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The Fox 32 SC is the clear top dog in the cross-country sector. No suspension fork is lighter, none responds better, none feels more at home on the XC courses of this world. Only in one discipline did the Fox have to concede to its main rival, the Rockshox SIDalways admit defeat: In terms of stiffness.
This should now be a thing of the past. The inner workings of the new Fox 32 Step-Cast have not been touched - the spring and damping properties always scored top marks in our tests anyway. Instead, the casting and especially the crown have been slightly revised. The engineers only distributed 30 grams of material over the 100 mm fork, but the stiffness should be on a par with its big sister, the Fox 34 Step-Cast.
"Stiff as the 34 SC" - Where does the RockShox SID stand?
In figures, this would mean the following: In our lab tests, the "old" Fox 32 SC offered a torsional stiffness of just 10.5 Nm and a braking stiffness of 117 Nm at a weight of 1375 grams, while the Fox 34 SC came up with a significantly increased performance (22Nm/182 Nm) - but also weighed a good 250 grams more. The prices for the 2020 Fox 32 SC versions remain the same, with the top model costing € 1199. Currently, the 2019 version already discounted by up to 26% at Chain Reaction Cycles.
The Rockshox SID Worldcup, on the other hand, weighed 1520 grams, but with a torsional stiffness of 26.4 Nm it was noticeably more track-stable than the Fox. The brake stiffness was also significantly higher at 155.9 Nm. The new 32 Step-Cast should therefore continue to be lighter than the competition from Rockshox, but have very similar stiffness values - with a slight disadvantage in terms of torsional stiffness and an advantage in braking. We are looking forward to the first test in the BIKE test lab.
Adrian Kaether
Editor
