelines on their forks. Every air-sprung fork, no matter how "rad" it is, rides like shit if your pressure is off. If nothing else, it's a good starting point for setting sag.
On the Trail
So, yeah, the fork eschews the obvious whiz-bang factor of the Pike and 34. But after a year and a half of flogging the crap out of this thing, I have to admit, it’s a pretty damn good fork. Not just in that everybody’s-a-winner “good for a budget fork” way. No. I mean it’s reliable and consistent. What's more, if you were addled and gifted enough to ride around with your eyes closed, most of the time you wouldn’t believe you were riding a budget fork.
Eighteen months of mud and ill-treatment haven’t noticeably affected the fork’s suspension stroke. It’s still nice and smooth—it doesn’t ease into its travel (when running the same percentage of sag) quite as easily as a Kashima-coated Fox 34 or 36, but it’s not far off the mark and I’ve done zero maintenance on this thing to date. Not proud of that fact...just being honest here. I’m also impressed by how well supported the Sweep is. X-Fusion's RL2 damper cartridge features “Mid Valve”—a secondary compression circuit that keeps the fork from diving when you hit that front brake or hit small drops. It works well and allows you to run a bit more sag (say 30 percent instead of 25) if that’s your thing. I never felt the need to increase the fork's bottom out resistance, but if you feel like adding more progressivity to the party, you'll need to dump a bit more suspension fluid into the air chamber. At this point, X-Fusion doesn't sell any puck-style volume reducers.
Is the Sweep's performance equal to that of the Pike and 34? It’s close, but not quite there. I ran the fork exclusively for a year on a Mojo HD3 and then began swapping out forks—running both a Pike and Fox 34 with the same frame, wheels and tires. On fast runs with long rocky stretches, both the Pike and 34 proved superior. Something about the fast, repeated hits would make the Sweep feel less controlled than the top-tier forks--as if the rebound damping was getting overwhelmed by the rat-a-tat-tat-tat wrist-slamming hits. And before you ask: Yes, I had the rebound speed set appropriately. As for flex (always a concern on lighter, longer-travel forks), the Pike feels stiffer than the Sweep under hard cornering. The differences that I’m talking about here, however, are surprisingly subtle. So subtle, in fact, that I spent a lot of time going back and forth between forks to make sure I wasn’t simply imagining things. The fact that the Sweep RL2 come this close is, frankly, impressive given its price.
Pinkbike's Take:
 | Despite the fact that the Sweep RL2 sells for a couple hundred bucks less than a Fox Factory Series Float 34 and about $400 less than a RockShox Pike, the Sweep RL2 performs nearly on par with the Gucci-grade forks. Could it be improved? Of course. X-Fusion could stand to sexy up that fork crown and improve the quick-release clearance. I'd also prefer an adjustable low-speed compression damping adjuster over the Sweep RL2's ultra-firm lockout lever. In short, if you want maximum control over your damping adjustments, this bare bones fork isn't going to satisfy you. If, on the other hand, you are a set-it-and-forget-it kind of rider, you should check this one out. The Sweep RL2 may be a budget fork, but it doesn't ride like one.- Vernon Felton |
Visit the high-res gallery for more images from this review
Author Info:
Must Read This Week
Sign Up for the Pinkbike Newsletter - All the Biggest, Most Interesting Stories in your Inbox
PB Newsletter Signup
if you believe the polls, most americans believe the earth is only 6500 years old.
see this shootout with proper timing
bikemagic.com/bike-components/video-27-5-fork-shootout-rockshox-pike-vs-x-fusion-sweep.html
As to whether $650 is a budget price? In the world of forks today, yeah, it is. Is it truly "affordable"? Well, shit, I don't have a spare $650 lying about either, but the fact remains that, given this fork's features, it is a solid value.
And, you compare it to top-tier forks like the Pike and 34 without even mentioning the HLR model, which is a true competitor to the Charger and FIT4 dampers and has been on the market for a year! Ugh.
Shit like this is what makes it appear there is too little separation between editorial and advertising at PB.
You want to compare it to the pike & fox? then review the HLR version!
It has a better damper and I'm sure it will still be cheaper.
"A season and a half of abuse ...a maintenance regimen consisting of me doing my best to avoid pointing the pressure washer at the wiper seals."
and then re qualify this statement
"On fast runs with long rocky stretches, both the Pike and 34 proved superior."
thnx.
wait .....you change the seals every 6 but only service it every 9, thats ...interesting..
PS how many times a week do you ride in other countrys?
BUT: I recently did changed it for a Manitou Mattoc Pro... and was blown away! Hardtails ain t so hard if you've got a working fork!
The Sweep is a nice and simple fork - but in my experience Mattoc and Pike are far supperior. At least on a hardtail.
Comparisons with forks like the Pike and the 34 are useful, but when you want to buy a high end fork with more adjustments but don't want to spend all that money for a RS or Fox fork, I think a comparison between the Mattoc (Pro/Expert) and the Sweep (HLR RC) is better because the similar price and adjustments.
The Yari and Lyrik have expanded market share, and the Pike is still there happily selling away, Fox just managed to get comparably good damping out of the Fox34 platform after an update and an undisclosed number of Pike units to benchmark it against.
I think a Pike update targeting identical performance at slightly lower weight will probably be along somewhat soon in 110mm width standards, since there is so little 'wrong' to fix.
The Swell has more tire clearance than the Pike, especially if you are using a mud guard.
Unless you buy the DLA version (or put a DLA air cartridge in, which is what I did). I love my sweep with the on-the-fly 130-160 switch + lockout.
Overall i am happy with the performance, it does what i want it to do when tuned correctly, helps to keep the seals lubed up with slickoleum/slick honey ( like any fork really )
This is in contrast to my RS Revelation, btw, which needs new oil/grease in the lowers at least twice a season due to extreme stiction that develops. And I don't even live in a muddy area. I like that fork when it works, but I've definitely thought about throwing something else on there.
I was so impressed with the HLR that I bought their O2 RCX with their factory tune for my frame and it rides awesome as well. After owning Rockshox Lyrik and spending demo time on various Foxes ,X-fusion's got a customer for life.
I think Pinkbike should review one of their forks with the HLR damper, even if it is retrofitted into this sweep. @vernon felton, Kudos for reviewing a fork after 18 months instead of the average of 6 weeks that everyone else does. Now people can really know about the fork's durability.
What a joke!
I rode one for a while. Liked it quite a bit. the simple compression adjuster at the top was actually easier to firm up for pedaling than the RC2DH damper I eventually upgraded to.
Anyhow, hands down I'd take a Pike over anything any day. Haven't ridden a DVO yet, but have had several Pikes and loved the shit out of each one. Having said that, I had an old X-Fusion Velvet that was a 26er that they had approved for 650b use, one of the first forks on the market to be a-ok to run on a tweener wheel. Mine was so cheap it only had rebound adjust; if I was going out on a long mellow ride I'd make it a lock-out by airing it up to it wouldn't move! Not responsible, but hey it worked. I rode that fork for 3 hard season and only maintenance it saw was stanchion wipedown after each ride. I'd ride in winter, snow and slush piled up on the seals so much it looked like a slushy. All summer long in dusty dry conditions. It never complained. And, even thought it was a 32mm stanchion unit it was crazy precise and predictable. Such a damned good fork, for any amount of money. Eyeing a bike w a Sweep on it and relishing the idea of owning an X-Fusion again!
Here's a comment-
I ride a carbon Tallboy (29'er) and was talked into a Pike fork. I didn't think it mattered much since 120mm of travel isn't, well, much.
Long story short, it's the best upgrade I did since I downhill with MX style (why avoid it when you can smash over it?).
X-Fusion has come a long way. And when they catch up, it will probably the best deal out there. Maybe for my next bike..
Having '+' and '-' icons tell you that turning one way adds compression, and turning the other takes compression away.
If that's not what's going on there, then it's a total bait and switch.
I wish the writer of this article would've explained what the heck was going on there.
www.bikeradar.com/mtb/gear/category/components/forks-suspension/product/review-x-fusion-sweep-roughcut-hlr-50042
Also the Sweep rl2 version was being sold for £170 on CRC a few weeks back..
Not digging the look of the crown though..I nearly bought one but decided not too bother in the end..still a great bargain though..