Upending expectations.

The Fox Podium is no longer new news. It’s been out for a few months, and the initial hype has hopefully died down a little. But that doesn’t negate the fact that it’s a very different looking, very different riding fork that weighs, and costs, a lot more than other mainstream options. I’ve spent a little over two months riding the Podium on a couple of bikes, in a range of conditions, so it’s time to weigh in.

First though: the 30,000-foot view. The Podium feels like a bit of an audacious swing—a halo product that exists next to, not in place of, Fox’s existing fork line. It’s really heavy, it’s really expensive, and it does genuinely deliver a noticeably different ride experience. But that experience doesn’t come without its foibles and, big picture, I’m much more interested in what the Podium portends for the future of heavy-hitting single-crown forks than I am in how it performs in a vacuum.

Fox Podium Factory Details

• Travel: 150, 160, or 170 mm (170 mm tested)
• Damper GRIP X2 
• Models Available: Performance Elite, Factory
• Weight (170 mm) : 2,698 g
• MSRP: $1,999

Chassis, Damper, and Spring

A quick refresher on why inverted forks should be “better” than their rightside-up counterparts: Inverted forks allow for a better sprung to un-sprung mass ratio, they constantly lubricate the bushings instead of just splashing oil on them occasionally, and they can allow the front wheel to track off-camber sections of trail more precisely thanks to less torsional rigidity. Also, most importantly, dirt bikes use inverted forks and dirt bikes are cool.

So, why are inverted forks the outliers rather than the norm? Well, to make them torsionally stiff enough, they usually need to be pretty heavy, otherwise your front wheel has a tendency to not go in the direction you’re pushing your bars. I’ve spent time on Manitou’s Dorado, and have seen firsthand both the benefits and downsides of an inverted chassis, albeit in a downhill-focused dual-crown package. So what’s Fox doing differently?

The Podium uses a custom, steel 20-millimeter front axle, as opposed to the 15-millimeter alloy option found on other similar forks. Fox says that this allows it to have optimal torsional stiffness while also being stiffer fore and aft than normal forks. It also has better bushing overlap than any other fork in Fox’s line. The Podium uses Fox’s new GlideCore air spring which allows the spring to flex with the chassis instead of binding up under load. It also uses a specially tuned version of the GRIP X2 damper which comes with more compression damping and less rebound damping than normal to compensate for the inverted chassis’ weight distribution.

Fox Podium Setup

I started off with the Podium installed on my Specialized Stumpjumper 15, and set it up at the factory recommendation for my 200-pound weight of two volume spacers, 102 PSI, 6 clicks of HSC and 8 clicks of LSC. I went two clicks slower than recommended on both high and low speed rebound (three and one click from closed respectively). I typically go a few clicks slower than recommended on rebound for all suspension products and I wish I wasn’t quite so close to the edge of Fox’s range on this fork.

That setup worked well out of the gate, but I felt like the Podium was riding higher in its travel than it needed to be, so I dropped to 96 PSI. That actually made a very large difference in ride quality and unlocked a much more supple, impressive feeling sensation that I’ll get into later. I ended up running 96 PSI on the Stumpjumper and bumping back up to 102 when I put the Podium on the Specialized Levo 4. 

Riding the Fox Podium

For the first few rides on the Stumpjumper, I felt like the Podium was both very tall, and very heavy. I’ve ridden the Stumpjumper with a few 170-millimeter forks, but none with as long of an axle-to-crown measurement as the Podium, and none that weighed anywhere close to this much. The combination made the bike feel a little ungainly and hard to maneuver.

But, once I dropped the air pressure, the fork rode a touch lower in its travel and things really started to click. The Podium feels incredibly supple and delivers a whole bunch of front wheel traction. I rode it back to back with a brand new RockShox Zeb with the same front tire and it was obvious how much easier the Podium moved into its travel and conformed to terrain. That was especially apparent during hard braking—the Podium maintains traction better and feels less skittery when I’m loading the front and whaling on the brakes than any single crown fork I’ve used. Think long rock rolls with weird turns and undulations, and chunky runouts where you're deep in the travel holding on to the bike and hoping that it holds onto the ground.

That said, when you’re not in those situations, the difference is much less pronounced. When you’re not riding hard, on hard trails, the Podium feels like any other good, (but markedly heavy) fork. In some ways the Podium feels like it’s best matched to something like the Trek Slash. The Slash has the best rear end traction of any bike I’ve ridden, and the Podium has the best front end traction. I found that the Slash’s rear suspension out-performed every fork I tried on it until I bolted up a Boxxer and, similarly, the Podium has out-performed the rear end of every bike I’ve ridden with it. 

All that to say, the Podium performed well for me on man-powered bikes, but when I put it on an e-bike it made much more sense. On the Levo 4, the added front end weight was much less noticeable and it felt like the added system weight of the e-bike widened that performance window of “riding hard on hard trails” where the Podium felt good. It felt like an obvious upgrade everywhere, not just in isolated incidents. I’ve found that I have more of a tendency to push the front wheel in steep runouts and more committing moves on the e-bike, and the Podium’s tendency to hold traction in these situations was very welcome. The Podium looks like a moto fork and, as it turns out, it really shines on motorized vehicles too.

The sticking point here is that traction isn’t the end-all, be-all of front fork performance. Other forks, like Fox’s 38 deliver plenty of traction for most riders while also being cheaper, lighter, and easier to live with. We’ve seen this play out in real time with some Fox-sponsored athletes still reaching for the 38 over the Podium. Having ridden this fork, I’m completely unsurprised. There are plenty of situations where the lower chassis weight and slightly more direct feel of the 38 make sense over the Podium. This is an option, not a replacement, and this option has a bunch of little details that make it a little different to live with than a typical enduro fork. So let’s get into those details.

Living with the Fox Podium

The Podium has, on paper, three main sticking points (price, weight, axle standard), and a couple smaller secondary ones.

Let’s talk about the little things first: If you want a fender on your Podium, you’ll have to wait. Fox doesn’t have one available yet, and once they do it will mount at the bottom of the steer tube, like a moto fork. That aesthetic is ... polarizing.

Routing the brake line takes a little more work than with other forks, and you need to be sure to line up the guides with Fox’s markings. On the plus side, I haven’t noticed any extra rattle with those guides.

The expensive, fragile parts of your fork, the stanchions, are closer to the ground on the Podium, but the included fenders have done a great job of protecting them so far.

However, more importantly, the potentially oil-spewing part of the fork, the air valve, is right next to your brake rotor. Fox says to always adjust air pressure with the bike upside down to avoid contamination. I’ve also heard rumors that it’s fairly easy to just swap the air and damper sides of the fork so that you’ve got rebound knobs next to your rotor instead.

So far, at least, my experience with those smaller details is that they’re “different” from what I’m used to, and a little inconvenient but not deal breakers at all.

However, the three other big differences probably will turn off some folks.

First, the Podium is heavy as all hell. It’s more than 300 grams heavier than a Fox 38, that’s ⅔ of a pound on the front of your bike where it’s very noticeable. It’s also expensive, at $1,999 it’s $751 dollars more expensive than a full-price 38. Finally, it uses a 20-millimeter front hub. Yes, you can adapt some existing hubs with affordable end caps, and if you have a modern downhill bike, you can probably swap your front wheel over, but that begs the question: Why not just run a dual crown fork?

The Dual Crown Conundrum

The Podium comes in at a very similar weight and price to dual crown forks like the RockShox Boxxer and Fox 40. And it uses the same axle standard while only delivering up to 170 millimeters of travel. So why not just grab one of those forks? That’s what I found myself asking on a ride with a buddy who runs a 180-millimeter Boxxer on his enduro bike.

I think there are two reason—one valid, the other not so much—to get a Podium over a Boxxer or 40, and neither are performance based. So let’s touch on that performance: I haven’t yet ridden the new 40, but the Boxxer feels quite similar to the Podium in terms of traction and control. I’m not convinced that in a blind test I could feel a difference. They both have a very controlled, very safe ride quality that makes going fast in scary terrain feel great.

But, I think the Podium’s existence is indicative of the fact that Fox thinks that riders are more likely to accept an inverted fork for enduro riding over a dual crown one. That’s, in my opinion, quite a shame. I’ve spent time on a few different pedal-able bikes with dual crowns, and I absolutely love the combination. Yeah, it’s heavier, and you have a slightly decreased turning radius and you look silly if you’re in a half-shell helmet, but the downhill performance is worth it. But I don’t make the rules. Pedaling a dual crown bike around isn’t cool, so here we are.

The second argument is that most enduro bikes aren’t rated for a dual crown fork. That’s a much more valid issue. Many frames aren’t tested for either the different forces on the head tube, or the potential impact forces from the fork bumpers. Putting a dual crown fork on a bike like this voids your warranty, whereas just installing a Podium doesn’t and gets you a similar performance upgrade.

Who is the Podium for?

Where does all that leave us? Well, for the budget conscious, you can easily grab a lightly used Fox 40 and a 38 for the price of the Podium, so you’re obviously not the target audience. Hell, for another $500 you can buy a brand new Specialized Status 170 with a 38! And, similarly, I don’t think that anyone who’s currently running a dual crown is going to swap it out for the Podium. The performance upgrades just aren’t big enough to justify it.

However, there are plenty of folks who are happy to spend money on small performance upgrades, and the Podium definitely delivers to that target audience. Similarly, I think it makes a ton of sense on higher-end complete builds, especially for e-bikes. If money was no object and I had the option between a Factory 38 or a Podium on an e-bike I’d choose the Podium every time.

Big picture though, I think the most important thing the Podium does is move the mainstream Overton Window for acceptable single crown fork performance. Maybe it’s too heavy and too expensive for most folks, but I think the ride experience has set a mark that the industry as a whole will stretch to reach.

And, honestly, that’s what I’m most excited about. Yes, this Podium rides well. But more importantly, I think a bunch of cheaper, lighter forks are going to ride like this in a few years, and that’s pretty cool.

For Now

Fox’s new Podium fork is eye-catching and exciting, and its performance and price tag match that well. But the most interesting thing about this fork isn’t how it rides or how it looks, it’s what it (hopefully) portends for the future. And that future is exciting!

Learn more: Fox Factory