Fox Float X2: anyone have opinions?

jcmonty

Well-known member
Sep 5, 2018
472
406
California
I have the X2 on my '20 Levo with the 55 stroke.

140lb, aggressive rider that likes to plow into everything and jump anything, but jumps on our trails arent much of anything larger than your typical man made jumps made out of fallen trees/logs.

230psi, 10 clicks of HSC, and I still blow through the stroke incredibly easy. There is ZERO mid-stroke support. The shock has 3 volume spacers in it now, and I will add one more since it only accepts 4, but I will likely need to send the shock in for a re-shim. I need to add more air, but my Fox shock pump is very granular above 230psi and trying to do small increments is very difficult.

Any person above my body weight and is semi-aggressive I assume would have a difficult time using the stock tune from the shelf shocks.
Have you tried LSC? That usually is where I would look for "more support" from the damper in cornering, pumping, g-outs, etc .

It could also be that your X2 has a different tune from factory. When I had an X2 on my old acoustic bike, my local suspension shop did some shim tuning to make better use of my travel (was a progressive bike, and I wanted less harshness).
 

PumpKing

New Member
Dec 3, 2019
12
9
CA
Have you tried LSC? That usually is where I would look for "more support" from the damper in cornering, pumping, g-outs, etc .

It could also be that your X2 has a different tune from factory. When I had an X2 on my old acoustic bike, my local suspension shop did some shim tuning to make better use of my travel (was a progressive bike, and I wanted less harshness).


You're right, the shelf tune on my shock I purchased is likely not the right shim stack for the leverage ratio of our bikes. I talked to FOX about it and they asked I add the last volume spacer into the shock to see what the result is on the trails before we discussed sending it in for a new compression tune.

5 clicks LSC. Through slamming corners and g-outs, I'm probably using 75% of my stroke, and any jumps or dropsresults in bottoming out. I've been slowly adding 1-2 clicks at a time of HSC for the bigger hits because it's a fair bit easier doing that than trying to accurately add 10psi of air pressure into my shock. I can only ride once a week so it's been a work in progress trying to get as much data as I can before I pull it out to reshim.

Just wanted to share my experience with a 'shelf' unit. YMMV if you buy a shock with a different compression tune in it.
 

escrs

Well-known member
Jun 26, 2019
288
262
UK
Im 227lb running an fox x2, 260psi, 3 volume spacers, i wont go into rebound and compression settings

I bought mine from TFTuned as they tune the shock to the bike you are buying it for, plus for your weight and riding style, my tune is spot on and Ive not needed to change anything
 

yokev

New Member
Jan 26, 2020
39
33
US
I have the X2 on my '20 Levo with the 55 stroke.

140lb, aggressive rider that likes to plow into everything and jump anything, but jumps on our trails arent much of anything larger than your typical man made jumps made out of fallen trees/logs.

230psi, 10 clicks of HSC, and I still blow through the stroke incredibly easy. There is ZERO mid-stroke support. The shock has 3 volume spacers in it now, and I will add one more since it only accepts 4, but I will likely need to send the shock in for a re-shim. I need to add more air, but my Fox shock pump is very granular above 230psi and trying to do small increments is very difficult.

Any person above my body weight and is semi-aggressive I assume would have a difficult time using the stock tune from the shelf shocks.
WoW!
You're running about NINETY PSI more than you should. The rule of thumb with air shocks(Fox) is around 1psi per pound of body weight. In practice I've never hit that number exactly, but it's usually within 10%(I'm running 260psi on 240lbs body weight...). What is your sag number? With that much pressure, you shouldn't be getting any sag at all.
I've only ridden on the X2 on my bike a couple times, but I too am blowing through its stroke. I stole it off my Pivot Firebird 29 however(blew the shaft outta the stock Marz on my Kenevo), so it's valved for a bike over 20lbs less, and for a leverage curve that's totally different than the Kenevo. Fox makes valving specifically for e-bikes(much stiffer obviously), so optimally you'd order one direct from them, telling them what bike it's for. The leverage curve on these things will work with air. IMO as long as you order an X2 direct from Fox so they can give you the right valving for the [MUCH] heavier bike, you should be able to get an X2 to work fine on these things. Obviously provided you're not looking for a coil-like ride
 

yokev

New Member
Jan 26, 2020
39
33
US
Hallo x2-users,
which custom-ID have your X2 ? I got one with DT6H. Will it fit?
2019, FLOAT X2, F-S, K, 2pos-Adj, Ibis, Ripmo, 210, 55, 0.3 Spacer x1, CM, Neutral, Gray Logo
210x55
 
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yokev

New Member
Jan 26, 2020
39
33
US
Yes i know, that's the data of my X2. But what settings do you have?
Your post asked if it 'would fit', but you didn't say what, so I translated the dimensions
I can tell you that size won't fit a Kenevo, and you have the medium compression tune-most common.
The X2 I was using I pulled off my Pivot Firebird 29. Pivot does their own valving, so where the ID code is usually on the shock, they simply place a 'Pivot' sticker.
I was just trying out that shock and ordered a DHX2. Ironically the shock didn't show up after 2 weeks, so my only option was a(nother) X2. Since I bought it aftermarket, it came with the medium compression tune as well. Fox does the one spacer, medium compression tune(prolly medium rebound as well, but for some reason they don't list that anymore on their site) on the vast majority of their non-oem shocks.
The 'F-S' means 'Factory Series', and the 'K' means 'Kashima'
 
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ah1

Member
Jul 11, 2020
115
59
Santa Cruz CA
For the people that put a coil shock on the Levo - I'm planning to replace the DPS with a Fox DHX2. Do I need a different coil weight due to it being an ebike? Also if you're a 190lb rider please LMK what coil weight you've used.
Thanks!
 

Dfriz

Well-known member
Mar 16, 2018
190
190
USA
I just put the X2 Float on my 2019 Kenevo(y)

20200803_154419.jpg
 

Gabypb

Member
Nov 8, 2019
38
19
Ecuador
I have the X2 on my '20 Levo with the 55 stroke.

140lb, aggressive rider that likes to plow into everything and jump anything, but jumps on our trails arent much of anything larger than your typical man made jumps made out of fallen trees/logs.

230psi, 10 clicks of HSC, and I still blow through the stroke incredibly easy. There is ZERO mid-stroke support. The shock has 3 volume spacers in it now, and I will add one more since it only accepts 4, but I will likely need to send the shock in for a re-shim. I need to add more air, but my Fox shock pump is very granular above 230psi and trying to do small increments is very difficult.

Any person above my body weight and is semi-aggressive I assume would have a difficult time using the stock tune from the shelf shocks.
Hi, I'm installing an X2 on my '19 Levo, did you get a mounting hardware? Can I use Rockshok's front spacers to install the X2?

Thanks for any help!
 

Spagnol

Member
May 2, 2019
93
49
Italy
I blew the fuck outta the stock marzocchi POS(bent the fricken shaft, and broke the clip) shock today, and couldn't find a DHx2 anywhere that could get it to me by tomorrow. I don't know what made me think of it, but I looked up the size of the X2 on my Firebird(Pivot) 29", and sumbitch the thing fit.
I've now cannibalized both ends of the Pivot for my Kenevo.
I'm gonna ride on the X2 tomorrow on some pretty rocky, bomb-holed, steep runs. I really prefer having traction on these runs cuz of all the rocks(a lot have broken away), so we'll see how well the X2 sticks the tire to the ground.
I'll report back View attachment 26338

Nice kenevo :) . Did you have any rubbing on the X2 against the frame on full compression ? How did you mount it ( Guess is same hardware for the X2 and the marzocchi you have originally ) ?
 

yokev

New Member
Jan 26, 2020
39
33
US
Nice kenevo :) . Did you have any rubbing on the X2 against the frame on full compression ? How did you mount it ( Guess is same hardware for the X2 and the marzocchi you have originally ) ?
Nope.
I'm guessing Specialized simply put the 2.5mm spacer/washer in there so both ends would be exactly 180mm. Not sure what the extra 2.5mm at the shock extrapolates to at the wheel, but I wouldn't think more than an extra 5mm.
In any event, the suspension compresses fully without anything even getting close to touching.
The X2 actually surprised me with how well it worked on the Kenevo. The X2 wakes the bike up, as it pretty much does away with that 'jumping a semi' feeling the bike has with the OE Marz coil
Fox was totally out of DHX2's when my Marz broke,(later learned it was because thats when they were moving on to the new 2021 that took forever to show up), but I was lucky that my Pivot's shock was the same size(230x65mm), so I could try its X2 on the Kenevo before I pulled the trigger on one.
Ironically I just got a 2021 DHX2(gonna swap it between bikes), so will have one X2 for sale if anyone is interested- I bought one of those Marz coil conversion kits, so I took off the 36 I bought for the bike and threw the(now coil) Marz back on. I like it, and wanted to throw a coil back on the rear to match the damping style-
The X2 I bought for the Kenevo is a factory, and is only a few months old. The other one is a Performance that came on the Pivot, and is a 2019. Bought the bike a little over a year ago, and Fox serviced the X2 at the beginning of this season. I only ride that bike at the local lift-served hills, so it's only got 7-8 rides on it since the service.
If I sell the performance, I'll prolly sell it for $350, and if I sell the factory, prolly $500
FWIW, that Performance X2 worked really well on the Pivot. Was easy to get set up, and from then on I didn't even think about it-what you want from your shock :)
 
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