{"id":919611,"date":"2026-10-03T23:14:09","date_gmt":"2026-10-03T23:14:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/919611\/"},"modified":"2026-10-03T23:14:09","modified_gmt":"2026-10-03T23:14:09","slug":"fox-teases-new-rad-fork-and-its-not-even-32","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/919611\/","title":{"rendered":"Fox teases new RAD fork (and it’s not even 32″)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Riders might be 100 per cent focused on the final round of the 2026 World Cup season, but sponsor brands are already thinking ahead to 2027. Canada\u2019s Jenn Jackson is back on the circuit after nearly 100 days off due to injury and arrived at the final round in Lake Placid with a rather special fork.<\/p>\n

The Orbea Factory Racing rider traded in the bright orange Fox Factory colours of her usual fork for a more subdued black with dark orange highlights of Fox\u2019s \u201cRAD\u201d (Research And Development) program. There are a few key differences from her usual 34 Step-Cast fork.<\/p>\n

Fox goes wireless?<\/p>\n

The main difference, at least as far as we can tell from moving pictures released by Orbea, Fox and Jackson, is the large mass at the bottom of the drive-side fork leg. Where a SC fork is usually thinnest, the RAD fork expands into a large, uh, growth.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s hard to say exactly what it is, as Fox doesn\u2019t label or tend to explain its RAD projects. But we can guess. Unlike RockShox, which has its electronic Flight Attendant fork, Fox doesn\u2019t currently offer an electronic fork to go with its Neo electronic system. And the compartment at the bottom of Jackson\u2019s RAD fork looks roughly the size that would be needed to accept one of Fox\u2019s Neo batteries.<\/p>\n

Fox vs RockShox: Divergent designs (-ish\u2026)<\/p>\n

When Fox does go wireless, it tends to do so slightly differently than RockShox, whether by design or due to patent constraints. With the Neo wireless dropper post, Fox put the battery at the seat collar where as RockShox\u2019s original Reverb AXS wireless dropper post had the battery mounted near the seat clamp. RockShox soon followed suit, moving its AXS battery near the seat collar.<\/p>\n

Fox\u2019s Neo shocks and RockShox Flight Attendant shocks both use a similar mount position, but there really aren\u2019t too many options in the space of a shock.<\/p>\n

But it wouldn\u2019t be a surprise if RockShox\u2019s AXS dongle at the top of its Flight Attendant pushed Fox to try find a way to attach the Neo battery to the bottom of the fork.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Flight Attendant electronic and automatic lockout from the RockShox SID SL
\nNeo (if that\u2019s what it is) vs. Flight Attendant<\/p>\n

What are the advantages and disadvantages? Internally? I have no idea how the systems would compare. But it probably improves fork-frame clearance compared to the SID Flight Attendant. On the other hand, it leaves the Neo battery, if that\u2019s what it is, and any associated electronics in a position more prone to rock strikes and prone to damage in crashes.<\/p>\n

Then again, Fox\u2019s cable-actuated lock-outs control compression from the top of its 32 and 34 forks. Since that what most of these electronic systems do, automatically adjust compression to adapt to terrain, it would make sense that any Neo system that replaces the cable-actuated remote lock-out would be in the same position. So maybe it\u2019s a secret, completely different thing and we\u2019re totally off base.<\/p>\n

But, after years of RockShox having an electronic system with no response from Fox, something has to be coming. Even Fox\u2019s own sponsored athletes are already, on occasion, running gravity shocks like the Float X Neo in cross country races to get the advantages it provides. Charlie Aldridge won the Mont-Sainte-Anne World Cup XCO with a Neo shock as early as 2025<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I guess we\u2019ll\u2026 have to wait and find out. Fox sure isn\u2019t saying anything, yet. But if it\u2019s showing the fork publicly at World Cup\u2019s, it can\u2019t be too far off production.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Riders might be 100 per cent focused on the final round of the 2026 World Cup season, but…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":919612,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[445],"tags":[49,48,635,316702,214493,374,316703,100022,35620,124355,82],"class_list":["post-919611","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-cycling","tag-electronic-suspension","tag-flight-attendant","tag-fox","tag-fox-neo","tag-fox-rad","tag-mtb-gear","tag-rockshox","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/919611","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=919611"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/919611\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/919612"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=919611"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=919611"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=919611"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}