i really love the fox 36. for my preferred type of riding – which is increasingly also natalie’s preference – the 36 is the perfect fork. smooth and yet almost bottomless, light enough to carry it up the hill yet ready to bail you out when that line choice does not work out and a stack seems unavoidable.

it is also an incredibly versatile fork, with low & high speed compression and rebound damping. that’s why the 36 has been my fork of choice for many years, until the rock shox pike came along with my new nomad 3.

love that old chris king no thread set. at 1 1/8 it will probably not see much action going forward but it is still the benchmark for headsets.

in the meantime fox came out with the 34, sitting below the 36 in terms of stiffness and weight for people who like the travel but don’t ride quite as aggressively (which is probably all of us). i did put a long 32 on nat’s old bike and that worked really well with her featherweight, and i thought it might be a good idea to look for something a little lighter to go with her current bike.

and this is the difference: 2258g for the 36 (an old model, admittedly) …

and just 1845g for the 34. 400g is a lot of weight for a little girl, and given her weight and riding she really will not cause the new (to us) 34 any stress.

i always like to try and make things easier for her. it’s so great she enjoys riding as much as she does and i will do everything to try and keep it this way.