Trying to summarise my research.

FOX FORKS SAY NOT FOR TANDEMS:
"FOX bicycle products are not designed or manufactured for use on any motorized bicycle, motorized cycle or motorized vehicle or for use on any vehicles carrying more than one operator/rider. Any such use constitutes misuse, which may result in serious injury, death or property damage, and will void all FOX warranties."

THIS WHAT I AM THINKING OF:
from MTBR Tandem forum here

07-12-2010

#13

drdoak
mtbr member

Reputation:

Join Date
Feb 2005
Posts
76

1. 2010 Fox TALAS 36 RC2 (FIT cartridge) on a Ventana ECDM

- Single crown, 1.5" steerer tube (straight not tapered)
- No lock-out. Not needed for seated climbing, but very hard to coordinate standing climbs because of the fork bob. We do stand individually and find that acceptable.
- 20mm thru-axle (love it)
- 203mm disc rotors, Avid BB7 brakes

2. 270 lb team weight + 50ish lb bike (never weighed the bike)

3. Aggressive XC, rocky singletrack, desert trails, fireroads. Just about anything without big drops and tight switchbacks (or we'll walk those). Usually long climbs with long descents (average ride has 5000'+ ascent/descent). I'll ride more technical trails on the tandem than I would on my single because of the tandem's stability.

4. I absolutely love this fork. Travel is adjustable with the turn of a knob between 4", 5", and 6" (100-130-160mm). For almost all riding we'll use the 5" travel. If it's a long smooth climb I'll drop it to 4". If it's really nasty I'll up it to 6" but handling can get a little sluggish like that. Very stiff, confidence-inspiring fork because of the 36mm stanchions, 20mm thru-axle, and 1.5" steerer tube. Maintenance heavy, though, need to service dust wipers every 15-30 hours and change oil every 100 hours (6 months for us).

Sometimes I'll start to think this fork isn't doing much because I never feel it move. Then I'll ride my single bike (Reba 29er) and it's a world of difference. The TALAS just soaks up everything. Deep ruts, rocks, roots... we just float over them. Very happy with this purchase.

Thanks for this topic. This is our first suspension tandem so I have no other forks to compare.


The same guy commented at post #25:

We run a 36 TALAS, 100mm = quicker handling, not as plush, 130mm = happy medium, 160mm = sluggish steering, but float over everything. Other than steering, I don't notice any difference in overall bike geometry, compared to a single bike where an adjustable fork can totally change how the bike feels.

The Fox Talus 36 fork seems to have an axle centre to steerer Tube length of 543.3 in the 160mm travel. See drawing here. More info about the 2014 Fox 34 here

This is the Fox Hub I am thinking about:


The Ventana site lists the fork length as only 493 so a Talus fork at 543 is going to raise the front and change the geometry.