2012 Fox Factory-Series Float RP23 Shock Long-Term Review
Take a look at how many bikes come with Float series shocks today. Other companies would kill for that kind of market share. In recent years the competition has really stepped it up, so if you’re in the market for an air-sprung shock, there are some serious alternatives to consider. The 2012 Factory-Series Float RP23 is Fox responding to that pressure. The 'Factory-Series' designation means that nothing is spared, inside or out - and the air-sprung damper bristles with features like super-slick Kashima coating on all sliding surfaces, 'Boost Valve' position-sensitive compression damping, a number of air-volume sleeves to tune the air-spring curve, and its 'Adaptive Logic' three-position low-speed compression adjustment. We put the Factory-Series RP23 through its paces on some big-mountain terrain for a long-term review.
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Factory RP23 Details
Straight out of the box, you can’t help noticing the RP23's low-friction Kashima coating. 'Gold' and 'Shiny.' Those words are music to the ears of bike tarts everywhere and for our money, this is the best-looking shock out there. Kashima coated parts are sent to Japan where the patented (and expensive) process is applied, so we wondered why it looks like the coating was on the outside of the air cannister too. A quick call to Fox Racing Shox, and they explained that both the shaft and the inside the air can have a Kashima coating as there are seals sliding on each surface. Because the parts are immersed to receive the special coating, the outside of the air can gets coated too. The XV air-volume boost sleeve is not coated because it has no moving parts
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User-friendly dials: There are some small but very useful details that Fox has added this year. It’s nice to have a little diagram beneath the ProPedal lever that clearly designates its features. In previous years there was always that embarrassing moment, trying to work out which position is which. They’ve re-profiled the rebound adjuster too, so it’s now easier to adjust with cold, fat fingers in wet riding gloves. Which is just as well, because they’ve doubled the number of clicks you get on the rebound, they call this HD rebound. You now get 16 clicks, rather than eight, but it is still in the same range as previous versions, so you can fine-tune your rebound more precisely.
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Adaptive Logic: For 2012, fox has re-worked the adjustment on the ProPedal and re-named it 'Adaptive Logic.' You still get three options for the little dial on top of the lever, but now they are numbered '0', '1' and '2' and it sets the shock's low-speed compression damping. The compression adjustment controls the shock when the ProPedal lever is switched to 'open.' Turn the two-position lever to 'ProPedal and you get super firm pedaling that is preset internally. Adaptive Logic's low-speed compression adjustments control ride-height and mid-stroke suspension action. The redesign gives the RP23 damper a wider range of tuning options without the complication and added weight of a piggyback-reservoir type damper.
Get the right tune: If you are thinking about buying a Factory-Series RP23 aftermarket, we would advise strongly that you buy it from a proper Fox supplier, as there are different tunes available for the boost valve, XV sleeve, compression and rebound damping, and ProPedal. We went for medium tunes on the compression and rebound, and 175psi in the Boost Valve. In fact, there are several hundred variations you can get, so to find the best one for your particular suspension design and and riding style, it’s best to ask the professionals and get them to help you select the right tune. Buy the wrong one you’re going to have to send it to them to get it re-tuned anyway. While we would have liked to see more tuning info on the Fox website, Fox's Race Program Manager sheds some light on the tuning options available:
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Inside the shock: Inside there are enough features to keep even the nerdiest rider happy. This latest version is the product of constant development and you’ll find all the features from the last few years like the larger volume air can (XV chamber) to help the shock feel less progressive (so it ramps up less aggressively at the end of the stroke) and a Boost Valve. The Boost Valve is the feature that Fox is most proud of. Working off of the preset pressure of the shock's internal floating piston, the Boost Valve meters the compression damping throughout the stroke, making the damping action position-sensitive, not just speed-sensitive like other shocks. For example; when you reach the end of the stroke, even if the shock is moving relatively slowly, a huge chunk of compression damping kicks in to prevent an abrupt bottom-out.
Factory RP23 Performance
We’ve had the RP23 shock attached to a 140mm Saracen Ariel since August 2011. In that time we’ve put it through what our cigarette-packet math adds up to well over a hundred hours out on the trail, which is getting towards a years’ riding for an “average” rider (although what’s average, right?). Most of that time it’s been out in big, alpine terrain with 1000-meter descents. Being happier going down hills, rather than up them, we set the shock with about one-third sag, and pretty fast on the rebound.
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Initial impressions: The first thing we noticed was how easily it slides into its travel. With the Kashima coating, Fox has created an impressively supple shock that just gets better as it beds in. We’d go as far as to say that this has the least stiction of any air shock we’ve used. Out on the trail with the pro-pedal off, that translates to good small-bump performance and plenty of grip, it is noticeably better than previous versions of the RP23. If you really give it some stick, you can find the edge of that grip, but you have to go looking for it. With the 140mm Saracen that we had the shock strapped to, we could never smooth the trail out like we could with a big DH rig, but the RP23 kept things surprisingly smooth. Even when we got onto flat-out, chattery stuff, the bike stayed composed, taking the edge out of the rocks, while keeping enough in reserve for ugly things that came up.
Big-hit performance: In the middle of the stroke with the low-speed compression in the '0' (fastest) position, we found occasionally that we wanted something more to push against to pop the bike. That was the exception not the rule though, and we were impressed by the way the new RP' managed its travel. At the end of the stroke it was a civilised affair, unless we got our huck-to-flat on, we rarely noticed we were using the whole lot. In the entire time we had the shock we can’t remember more than a couple of occasions when we felt a real harsh hit as it reached full travel (and generally it was our fault, not the shock's if we did).
Adaptive Logic in action: If we had only used the shock in the big mountains we’d have been tempted to suggest that the Adaptive Logic wasn’t much use. On that kind of rough, natural terrain we only used the shock in the wide open position to descend. When we got onto man-made trails where we wanted to pump the bike more it really came into its own though. With the Adaptive Logic set to the number one position, it gave just enough extra compression damping to work the bike, something more to push against, while keeping the bike more composed. We didn’t go up to position two that often, but it was nice to have the extra firm option. Fox really has worked out what trail riders need with Adaptive Logic. Sure you get much more range of adjustment, on a DH shock, but you can adjust the Fox RP23 on-the-fly out on the trail. The RP23 gives you quick, simple and meaningful changes to the way your bike feels to adapt to whatever may be ahead.
ProPedal: There isn’t much to say about the ProPedal action. If you’ve used a Fox shock with ProPedal any time in the last few years you know what you can expect. For anyone who hasn’t, simply, it dials in a shedload of low-speed compression damping at the flick of a lever, meaning the bike barely bobs even if you mash the pedals. All you need to know is that it has always worked well and Fox has not meddled with its winning formula.
General issues: Reliability is the second most important issue for a shock. The RP23 shines here too, we haven’t had to touch or think about it since we’ve had it. We are slightly past the recommended service interval now, but practicalities have meant we haven’t had a chance to get it looked at and it’s still working fine. You can service the main parts that will wear out yourself, like the seals and the mounting hardware. However, for a full service the shock will need to go to a professional as it's charged with high-pressure nitrogen inside, which is not something to be messing about with.
One criticism that people have about air shocks is that they don’t work on long descents. That’s quite frankly nonsense these days and the RP23 is no exception to that. On big descents (we’ve tested the shock on descents up to an hour long) it did heat up, you only have to touch the air can after to be certain of that, but this didn’t affect the performance too much. Sure, you do lose a little bit of damping performance if an air-shock gets seriously hot, but no matter how long or ugly the descent, our RP23 stayed controlled and composed.
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Pinkbike's Take:
Fox Factory Float RP23 Features:
- Kashima low-friction coating on shock body and internal shaft
- Adaptive Logic three-position compression adjustment
- Pre-set on/off ProPedal function
- HD Rebound
- XV (extra volume) air chamber
- Boost Valve position-sensitive compression damping
- Weight: 208 grams
- MSRP: $420 USD
- Kashima low-friction coating on shock body and internal shaft
- Adaptive Logic three-position compression adjustment
- Pre-set on/off ProPedal function
- HD Rebound
- XV (extra volume) air chamber
- Boost Valve position-sensitive compression damping
- Weight: 208 grams
- MSRP: $420 USD
Factory RP23 Details
Straight out of the box, you can’t help noticing the RP23's low-friction Kashima coating. 'Gold' and 'Shiny.' Those words are music to the ears of bike tarts everywhere and for our money, this is the best-looking shock out there. Kashima coated parts are sent to Japan where the patented (and expensive) process is applied, so we wondered why it looks like the coating was on the outside of the air cannister too. A quick call to Fox Racing Shox, and they explained that both the shaft and the inside the air can have a Kashima coating as there are seals sliding on each surface. Because the parts are immersed to receive the special coating, the outside of the air can gets coated too. The XV air-volume boost sleeve is not coated because it has no moving parts
The Factory-Series 2012 Float RP23 shock alongside the standard 2011 version.
User-friendly dials: There are some small but very useful details that Fox has added this year. It’s nice to have a little diagram beneath the ProPedal lever that clearly designates its features. In previous years there was always that embarrassing moment, trying to work out which position is which. They’ve re-profiled the rebound adjuster too, so it’s now easier to adjust with cold, fat fingers in wet riding gloves. Which is just as well, because they’ve doubled the number of clicks you get on the rebound, they call this HD rebound. You now get 16 clicks, rather than eight, but it is still in the same range as previous versions, so you can fine-tune your rebound more precisely.
Here you can see how different the 2012 rebound adjust is (on the left)
Adaptive Logic: For 2012, fox has re-worked the adjustment on the ProPedal and re-named it 'Adaptive Logic.' You still get three options for the little dial on top of the lever, but now they are numbered '0', '1' and '2' and it sets the shock's low-speed compression damping. The compression adjustment controls the shock when the ProPedal lever is switched to 'open.' Turn the two-position lever to 'ProPedal and you get super firm pedaling that is preset internally. Adaptive Logic's low-speed compression adjustments control ride-height and mid-stroke suspension action. The redesign gives the RP23 damper a wider range of tuning options without the complication and added weight of a piggyback-reservoir type damper.
Get the right tune: If you are thinking about buying a Factory-Series RP23 aftermarket, we would advise strongly that you buy it from a proper Fox supplier, as there are different tunes available for the boost valve, XV sleeve, compression and rebound damping, and ProPedal. We went for medium tunes on the compression and rebound, and 175psi in the Boost Valve. In fact, there are several hundred variations you can get, so to find the best one for your particular suspension design and and riding style, it’s best to ask the professionals and get them to help you select the right tune. Buy the wrong one you’re going to have to send it to them to get it re-tuned anyway. While we would have liked to see more tuning info on the Fox website, Fox's Race Program Manager sheds some light on the tuning options available:
 | We offer both Light and Firm compression and rebound tune options for customers, in addition to higher and lower Boost valve pressures. All of these variables are dependent on rider weight, riding style/level, leverage ratio, and the amount of bike travel. The compression and rebound tunes are related to wheel/shock velocity. The boost valve pressure effects the damping force at a specific position in the shocks stroke. For example, if a rider prefers more propedal platform or firmness, we would raise the boost valve pressure. Another tuning change example would be if a 100 pound rider requires light air spring pressure, we would run a lighter (L) rebound tune. - Mark Fitzsimmons, Fox Racing |
The new position diagram is really welcome
Inside the shock: Inside there are enough features to keep even the nerdiest rider happy. This latest version is the product of constant development and you’ll find all the features from the last few years like the larger volume air can (XV chamber) to help the shock feel less progressive (so it ramps up less aggressively at the end of the stroke) and a Boost Valve. The Boost Valve is the feature that Fox is most proud of. Working off of the preset pressure of the shock's internal floating piston, the Boost Valve meters the compression damping throughout the stroke, making the damping action position-sensitive, not just speed-sensitive like other shocks. For example; when you reach the end of the stroke, even if the shock is moving relatively slowly, a huge chunk of compression damping kicks in to prevent an abrupt bottom-out.
Factory RP23 Performance
We’ve had the RP23 shock attached to a 140mm Saracen Ariel since August 2011. In that time we’ve put it through what our cigarette-packet math adds up to well over a hundred hours out on the trail, which is getting towards a years’ riding for an “average” rider (although what’s average, right?). Most of that time it’s been out in big, alpine terrain with 1000-meter descents. Being happier going down hills, rather than up them, we set the shock with about one-third sag, and pretty fast on the rebound.
The shock on our Saracen Ariel test bike probably cost more than one of the beater cars in the background of this photo.
Initial impressions: The first thing we noticed was how easily it slides into its travel. With the Kashima coating, Fox has created an impressively supple shock that just gets better as it beds in. We’d go as far as to say that this has the least stiction of any air shock we’ve used. Out on the trail with the pro-pedal off, that translates to good small-bump performance and plenty of grip, it is noticeably better than previous versions of the RP23. If you really give it some stick, you can find the edge of that grip, but you have to go looking for it. With the 140mm Saracen that we had the shock strapped to, we could never smooth the trail out like we could with a big DH rig, but the RP23 kept things surprisingly smooth. Even when we got onto flat-out, chattery stuff, the bike stayed composed, taking the edge out of the rocks, while keeping enough in reserve for ugly things that came up.
Big-hit performance: In the middle of the stroke with the low-speed compression in the '0' (fastest) position, we found occasionally that we wanted something more to push against to pop the bike. That was the exception not the rule though, and we were impressed by the way the new RP' managed its travel. At the end of the stroke it was a civilised affair, unless we got our huck-to-flat on, we rarely noticed we were using the whole lot. In the entire time we had the shock we can’t remember more than a couple of occasions when we felt a real harsh hit as it reached full travel (and generally it was our fault, not the shock's if we did).
Adaptive Logic in action: If we had only used the shock in the big mountains we’d have been tempted to suggest that the Adaptive Logic wasn’t much use. On that kind of rough, natural terrain we only used the shock in the wide open position to descend. When we got onto man-made trails where we wanted to pump the bike more it really came into its own though. With the Adaptive Logic set to the number one position, it gave just enough extra compression damping to work the bike, something more to push against, while keeping the bike more composed. We didn’t go up to position two that often, but it was nice to have the extra firm option. Fox really has worked out what trail riders need with Adaptive Logic. Sure you get much more range of adjustment, on a DH shock, but you can adjust the Fox RP23 on-the-fly out on the trail. The RP23 gives you quick, simple and meaningful changes to the way your bike feels to adapt to whatever may be ahead.
ProPedal: There isn’t much to say about the ProPedal action. If you’ve used a Fox shock with ProPedal any time in the last few years you know what you can expect. For anyone who hasn’t, simply, it dials in a shedload of low-speed compression damping at the flick of a lever, meaning the bike barely bobs even if you mash the pedals. All you need to know is that it has always worked well and Fox has not meddled with its winning formula.
General issues: Reliability is the second most important issue for a shock. The RP23 shines here too, we haven’t had to touch or think about it since we’ve had it. We are slightly past the recommended service interval now, but practicalities have meant we haven’t had a chance to get it looked at and it’s still working fine. You can service the main parts that will wear out yourself, like the seals and the mounting hardware. However, for a full service the shock will need to go to a professional as it's charged with high-pressure nitrogen inside, which is not something to be messing about with.
One criticism that people have about air shocks is that they don’t work on long descents. That’s quite frankly nonsense these days and the RP23 is no exception to that. On big descents (we’ve tested the shock on descents up to an hour long) it did heat up, you only have to touch the air can after to be certain of that, but this didn’t affect the performance too much. Sure, you do lose a little bit of damping performance if an air-shock gets seriously hot, but no matter how long or ugly the descent, our RP23 stayed controlled and composed.
Pinkbike's Take:
| We only need three words to sum up this shock: still the benchmark. While the competition have been closing in on Fox, they have upped their game again with the Factory Series RP23 and it is still the air shock that all others will be measured against. If we had to pick another three words to describe it they would be supple, controlled and reliable. We pointed the test bike down the gnarliest trails we could find and it never came up wanting. If you are not sure just how good the new RP23 is, ride one for a week and then spend a few hours on any air shock from one or two years ago. You'll appreciate how far things have moved on. The Factory RP23 is a class act. - Matt Wragg |
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However I'm glad to hear the shock works the way it's supposed to, it's amazing how Fox can step up their game every time they come up with a new product.
Over the past two years I've noticed the longevity reduce. I am one of the few people that do change all seals and oil at the specified intervals. My latest OEM 120 RL has stanchion rub in 30 hours (i.e. BEFORE the first service interval was up). The previous bike's fork had stanchion rub in sixty hours (including new seals and oil at 30 hours).
My OEM RP23 has play in the mounts in 50 hours. All my shocks have reducer/bearing play within a year.
I love how the forks and shocks work, but I'm not impressed with their durability lately. Yeah, they are under warranty, that's fine, but then I have to borrow a bike or fork while the fork is sent off. Again.
And looking at the other forks I've owned and serviced, its about 2009 that the forks seem to suffer stanchion rub early. My LBS also reports this. It is sad that I can service a 2007 fork that has been ridden to death and t has less stanchion rub than a 2010 fork.
The UK has always had issues with products coming form the states and made to the corrosive standards of their soils and weather. The UK is harsh compared to over there and tends to eat things at a fast rate than other places.
btw. I have a 2004 Marzocchi Z150 SL, and it's stanchions are almost like new. I can't imagine a Fox with stanchions that last half as long as that.
And in line with what Lehel said, I've seen the original Marzocchi Z1s ridden in my area for ten years and they have no rub whatsoever, and they've been neglected. Why can't Fox have that sort of longevity?
I'm getting to the point that if Giant change to Rock Shox or even Marzocchi as the OEM supplier on their high-end Maestro bikes, I don't think I will be disappointed.
"larger volume air can (XV chamber) to help the shock feel less progressive (so it ramps up less aggressively at the end of the stroke) and a Boost Valve. The Boost Valve is the feature that Fox is most proud of. Working off of the preset pressure of the shock's internal floating piston, the Boost Valve meters the compression damping throughout the stroke, making the damping action position-sensitive, not just speed-sensitive like other shocks. For example; when you reach the end of the stroke, even if the shock is moving relatively slowly, a huge chunk of compression damping kicks in to prevent an abrupt bottom-out."
btw I understand how it all works. I'm bringing this up for the benefit of people who might get confused by it.
Does anyone else find the new propedal diagram sticker contradictory to how propedal works on earlier models of the RP23?
The sticker seems to suggest that when propedal is switched 'on' that it goes immediately to setting number '3' (max propedal compression damping), while when it is switched 'off' it goes to 0, 1, or 2 (depending which one you have the knob set to).
The non-kashima RP23's (according to fox's website) work in a way that if propedal is switched 'off' they are fully open (or set to the equivalent of '0'), and that if propedal is switched 'on' then it sets the damping to 1, 2, or 3 (depending which one you have the knob set to).
Off of fox's website for the earlier RP23's: "The ProPedal knob only changes damping when the ProPedal lever is in the PROPEDAL position."
Is it still the same and I'm being confused by the sticker, or am I missing something?
This means that you can have firm (3) at the flick of the switch, rather than choosing whether you have 1,2 or 3 at the flick of the switch, it puts the onous on needing (3) on demand, rather than needing (0) on demand. Much like reversing the rear mech release for more DH type bikes, (Low normal) where the faster release (Dropping of chain / un-tensioning of spring) gives you a longer bigger gear when you need a burst of speed, as opposed to giving you an easier gear if you need to suddenly tackel a climb (unlikely in DH).
It makes sense where the most critical gear change is to find an easier gear to tackle unexpected obstacles at slow speed, thus its more AM/XC focused, as it should be really.
Hope this makes sense.
The rp23 was a little bit better, but after rinding just a half day in DH conditions in an enduro it went in the opposite direction. It did not respond at all, was hard like a brick. Even lowering the air preasure did not help.
Nothing helped, was changed on warranty & sold it.
They were both non-kashima versions.
unfortunately there aren't really any tuning options for the DHX Air, I speak from experience having owned 3 on different frames
its a fundamentally flawed shock based on old technology and even Fox's distributors have admitted to me that for trail / all-mtn the RP series is the go to choice, with the DHX coil and RC coil shocks the go to choice for FR and DH, with the DHX Air languishing in the hinterland///
When I realised, I started cleaning my stanchions (with something like alcohol or brake cleaner) and applying a tiny bit of suspension grease (like slick honey), in between every ride. Suspension feels 95% as smooth as right after a complete rebuild, all the time.
I wanted to ask from yaals opinion on this---> i have 2009 fox dhx 5.0 im a newbie and im trying to get the correct sag for me.....its eye 2 eye is 9.50" but after i put my riding gears and i get on the bike my eye 2 eye goes down to 8.25" is that too much sag(1.25") for a casual rider like me? and or should i stiffen up the spring collar until my sag reduces to maybe 1"?
any help/advice would b awesome yaal!
tnx
E
NORCAL
All my suspension products are from Fox and I am a repeat customer. In this test I would be interested to know how the RP23 compares to the more expensive Fox air shocks.I would be interested to have a testers opinion on whether one for example with an Intense Tracer 2 with an RP23 should consider upgrading to a DHXair or not. How far would I be pushing it if I asked to compare it with a coil shock from Fox or a CCDB for the Saracen and not compare it with a downhill rig as in the test? It is my opinion that this shock is just a very good, in terms of quality and reliability, option to include in a bike and be able to offer it as economically as possible, good enough , "enough" being the key word here, for many situations but is it enough to offer us the joy that we seek with an all mountain rig? I believe not and shocks like that should be acceptable in bikes up to 100mm travel.
Excellent review, Matt!
I am curious how it would compare to a back-to-back with a DHX Air, however I can't run direct comparisons to a coil shock on that bike as the coil doesn't clear the linkage (I tried to fit a DHX 5 on there). It also gets much more complicated logistically to run that kind of test. I was guiding for most of the time I was testing the shock and that means I wouldn't have time to switch shocks between runs, or do back-to-back runs on the one track to make a proper comparison. As for this shock only being suitable for 100mm bikes? That's just nonsense.
Panzer, cheers. If anybody at Intense is reading this and fancies letting me abuse a Tracer II, I'd more than happy to let you guys know how the shocks get on! But, to get the best information, as I say in the piece, have a chat to the guys at Fox.
Personal opinion mind.
Kashima seems to do wonders too, I wonder when someone will come up with and equivalent to it.
When talking about Vivid RC2 I would say it definitely misses the propedal however, performs better than the DHX 5.0 (only comparison I can make). The Monarch certainly beats the 5.0 by far. My personal experience with the 5.0 in 2009 was not bad but I heard many stories about it blowing through the travel. Maybe it Fox has looked into it and improved its 2012 model. I've never tried Cane Creeks double barrel, I need to in the near future though.
By the way @tabletop84, what is your impression, why would you say the Vivid and CCDB are better than Fox shocks? Just curious, since you didn't give a reason.
But that's because of my bad experiences.
I have RP23s on two bikes, one PUSHed and one not, both already with boost valve. Difference is big - I won't say huge, but definitely noticable. Pushed one behaves in Max pro-pedal position like closed on uphills and like "open" on downhills. It opens up on every bigger hit easily. I don't use the open positon at all as the "closed" is so plush when needed. On the contrary unPUSHed shock is firm and a bit too harsh in closed position, and way too bobby while open (for XC use). PUSH it baby, and buy gold spray if you want to pimp it up...