Initial Thoughts: X Fusion RV1 -ing the EG

RV1 - dual crown
EG -  6" frame

Can already hear the crescendo of "Noooo" in the background.... Yup, generally it wouldn't be wise to push frames this way but it this wouldn't be the first dual crowned EG.

Have to say it's totally unnecessary, having absolutely no complain with the Vengeance Coil so far. But its just tempting to see how it feels like (and maybe just maybe... to "justify a FR/DH frame in the months to come ;).

Probably not very useful for most folks but let's see what can be be discovered from X Fusion latest offering anyway.


Before launching into what's done for those that might be entertaining similar thoughts...

.... Most of the features have been covered to death by the various usual bike sites- Pinkbike, BikeRadar, Bikerumor and Vitalmtb and more..

Spec weight on official website is  2767gm which probably does not include the carbon lower guards and the axle. Bikeradar stated the claim weight by XFusion was 2902gm.

Mine came in @ 2988gm all in, uncut steerer. Minus the guard, bolts and axle its still 2833gm.

155 gm diff!  Spec weight doesn't include steerer? ... well whatever, still pretty impressive grammage for a coil dual crown.

Clockwise from top left: All in weight, carbon guards and screws
Weight with guards and axle. axle weight.

Stealth matte black with what look like an anodized finish. To be honest I just wasn't sure cause Mg anodizing certainly isn't common with parts used in the mtb industry. With the guards removed that should appeal to the no-frill camp.. But having been bashed on their earlier years graphics (remember the eagle on the gen one Vengeance?) I have to say their graphics department has come a long way. As much as an anti-carbon person.. I'm keeping those guards on if only just for the design on it.

Before & After: First thing first... getting all those numbers down

The RV1 is internally adjustable to 180 but if there is one XF fork that ran counter to the trend of  their lineup axle-to-crown measurement- the RV1 seemed to be on the short side (all others in my experience-- Vengeance, Slant and Velvet had been longer). Well of course A-C in DH fork can be adjusted somewhat by moving the lower crown, it came in with factory installed setting of 205mm, just 5mm over the full travel length.

Double method measurement for better A-C accuracy.
Vengeance 565mm. RV1 ~571mm (mfr spec @ 569mm). Diff = 6mm
Line of sight + caliper method = 6.5mm difference

I did wished for one little thing on the Vengeance Coil 170mm, just a smite more in the A-C department, with a corresponding increase in the bb center to front axle while trying to make various arm and torso reach remain the say,  or at least can be adjusted to be. Everything looks just "perfect" at least on paper without having to change travel or move the lower crown for now.

Old measurements on the Veng:
Bar Height,
BBH with Minion DHf 2.5,
Crown-stem,
BB center-front axle

Have no way to really get the HTA and STA changes accurately beyond those crude apps on the phone... so gonna leave it at that for now. Certainly the front was raking out a little more during rides. The change is perceptible each time with each A-C increment from 36Talas - Veng Air - Veng Coil and now finally the RV1.

While there is always the second lighter EG for general trailing purposes but if there are things that can be pedaled on this tank wherever its taken to... I'll rather crank it out than to push, hence the tolerance and range of the few crucial measurements are rather tight for me as to how much I can slack it out

Can only measure so much before taking the bike out and actually ride it...

Yup, made it on all the dirty loose rocky switch back ups on pedal power..

Still have to test out the various dials and coordinate with the rear shock. All I can say now is the compression and rebound damping circuits are very different from any single crown fork I ever had.
To keep the front end from running out away from me.. rebound speed is a lot slower than norm...

Screwed up shoulder says no airtime for now but the speed drops taken is a lot more confidence inspiring on this fork.

Since it was still ok getting up-- just playing with the idea of slacking it out with an angleset another 1-2 deg so as not to slacken the STA and increase bar height...

Just for comparison

And the overall weight now? Its just a number.........

More to come later.

26 Oct
After today, I'm really contemplating an angleset on this setup, if only I can be sure to keep the RV1  the EG for a while... cos the climbing was really no different from the Vengeance Coil 170mm.. pretty much is pedal power all the way on the ups. Restrictive movement of dual crown takes a little getting used to but any would have been the same.

The one thing to keep the front and rear boinks in sync was to down my rear spring now to a 350lb instead of the usual 400 that has been on the bike for the last 3 years. Still the rear is tying hard to catch up to the front that simply butter out entire root stretches and on rock gardens. But I guess a poor man DH rig like this will have to live with a little less than optimal performance. Still trying to find a sweet spot in the rebound but have a feeling I'll have to dial in the rebound on different trails more often now...