FOX RACING SHOX is a 29-year-old company located in Watsonville, CA, USA. And have been specializing in manufacturing suspension shocks since 1974. Founded by Bob Fox, he designed the first Fox Shox for motorcross and later progressed to develop suspension systems for other types of motorsports such as off-road cars, snowmobiles, trucks, all terrain vehicles and of course, mountain bikes. Fox started producing front suspension for Mountain biking in 2001 and since then, they have advanced progressively each year, and have always seemed to produce the right type of suspension system for the many different styles of riding.

Fox air forks are primarily used for cross-country riding. You’ve probably seen Fox Talas, Float, FX (TerraLogic), and FRLT forks quite often. For the Fox coil shock series however, you’ve probably only seen the Vanilla series. But did you know that it has 2 other brothers?

New for 2005, Fox 36 and Fox 40. Think Fox 36 as a beefy version of the Vanilla. A single crown fork of 36mm stanchions and 6 inches of travel to be exact. Both the Fox 36 and Fox 40 can be used for freeride and downhill. In my opinion, the dual crown Fox 40 would be their flagship fork for downhill and extreme freeride. With oversized 40mm stanchions, 8 inches of travel, Titanium springs, internally adjustable to 6 inches with external rebound and compression adjustors, all that would definitely make going downhill a breeze.

Black beauty

When I first got my hands on the Vanilla R, I think I had a little orgasm… With 5 inches of plush spring travel and weighing at 1.81kg, just a couple of grams shy of the Fox Float (1.64kg), Rockshox Pike Race (2.25kg) and Rockshox Reba Race (1.7kg). Not too shabby for a coil fork, aye? The Vanilla R can take tires up to 2.4 inches in width, and is disc specific. The stock spring is a medium, for riders about 150-180 pounds (About 60-80kg). Also included are 2 other springs - a soft and a heavy spring. The soft spring would be for riders from about 115-155 pounds (About 50-70kg) and the heavy spring would be for heavier riders from about 175-210 pounds. (About 80-100kg)

You can lower the Vanilla’s travel to 100mm if need be. The factory setting is set to 130mm, so you would have to bring it down to your authorized Fox distributor and have it adjusted if you need change the travel.

The 05 Vanilla R has the usual goodies from Fox, like 12 clicks of rebound damping, magnesium lower legs, Fox oil seals with scraper lip technology. And new for 2005, an extra 5mm of travel and a new slim damper cartridge that helps eliminate cavitations and allows a wider adjustment range.

After having it fitted onto my bike, I took a minute to relish my new fork. It looks sleek without the brake bosses and the front of the bike felt relatively light. It looks slightly bigger than last year’s Vanilla, but definitely not overwhelming.

Differentiating between an OEM and an AM Fox fork is really simple. For AM (after market) fox forks, there are 2 fox stickers that read ‘Genuine Fox’. One on the steerer tube and another on one of the lower legs of the fork.