FOX Podium Inverted MTB Fork - Questions, Answers, Reviews

I pulled some numbers out of my butt to make a graph of how much travel most people have in the real world and why they have as much travel as they do

I like the idea of an inverted fork that I don't have to worry about sourcing parts from a small manufacturer on the other side of the world. 

I had enough trouble trying to replace a broken suspension pivot both from Propain USA. I tracked down the Executive VP of US operations's email to get that taken care of. 

Fox stuff is relatively easy to work on, parts are available, the kashima on my 2021 36 is still scratch free so it might be a good coating for inverted lower stanchions, and companies are already tuning the grip X2 damper now so there are options. 

I'm not really the target market right now, but can see the draw to the Podium. 

The lack of a 180mm option is interesting.  I wonder what it says about what's coming down the line? 

I know it's more complicated than this, but my hot take is that if they have an axle that makes the 170mm fork too stiff for Neko and Asa, I'd be willing to roll the dice on a 180mm travel version with that axle being more than stiff enough for me.  

But how is it more complicated than that?  Is the difference in bushing overlap really that profound?

Re: lack of 180 option, from the other site:

"The primary reason we're not seeing Podiums with more than 170mm of travel comes down to weight - adding any more travel necessitates higher chassis stiffness, and that meant adding even more weight to an already heavy fork."

Yeah a longer fork compounds the forces on the chassis, and there are far less people using 180mm and above single crowns so the trade offs probably aren't worth it 

I'm 105kg myself and my main bike is a 30kg E-mtb, 500g is the equivalent of me not taking a dump in the morning, it's negligible.

I'm a brands worst nightmare when it comes to part destroying, Fox already hate me (3 CSU's on this 38) so I'll keep the R&D lab busy with my fat ass smashing into things.

But, to their credit (and cane creek) they grin, smile and say "heres your new CSU/Shock/whatever you fat bastard"

Yeah I'm with you Brash.

I'm going to wait and see how this fork goes for the heavier riders, but I'm definitely keen. I'm only 80kg but for some reason I have huge issues with fork reliability with all brands I've tried, so I want something really beefy and reliable but not overly stiff. 

The Lyrik is my favourite chassis, I'm on a 38 at the moment which is a bit too stiff torsionally but now has too much bushing play and flaps around a bit too much, and my air spring just cooked itself again, so I'm looking forward to trying this thing. I'd love to see where it sits in terms of stiffness, I really like the idea of USD, the huge bushing spacing is awesome, and annoyingly I really value the fact that its a mainstream brand because I value mechanics being familiar with the product, I value parts being available, and most of all I value the confidence I can get from a product when thousands of people buy it and there isn't more than a murmur of unreliability online. 

I don't like small volume stuff because people are less likely to criticise and more likely to give the manufacturer a chance and be quiet about any issues compared to a mainstream brand, and I don't have throwaway money so I want to know exactly what I'm getting. I know Fox can throw parts at me indefinitely if needed. User reviews mean fuck all if you're hard on your gear.

Glad the fork is limited to 170mm. The market for 160 is gigantic, 170 is huge, and 180 is vanishingly small so it just becomes a compromise for the vast majority of customers. Buy some Dorados if you want more.

I also read that statement in the context that it is applicable to single crown forks. i wonder how the equation would change if they tried to package it as a dual crown.  if they were happy enough with the podium to put it into production, I would be surprised if they aren't at the very least assessing a dual crown version.

Ohlins fits that bill pretty well. My 38M.2 is stiffer than my Lyrik but not quite as stiff as my Zeb. Better air spring and damper than both. Ohlins USA is in NC and really great to deal with IMO. The only downside is the lack of user serviceability but that's more due to tolerances being pretty tight and critical for the HSC clamp system. Otherwise, if you have a vacuum bleeder shock and fork damper servicing in the garage is possible. They have lots of tunes available depending on rider style and terrain. 

I can't help but find it interesting that Richie is back on the 38 for the latest EDR

https://www.instagram.com/p/DLXROdKsGBr/?hl=en

Am I missing something? 

But seriously, why male models?

He is also still on the "old" Shimano stuff.

Maybe just has something to do with more time on the DH bike and not enough time to get a perfect setup on the new stuff.

Just a guess!

Maybe! He was on the Podium last round he raced (I think) which is why this caught my eye. I can't imagine he didn't have a setup that was close to his 38 so the only thing I could think is...

1) Fox made him give it back because it was pre-production and is caught between forks (Podium on its way for him? I can't imagine there are a gazillion athlete versions out there yet).
2) Performance gains were too tiny for the weight penalty. His bike is already beefcake with his tire/insert combo
3) He loves to fuck with nerds on the internet. 
4) He can go fast on anything and it just doesn't matter.

Just finished listening to the PB podcast and found it a bit funny that Dario said this fork needed a lot of time for set up and fine tuning. 

Kind of the opposite take away from the Robot's feedback of - get the air in it and the general guidelines and its really good. Not that you weren't tinkering and fine tuning @TEAMROBOT , it was just how Dario emphasized the need for set up time and my takeaway from your Big Bear video was - do the general set up and send it, you'll be happy.

shrug

Also, this is my 69th post. Not sure I can do anymore.

Richie just posted "As some noticed im not on the podium, just down to not having the hours to get the full bike setup with the larger frame and being on the DH this season. Looking forward to get some time on it, and it was a treat to ride in Finale and would feel amazing on alot of the roots and rough here!"

Can you inquire if they are exploring a dual crown version of their new inverted design?

I'd bet big that there will be a Podium 40 on Fox athletes' bikes by next world cup opener and available for sale next summer. There's no way they'd not take advantage of this performance bump at the World Cup level. "unbelievably supple, bump eating" etc. are al things said about the Podium. They will surely want to put that tech into their race fork. They may offer a cheaper 'regular' 40 and the Podium 40 Race model which would be more expensive. 
 

To add: They're not going to confirm development of this DH Podium until it's about ready to launch or has been seen in the wild. So, if anyone asks now they're going to say they're not. Or they're 'always exploring options'. But will definitely not confirm it. 

It would be very odd if they didn't. Plus with two crowns you'd have thought that the weight penalty would be less to give you the required stiffness (over another DC downhill fork I mean)

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DLY2DidRYBF/?igsh=MWoxNGl4NzdoeXV5eA==

Diaz already running into fun with the Podium…

I mean Fox is late to the game on this one and they are rolling out a giant marketing campaign with it. Some reviewers acting like it’s the first of their kind, said reviewers probably are not old enough to have ridden shiver sc’s. I’m sure it a good fork but it’s still just a fox fork at the end of the day. I wonder how many reviewers had their forks rebuild before jumping onto a brand new hand massaged RAD proto before making the review? If I get smoked on a run by a dude running the podium it’s probably because he/she is a better rider and not because of the fork…

@TEAMROBOT with the answers to your questions.

thanks everyone for participating. so stoked on how great the community is here these days. discussions are civil and incredibly informative. enjoy and keep the q's coming. we started recording right before the "ease of setup" topic came up (charlie said easy, dario said difficult...would have been a good one for this).

Listen

or watch

Interview contents

0:00 - Intro, baggage fee avoidance struggles
10:00 - Charlie's Zeb setup (it's not stock)
13:46 - Is This basically a prototype for sale?
16:40 - Did the CSU Creak?
19:06 - Why is it 29er only and does it matter?
20:03 - Is the FOX 38 really just the 38SL and Podium is burlier version?
21:19 - Won't the stanchions be really easy to damage?
27:28 - Podium's crown, weight and why no 180mm
33:25 - Would you run 180mm if they offered it?
34:07 - Why is it so heavy?
36:16 - Could a lighter fork be as stiff?
37:48 - Currently compatible 20mm hubs?
39:26 - Why not have swappable axle size options like EXT?
42:50 - Do you think axle size was a reason for your positive experience?
46:23 - Why not put the airspring on the opposite side to avoid brake rotor contamination?
51:06 - How does Podium differ from an Intend or a Push fork?
52:37 - Would you buy one?
57:23 - Would the Podium work on a TrailDuro setup?
1:03:57 - Burly Freeride build, Podium or a 190mm dual crown?
1:05:23 - Why would Podium be better for ebikes?
1:07:56 - Is Vital's testing method flawed?
1:13:49 - Why Charlie really enjoyed the Podium
1:17:05 - Berm performance, less compromise on setup because of less binding

Felt this needed an echo to show that Fox is still Fox, inverted or not.

You think the forks they sent Vital, PB, and all the other media outlets are like this. 😉

@sspomer & @TEAMROBOT - just wanted to drop a massive internet high five to you guys for putting out super enjoyable and digestible content around this fork.  I'm not in the market for anything like this at the moment, but somehow you got me to read the whole review, listen to all of Charlie's interviews, and listen to the entire AMA.  Awesome stuff, keep it up 🤘

Like I really don't want to rain on anyone's parade, but I'm also hesitant of any content from anyone trying to sell a product/service that has massive jump cuts like this. I think there should be a level of skepticism around all claims being made right now about the new fork. 

Though for some reason, I just really trust @TEAMROBOT, must be his mustache. Wonder if he could give the same test as what is in the video on his fork. 

That this new shiny thing is the best thing ever and has unbelievable suppleness and bump eating properties is the usual spiel for any product lunch for any suspension company since forever.

All the reviews for 36 grip2 were like that, and we all know how that played in the real world - with qa being just not good enough, and inherent chassis and dampers issues that were brought to the light later. That’s not to say that they were probably an improvement in some ways over the previous generations of similar forks.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that there is, sadly, a big difference between what is being sent to media for a review and what is available for a purchase via your local shop. (I assume that all media isn’t paid to do good reviews and thus biased). Hopefully Fox with their financial woes has money to fix that, if it’s even possible in such a great scale operations.