Video: Inside FOX's X2 Downhill Shock

Jun 25, 2015 at 21:15
by FOX Factory  


The cutaway below shows the inner and outer tubes, as well as the oil passage ports between them, that make up the shock's recirculating design. This layout allows the oil flow in one direction up through the compression circuit and then out through the rebound circuit as the shock compresses and rebounds, which is very different than a traditional design that forces the oil to flow in opposite ways as the shock's stroke changes directions.


FOX X2


You can also see where the Rod Valve System resides - at the base of the blue and red rebound and compression assemblies - although both are tucked up out of sight. The RVS system, which is basically a secondary, smaller shim stack that's on top of each spring-loaded valve, is able to ease the transition between the valve opening and closing when the shock switches between low- and high-speed shaft velocities, and it's said that this helps to keep the bike's tires stuck on the ground to improve traction.



FOX X2
The modular compression (blue) and rebound (red) assemblies of FOX's X2 shock.
FOX X2
Yes, you'll need a few tools to make changes to the shock's setup.

FOX Float X2


Learn more about the DHX2 and Float X2

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75 Comments
  • 102 8
 So, its basically a cane creek double barrel . . . . basically
  • 29 3
 basically a fox double barrel.... think they'll add a climb switch?
  • 15 5
 But the poppets are shimmed according to this video. Unlike cane creek
  • 38 1
 Can't have a climb switch now! How are you going to convince people to buy yet another shock in a year or two Razz ?
  • 32 2
 Which was a ohlins design years back. Ohlins has a new design out now. Moto industry trickle down stuff.
  • 8 0
 Yeah. I think suspension has come so far in the last four years that I think we might actually struggle to make something new.
Everything decent has 4 way damping, so it can be tinkered with till your heart is content.
Cane Creek (with ohlins) really did set the benchmark all those years ago
  • 14 9
 That reaaaaally awkward moment when I designed this for a final project for my mechanical engineering class...
  • 9 1
 If it matches CCDB performance and it comes in at a lower cost, then yeah, Fox may have a winner there.
  • 2 1
 @MX298 exactly! thanks ohlins
  • 1 0
 Biggest change I see coming is adding position sensitive to speed sensitive stuff(or electronically controlled damping.)

People rave about Avy carts with midvalve.
  • 2 0
 ^avy's mid valve is not position sensitive. We tried the position sensitive thing with 5th element, spv and fox just finally gave up on it completely with this shock.
  • 1 1
 Just read up on their midvalve page & you are exactly right. it simply adds variable (shimmed) flow at the rebound check plate. my bad. I guess what that really makes it, is a separate compression damping "circuit," valved differently from the main one, allowing tuning of the compression at very low speeds.

For some reason I had understood it to be a mid travel compression circuit so that you could keep the top half soft without blowing past mid travel.
  • 1 0
 @aoneal lol here fox is notorious for topping every product they even managed to make it more expensive than the ohlins and way over ccdb over here...
  • 3 0
 @mrx40 The Cane Creek DB shocks also have shimmed poppets.

This shock is almost identical to a Cane Creek Double Barrel. Twin tube design, shimmed piston, LS needles and HS poppets with transition shims. But it doesn't come as a surprise considering the fact that Fox employed a former Cane Creek engineer who designed the DB Air.
  • 40 2
 Damn, just had a suspension epiphany. That makes so much sense! Before I thought it was just the bearded wizards hiding in the back of shops that crammed all sorts of black magic into those things. Now I realise it's just kashmia fluid.
  • 8 10
 What?
  • 26 1
 looks like a session
  • 5 1
 Do you mean a Session with a Cane Creek Double Barrel?
  • 1 0
 ......no
  • 18 0
 I find vids like this very helpful. It helps me wrap my brain around what is going on. Suspension is so fasinating and elusive. Crazy how fluid can be so responsive. Basically if anyone asks me about the finer details of these systems my reply will be...devil magic.

So thanks Fox for my sweet suspension and vids. You have my money and this months sacrifical offering. We're cool right...right?
  • 17 6
 "The cutaway below shows the inner and outer tubes, as well as the oil passage ports between them, that make up the shock's recirculating design. This layout allows the oil flow in one direction up through the compression circuit and then out through the rebound circuit as the shock compresses and rebounds, which is very different than a traditional design that forces the oil to flow in opposite ways as the shock's stroke changes directions"

...that is definitively not true - even in this twin tube shock design the oil flow changes directions during the change between compression and rebound. The damping fluid is not circulating. This shock is basically a one to one copy of the Cane Creek Double Barrel Öhlins System. The RVS Valve system nothing new - the Öhlins/CC System has also nose shims on ist poppet valves. So has the Öhlins TTX...
  • 2 2
 I questioned that also, it looks to me that the fluid changes direction.
  • 1 1
 Re: forcing oil to flow in opposite ways, isn't that what most forks and single tube shocks do? The Rockshox fork compression and rebound dampers exhibit this opposite flow of oil, as an example.
  • 1 1
 Seems that the opposite flow in traditional shocks its referring to the relative movment between the piston and the oil. in this case , if i'm not wrong the oil travels the same way that the piston. True it's not a recirculating sistema, and i'm not sure if it's beter or not to acomplish not reverse flux
  • 1 1
 Oil goes through the piston in traditional designs (reverse flux) whereas the dual flow never let's the oil go in the other direction, like the Cane Creek DBA and Fox X2.
  • 15 2
 You know you make great stuff when you radically change the design and copy the competition.
  • 6 0
 fox stuck to their boost valve design for a while, what works works though, and the twintube design is where its at.
  • 13 2
 does anyone seriously not bring a multi tool with them on the trail anyway? of all things to complain about haha.
  • 4 2
 Wouldn't want to be rounding of the head of the bolt on that now
  • 5 5
 I don't. Must be an enduro thing.
  • 4 0
 It's a downhill shock. I've been know to ride toolless, waterless on short shuttles or bike park laps, at short bike parks.
  • 3 0
 Well yes i guess in that very, very specific circumstance maybe it would be slightly cumbersome to have a tiny allen wrench with you. But if youre not planning on stopping on your way down the mountain anyway, then i dont really see anything to inconvenience you.
  • 4 0
 agreed, but I feel like suspension manufacturers were hesitant to go completely "tooled" adjustments for a long time, really until Cane Creek proved people weren't going to throw a fit about it.

"Tool-free Adjustment" is still a fairly big buzzword in the bike industry.
  • 10 2
 Covered on vital over a week ago, keep up lads!
  • 7 0
 Fuck it. Staying with my Avalanche Woody with the bladder like the new DVO.
  • 3 0
 Looks totally incredible. Probably the best-performing shock on the market. And I will still choose Rock Shox every time because they will sell me service parts. If I would have blown a shock seal today on Chuckanut Mt, I could have gone to the bike shop, left with a seal kit, and had my shock ready for service tomorrow. I feel like with Fox, you need a spare shock. If you can afford their service charges, you can afford a spare shock anyway I suppose...
  • 3 1
 Some music artist give credit to people who gave them inspiration to make music and some comedians give credit to the people who inspire them and some suspension companys just copy a design and pass it off as their totally new design Fox you are the Carlos mencia of the suspension business Have some courtesy and give credict when credit is due
  • 6 1
 Can't wait for a fully user serviceable Rockshox Double Barrel
  • 4 3
 I'm pretty sure the vivid is a double barrel on the inside, just with way less adjustability
  • 1 0
 Wauw. Truly ground breaking stuff. Im wondering why fox took so long to test there new super shox. They could have just mounted a ccdb to gwins demo.... 8 years ago. Sorry to say, i like how fox make their stuff but damn, why such A proud introduction on a product that has allready been on THE market for more than 8 years. Truly nothing new here. I sound like an hater but Im not. But fox keeps pushing 'new stuff' every year while last years stuff is still so so. Theres just to much fox Tech every single year. New 36 is dope though.
  • 4 1
 Is a click of rebound or compression now a standard unit of measurement to benchmark a new shock.
  • 4 1
 No. The number of clicks just gives you an idea of the range/fine-tunability of a damper. It' not a standard unit of measure.
  • 1 1
 You never see manufacturers mentioning their riders going faster down a given run with their 'new and improved' pieces.
They'll tell you that the new whiz-bang pieces give better control and feel, but never if that actually translates to speed-and isn't that what it's all about?
  • 2 0
 Fox help their top riders set up their suspension, a lot of that testing is based on timed runs combined with suspension data aquisition,there is usually some edits of it every winter. But whether Aaron Gwin would be any faster down a course with a racetuned RC4 vs an X2... hard to tell, but I bet the difference would be minimal. An improvement in control and feel combined with more tuneable suspension is much more appealing to me as a customer than knowing that a WC racer rides 0,3 seconds faster down a track with it.
  • 4 0
 i want one
  • 3 2
 "and it's said that this helps to keep the bike's tires stuck on the ground to improve traction."

Isn't that what a shock is supposed to do?!
  • 3 1
 Just buy an Ohlins and be done with it... They are way ahead of the game...
  • 1 0
 the way the oil flow is pushed throughout the whole shock, passing through valves and traveling through different chambers reminds me of a heart. Pretty impressive tech.
  • 5 2
 Ratboy for the win!!!!
  • 1 0
 My local bike shop has these for $595. Or a Cane Creek double barrel for $545. Tough choice.
  • 2 0
 first thing i thought of was CC double barrel. Nice though.
  • 1 0
 ...I'm somewhat ashamed to say that this is the very first time I've completely understood how modern suspension works.
  • 2 0
 As cool as the shock is... THAT FLICK THOUGH!!!
  • 1 0
 Pretty cool but it reminds me of the CCDB twin tube design which is nothing new!!!
  • 1 0
 Love that video... very very nice
  • 2 1
 if it's kashima, i don t care what s inside as long as it works
  • 3 1
 Fox Creek X Barrel?
  • 10 13
 so, oh wait. I will just go out and ride my bike.
  • 13 0
 And the cliche comment of the day goes too....
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