is it really worth it to actually buy a fox fork over a same level fork from rock shock even though its way more?? does it really make a significant difference?

Depends.

Fox is a proven name with proven reliability. I'd also trust rockshox though. It basically boils down to personal preference.

Some people will buy a Nissan Sentra and be perfectly happy. After all, they are decent, reliable, functional cars that get good mileage and are extremely reliable. Some people wouldnt be caught dead in a plain old Nissan and have to spring for the Infiniti because they think people will assume they have lots of money if they drive an Infiniti, regardless of the fact that it's just a rebadged Nissan...let's just call this the "bling factor".

I know plenty of people like that...and am friends with none of them. Just because something costs more, doesnt always mean its better. In fact, sometimes, you are LITERALLY paying for the name and are getting an inferior product.

In THIS case, however, I honestly think the two are pretty equal. The price difference is because FOX probably feels it has the reputation advantage because most pro-level bikes are supplied with Fox hardware....although its probably only because of the bulk rate discount they give to manufacturers.

I know it's not the same thing, but I like to relate stuff like this to things other than bikes. Take Glock pistols for example. They like to claim that their guns are used by more police departments than any other maker, and that fact somehow means their guns are better. The FACT is that the only reason more PD's use Glock is because they basically gave them the guns for FREE if they were willing to trade in their old issued firearms. So lets see here: keep our old worn-out guns or get some brand new ones that arent falling apart for FREE...gee..whatever shall I do? See what I mean? There are plenty of guns out there that are both cheaper AND better than Glock...but because of their marketing practices, everyone automatically assumes that Glocks are the best when in fact they are not.

Same thing with Fox vs. RockShox.

personally, I'd get the Totem in the heartbeat if it wouldn't screw with the geometry on my Dawg.

I would have to say that you're not JUST paying for the name as stated above. I haven't ridden a POS Fox. I have however ridden several POS Rockshox. I have one of each now and I like them both. I like the Fox much, much more. Always will.

The Totem sounds good, but have you ridden one? I haven't therefore I definately wouldn't say that I'd get it in a heartbeat.

i wasnt looking for every detail, i just wanted to see if there was a humongous get what u pay for price difference, or if its just for the name alone

(correct me if I'm worong please) Fox was the only company that had 32mm+ stanchions for all their forks, but now a lot of competitors are going up to 32mm too. I've tried a Fox forx and was surprised that it wasn't smooth as others commented. My RS Duke was smoother than that 06 Float I tested.
I would love to own a Fox, but their cheapest fork is almost the same price as some high end fork from Marz/Manitou/RS.

Mhh fox. Wouldn't trade mine in a heartbeat.

You gotta let that sucka get broke in , bro. My Vanilla is supposed to be the "most plush 5 inch single crown coil fork on the market", but the first couple of weeks didn't convince me. After the break in, I believe every word of that.

it was broken in
it was on a test bike, thats why I wanted to see

I used to think that fox was the best, but I have now tried out the new and improved rock shox and now I am not so sure. It seems they now have their head in the game and they just keep getting better. I mean look how many forks they have released this year! I have had the oportunity to try out a few of them and they are awesome. The only problem with this is that rock shox is now rivaling fox in therms of price. It really is up to you though. I think I would go rock shox.

When I had my fox I did like it, but I like my Pike alot more.

Had to repair the Fox every other week, the only work I do to the pike, is replace the oil, and replace the seals every 3-4 oil changes.

In my opinion Fox products are worth every penny they charge for them. I have four Fox products, two rear shocks and two forks, an F100x and an F80x. I have owned quite a few more of their rear shocks in the past, never had a problem with them. However, I don't tend to keep things very long but that is another story.

All I know is I can't wait to try out my new F80x. Hopefully I'll get to ride it once before the race on Sunday to try to dial in in a little. After the race I won't have a chance to ride it again until around next April.

Consider yourself corrected.

That would be wrong. Marz was one of the first to go that size. Fox, if you consider it a purely trail/xc fork, was the first in that genre. But the z series (and don't forget the monster haha) was the first to mass market the idea and several indies did it before that.

Ahhh caught the caveat about "all"...ok, the above could be wrong, I don't know...I guess the thing to keep in mind, fox is also one of the only manufacturers, that early on, to mass produce a very small "range" of forks trying to fill a big range of riders. The lowest common denominator would fit. Rock shox and marz have a full range of forks in each "area" of riding. At least thats kind of how I look at it.

[QUOTE=Maelstrom]That would be wrong. Marz was one of the first to go that size.QUOTE]

No, I mean.. I know Fox wasn't the first and only company with that size stanchions. I meant like.. with ALL their forks. I was asking for correction that Fox has no forks under 32mm stanchions. Sorry for the confusion.

How often do you replace the oil?

I think it hasn't been stated yet, but basically RS went through a bad patch several years ago. The Judys and Dukes had a very bad reputation which RS is still recovering from.

More recent posts speak highly of the current line up, the Reba and Revelation forks in particular (well, they're the two models I've been paying attention to, anyway).

In practical terms for the majority of riders probably not. Performance is more a function of the rider's skills anyway. But it is a subjective issue which depends on one's definition of "worth it". One difference is I remember a statement on the Rockshok's web site which said they would only support a shock with parts for two years. When I talked to Fox, which I do periodically to order parts and oil for my fork and shock, they said that they still support their first units and that they have much parts commonality between model years.

For me it's worth it, but XC is a high priority activity and I have the extra cash to spend.

Al

After just checking out some of the prices for the 2007 forks, it doesn't seem like there is that much of a difference in price anymore, at least at the higher end.

It just seems that Fox only offers high end forks, while RS offers a high end line with prices the same as fox, and then a lower end line with a price break.

One important note when comparing across brands is that Fox doesn't really have low-end models. Their cheaper forks just lack the adjustability of their more expensive ones. For the most part, the internals are very similar to one another and the housings are the same when you move up and down within a particilar model. For example, in the F100 series, the stanchions and housing are the same across the board. The F100R just lacks the lockout, compression and threshold adjustment of the RLC. It's not really fair to compare the F100R to a low-end RS, Manitou, or Marz. All of those companies go with lower-end parts all the way around to get the cost down in their low-end models. Fox just leaves off the bells and whistles. In car terms, a base model BMW cannot be compared to a base model Ford.

At the high-end, Fox MSRP's are not much different than those of it's competitors. It's just that retailers seem to be more likely to offer discounts on other manufacturer's forks when they don't really need to in order to sell a Fox. That's my 2 cents anyway.

You should try riding my Fox Talas then...What a piece of crap...I'll either get it Pushed or purchase a Pike.

Go with Push!!!! I will first time I need to get any of my shocks, forks serviced.

Sounds like you got a lemon like me from Fox. The worst part is having to deal with Fox, their customer service seems to have gone downhill.

Yeah, I'm thinking of going with Push. I've talked to Darren and it seems like they'll be able to take care of my issues with the fork.

I understand that every company is going to send out a lemon once in a while but I hated dealing with Fox. Their customer service was almost as bad as Santa Cruz.

WOW, I didn't know anyone could have that bad of customer service!!!!!!!!