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With today’s trail bikes becoming ever more capable, the suspension manufacturers have taken note and have been producing new forks specifically aimed at this category. Earlier in 2025, FOX released the 36 SL while Öhlins introduced the RXF36 m.3, both offering a different take on feel and capabilities. Since they are new forks, we wanted to put them to the test, but also compare them to the venerable old 34s, to see if we can help you pick the one that’s right for your next trail bike.
To really help us evaluate the forks one against the other, we rode them all back-to-back on the same day on the same trails, by swapping them between our two test bikes and test riders. All the forks are set at 140m of travel, and we’ve used a 5mm stem spacer that we placed either above or below the stem to compensate for the difference in axle-to-crown measurements between the 34s and the 36s. All the forks had been ridden for at least a couple of months prior to the back-to-back test day, so we knew them well already and we had our settings dialed in.
Timestamps:
0:00 Intro
2:34 Nils rides the Öhlins RXF 34 m.2
4:37 Johan rides the FOX Factory Float 34
6:11 Nils rides the FOX Factory Float 34
7:55 Johan rides the Öhlins RXF 34 m.2
8:44 Nils rides the FOX Factory 36 SL
9:50 Johan rides the Öhlins RXF 36 m.3
10:40 Summary and conclusions
Links:
FOX 36 SL – https://www.vitalmtb.com/features/new-lightweight-trail-fork-fox-36-sl-first-ride-impressions
Öhlins RXF36 m.3 – https://www.vitalmtb.com/news/press-release/ohlins-racing-unveils-new-trail-fork-rxf36-m-3
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