Fox Float EvolR rear track shock set up???

I have a setup that FOX and Carl's Cycle sales put together to market towards the PRO crowd. I've run it since day one and now have 850 miles on the suspension. I ride regularly with several other PRO sleds from bone stock to models that have had the shock upgrade package from Carl's on the stock walker shocks. MARK MY WORDS...this suspension shock kit is flat out awesome! It is far far far (did I mention FAR) superior to stock...and a noted huge improvement over the upgraded shock package. I think the kit goes for $855. Having ridden this against the previously mentioned alternatives it's the way I'd spend my money.

Now here is an additional kicker...I've also been working with RENTON COIL SPRING CO on a progressive rate Ti spring to go with the Fox Racing Shox Zero Pro suspension shock for this kit. Innitially I was unimpressed and it felt like I went backwards in felt performance and comfort. Well a couple of minor pressure changes and preload setup and it is absolutely magical! Total vehicle tranfer control and balance in off trail free ride snow. The sled remains level and your track has maximum contact irregardless of snow depth and constitution throughout the throttle positions. That means your sled pops to plane and holds that plane consistantly even as you vary the throttle and body position. It eliminates that hopping that kills your forward progress and contributes to being stuck alot! This test sled is about 20% hotter then most stockers but not like an 8lbs or more turbo. Would dearly love to have the turbo crowd experience this result as it doesn't seem to get over powered and over transferred like the stocker shock setups do. The progressive rate spring allows a pretty soft initial start through the cycle and then controls the power and lift as you build snort. So instead of powering your sled and driving the nose up it drives the sled forward. Cool stuff! Plus for the first time we get this incredible off trail performance boost but no sacrefice or tuning necessary for small high speed trail stutters. I can run the same pressure setting coming and going and have fun all the time instead of having a sled that is great in one aspect but kind of sucks in another.

Now please all of you internet expert trolls just save your energy. This is not a marketing program what so ever. This is not available for sale or even have a price. This is just a report of some tested prototype part with future possibilities that may one day be available for this shock package on the PRO.

I traded my 2011 for a 2012. Has anybody heard if Polaris re-worked/valved the stock shocks on the 2012 Pros? They clearly needed some work. I put a set of Float2s on the front end of mine this year which I felt really helped performance. You could lower the front end and they still would not bottom, and the softer front end really helped the rear skid performance. Is it money better spent for the rear shocks, or the front? (yes F-Bomb, I would love to updgrade to evols all around but wow - $$$)

I have the Fox EvolR/Zero Pro set-up on my sled and love it!!! I think it's the best mod you could do (along with swapping the front shocks as well). The Fox combo allows you to dial in any feel a rider likes. I love the fact that carrying a single little shock pump in my pack allows me to adjust my shocks at anytime, anywhere, no matter what the riding conditions call for.

I usually set up my rear shock with the lowest amount of main chamber pressure and a little high on the Evol chamber. This makes it feel really supple on small chatter type bumps and "float" in pow, yet ramp up quick to resist bottoming on big cliff drops or jumps with harder landings. Also whats awesome is that you can adjust your rebound which is pretty unheard of on other aftermarket shock options. I always set mine up slower than most people like so you don't get bucked on choppy landings, but it's all personal preference and you can dial it in to your desired liking.

All in all I have nothing but great things to say about this upgrade, and for the money, it can't be beat.

F-Bomb said:

I have a setup that FOX and Carl's Cycle sales put together to market towards the PRO crowd. I've run it since day one and now have 850 miles on the suspension. I ride regularly with several other PRO sleds from bone stock to models that have had the shock upgrade package from Carl's on the stock walker shocks. MARK MY WORDS...this suspension shock kit is flat out awesome! It is far far far (did I mention FAR) superior to stock...and a noted huge improvement over the upgraded shock package. I think the kit goes for $855. Having ridden this against the previously mentioned alternatives it's the way I'd spend my money.
PRO.

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Hey F-Bomb, I was just curious if you have spent extensive time on Holz Walker upgrade. The Holz upgrade is also supposed an awesome upgrade, as Mark has been working very closely with Walker Evans.

Also I was wondering on the Fox stuff, is there a difference between the Carl's Valving and the Fox factory valving? I was talking with some other suspension guys and they said there are few different fox setups out there. I guess the Fox factory valving was setup by Burandt. I am not sure if they are planning on having a Burandt signature package for the Pro like they had for the Arctic Cat.

For a general question, why is no one running a float for the front track shock on the Pro?

I am just trying to figure whose shock setup to run next season... Thanks.

>>For a general question, why is no one running a float for the front track shock on the Pro? <<

The guys at Carl's told me specifically that is was only because of cost. Apparently there's not much performance difference for the Fox pro vs. the Float for the front track shock; at least not enough to justify the large cost difference.

Have FUN!

G

gman086 said:

>>For a general question, why is no one running a float for the front track shock on the Pro? <<

The guys at Carl's told me specifically that is was only because of cost. Apparently there's not much performance difference for the Fox pro vs. the Float for the front track shock; at least not enough to justify the large cost difference.

Have FUN!

G

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For sure it's a cost thing but also equates to a performance difference as well. To be honest, the zero pro outperforms a standard little float shock in the front track shock by a mile. A standard float in that location just doesn't have the sensitivity that riders are looking for in a fairly expensive upgrade. To get a comparative feeling product you would have to add extra air volume. Which, some aftermarket companies make and I know they are widely used on cats, but for Fox to make it themselves to have on an out of the box product would be a huge cost for the relatively small amount of these kits they sell to retailers like Carls/Holz. So to answer your question, a regular float will not feel as good, plus this is a lot cheaper having the Zero Pro, and Carls is definitely right.

Nope I spend a ton of ride time around a Carl's upgrade on the walkers ( i have no idea wether or not it is similar to what Holz is doing ) and like I said it feels and is a big improvement over the stockers that you guys get.

My fronts Evol R's are built just like you guys get them from FOX. They were just hand done as the first set to get out in a hurry for the show circuit. It's my understanding that this is the shock system that FOX developed with CB and other test inputs. Now my back setup is a FOX/Carl's developed setup with some marketing agreement through FOX. Plus now I've muddied up the water by finding this killer Ti progressive rate setup to replace the stock steel that is super cool. As far as I'm concerned it improved the setup exponentially on the PRO I ride daily.

Once again I can't express how much simply applying different air pressures and rebound settings make on your felt response as well as your overall performance through varying terrain. You can compare the go of two equal powered sleds but with these different shock and suspension setups and see the sleds react and perform differently. They just make your PRO experience another level plus better.

mountainhorse said:

F-bomb...When you refer to a Progressive rate spring, are you talking about a dual/triple rate Main w/tender spring or a progressively wound single spring?

I wonder if RCS will offer that in a steel spring with the same force/rates as the Ti spring for those that don't want to pony up for the Ti but still want the benefits of what will hopefully be a decent upgrade.

Thanks for keeping us up to date.

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My guess would be a single progressively wound spring. I didn't think Renton offered dual/triple rate separate spring combos. At least that's all I ever see in the mountain bike world, but who knows they could be working on one I guess.

Renton offers both in thier line... single spring and main/tender spring combos.... Which is why I ask.

Oh gotcha. I tried looking on their website but it doesn't seem very user friendly lol Wanted to check out what they had...

Thanks for the info and it sounds like the cost thing is the largest factor for the zero. Can anyone compare a Holz Alpha X to the Pro skid with Fox. The Holz had a float for the front track shock. I haven't seen the two skids side by side but I thought the rumor was Polaris basically copied the Alpha X.

I've seen the rails of the Holz A-X and the PRO RMK next to each other.

The Factory rails have the front swing arm mounting points farther rearward from the same point on the Holz rails. The rear scissor is also in a diff location.

As far as the Holz A-X skid in the PRO... I transplanted one from a 2010 Dragon to a 2011 PRO 155"... bolt in deal... took a bit of tinkering with the Air/DSC hi-low/Rebound etc to get it to work with the PRO at a different weight ... once that was done.... Stellar.

It would be cool to see a more technical review from F-Bomb who has had lots of tuning experience on both skids... it is about a 20 minute swap plus the tuning time. It would be great to hear about the results with the advanced hi and low speed compression adjustment of the EVOL X and more control over the compression circuit as the X moves more oil than the R.

I'll be spending time on the PRO with the complete Timbersled again this week in Alpine. Should be an interesting week!