Welcome to the Unfair Advantage. Welcome to Podium.
Podium represents the pinnacle of single crown MTB forks, built for riders seeking ultimate descending capability and the highest performing upgrade for their full power eMTB.
Description
Here's what FOX has to say about the NEW Podium fork...
FOX never stops innovating. We continue to push the potential of mountain bike suspension to give gravity riders and racers the edge whether on the World Cup course, the steepest and most technical local descent, and everything in between.
Podium is designed to be ridden like a downhill fork. No barriers. No hesitation. Complete confidence that your front wheel will hold the line, no matter how fast or how big you push it. All this while keeping your bike in a familiar range of travel and geometry in a single crown package. We designed this inverted fork to get the absolute maximum performance out of our GRIP X2 damper, with every possible gain for smoothness in its travel and confidence-inducing fore-aft rigidity in the chassis.
OVERSIZED UPPERS. OVERBUILT CROWN
The biggest edge Podium has over every other single crown fork its incredible fore-aft rigidity. The combination of oversized 47mm upper tubes and a massive generatively designed crown create the foundation for the stiffest possible chassis—approaching that of a FOX 40— letting you power through the roughest and steepest trails with absolute confidence, even at Downhill race speed.
LARGE DIAMETER AXLE
Where inverted forks have fallen short in the past is with torsional (steering) stiffness because there’s no arch joining the fork legs. This meant we had to build torsional stiffness into other parts of the fork. The oversized crown has the upper end covered, so the next logical place to add stiffness was where the fork legs join on the lower end. By using a custom steel 20 x 110mm Boost DH axle (rather than a standard 15 x 110mm alloy axle typically found on single crown forks) we achieved the optimum torsional stiffness for Podium. This was verified with extensive (and blind) testing by our engineers and athletes. While stiffness can be measured in fore-aft and torsional planes independently, the real-world forces exerted on a mountain bike fork are not isolated to those planes. Having a much higher fore-aft rigidity means the fork will feel much more stable and responsive overall, exactly what riders in this category are looking for.
ALL THE BUSHING OVERLAP
Bushings are Teflon-lined sleeves that interface between the upper and lower legs of the fork. There are two bushings in each leg, for a total of four in a fork. “Bushing overlap” refers to the distance between upper and lower bushings in each leg. As the fork is loaded fore-aft (such as when running over an obstacle on the trail), that bending force is transmitted through the bushings. The inverted chassis configuration allowed us to design Podium with a massive 175mm of bushing overlap. That’s 32% more overlap than the 38 and even 7% more than the 200mm-travel FOX 40 DH race fork. This overlap not only contributes to greater fore-aft rigidity, but also gives Podium an unfair advantage with the lowest possible chassis friction, especially when powering through the roughest terrain at high speed when bending loads on the fork are the greatest.
GLIDECORE AIR SPRING
When a fork is dynamically loaded, that bending force is transmitted to the air spring assembly inside the stanchion. A large enough force—such as hitting a large rock or root at high speed—can cause the air spring to bind to the inside of the stanchion while the fork is compressing through its travel. The GlideCore air spring is built with lateral compliance allowing it to flex with these bending loads, rather than resisting them. By decoupling the stanchion from the air shaft, the piston can move with the fork and remains axially aligned with the stanchion when subjected to a bending load from any direction.
Less strain in the air spring assembly means less reaction forces on the piston and shaft bushing. Less reaction forces means less friction at these interfaces. The result? Smoother suspension action overall, especially when the fork is experiencing high loads from speed or the weight of a rider. The same Nitrile Butadiene material that gives GlideCore its lateral compliance also provides axial compliance by vertically compressing a small amount before the air spring itself begins to move.
CUSTOM TUNED GRIP X2 DAMPER
Podium’s damping performance is powered by the award-winning GRIP X2 damper, tuned specifically for more compression support. Given the incredible rigidity and smoothness of Podium, we needed to add some additional compression damping to account for the reduced chassis friction. We also toned down the rebound damping slightly
to account for the lower unsprung weight of the system (see Page 13). Riders on GRIP X2 reap the benefits of sitting higher in the travel while their tires stay glued to the ground. They can corner with increased traction, giving them the confidence to push the limits of enduro racing and full power eMTB riding, all while reducing hand and arm fatigue significantly.
SHORTER BUSHING TO AXLE
Amongst early testers and FOX athletes, a consistent piece of feedback was “the harder I push it, the smoother it feels”. A big part of this performance gain is due to the shorter distance from the lower fork bushing to the axle. On a traditional fork, the bushing to axle distance is fixed. When an inverted fork compresses throughout its travel, the axle moves closer to the lower bushing and the bending leverage on that lower bushing is decreased, and as a result, the fork motion feels smoother the deeper the fork goes into its travel. When the trail conditions get tough, Podium rises to the occasion.
FULL OIL IMMERSION
Traditional forks rely on the suspension cycling up and down to splash bath oil upward and lubricate the seals. Bath oil inside the inverted Podium fork is pulled down to the seals by gravity, constantly lubricating the internal seals. Another advantage is that the same gravity also means debris will tend to fall away from the seals, reducing chance of contamination.
UNSPRING THE WEIGHT
Unsprung mass consists of everything on the bike that’s below the suspension’s spring and damper. On a standard fork, this mass includes the wheel, tire, front brake and lower fork legs. On an inverted fork, the heavier fork “lowers” are now the upper tubes, reducing the unsprung weight significantly. What’s the benefit of lower unsprung mass? Inertia. Less mass requires less force to move it in either direction, meaning suspension is more sensitive and more active on both the compression and rebound strokes. The full coverage carbon fiber fork guards on Factory Series Podium not only keep unsprung weight to a minimum, but also protect the Kashima coated stanchions from external damage.
Out the Box
This fork will come to you with Fox's standard aftermarket tune.
We will give the fork a full inspection before sending though. We'll:
- Make sure the correct volume of oil and grease has been used in the damper, air spring and lower legs
- Address any assembly issues, like tight bushings.
This is included in the price.
Delivery
Subject to stock, it will take approx. 5 working days to dispatch your order, as the fork needs to go through the workshop. We'll confirm a dispatch date within 1 working day of you placing your order. PLEASE ENQUIRE about stock availability.
Links
Service Intervals
| Action |
Interval |
| Clean and Lubricate |
Every Ride |
| Inspect for scratches to stanchions, dents and other signs of wear |
Every Ride |
| Check headset, axle and brake torque |
Regularly |
| Lower Leg Service |
Regularly |
| Full Service |
Every 125hrs of use / 12 months whichever comes first. |
