Fox 34 SL Review – Yes, it’s as Good As They Say

The new Fox 34 SL is what happens when you combine three generations of individual upgrades of a great suspension fork with even more advanced designs.

No, it’s not lighter than the 34 Step Cast model it replaces, but it’s within a few grams, and the performance is much better. Which is saying something, because I really liked the 34 SC. A lot. But the new 34 SL is better. Here’s why…

Corners like a Champ

Fox went back to a standard “full width” chassis for the SL for two reasons. First, it allows bigger tires than the narrower step-case design, and that’s a welcome improvement.

Second, it’s torsionally stiffer, which translates into more confident cornering. Yeah, the pros take corners a lot faster than me, so it’s good for them. But I’m a lot heavier than them, so it’s also able to handle diving into a tight corner…

…and keep me coming out the other side, on my line, and pointing where I wanna go. For a lightweight XC fork, that’s great, and it’s let Fox push travel up to 130mm for folks building lightweight trail (aka “downcountry”) bikes, too.

I’ve been riding mine at 130mm on the new Ari Signal Peak, which is designed around 120mm forks, and it’s been awesome. So much so that I’m delaying my visit to Fox’s NC service center for the 120mm air spring swap because, well, 130mm is awesome. But I’ll get there, and then I’ll add a bit to this review later.

Climbs like a Lightweight

…and that’s a compliment. The fork feels like a lightweight XC race fork, but not noodly.

That’s not to say their 32 SC fork is noodly, I don’t know. I haven’t ridden it. Cory has, and he liked it fine. But it tops out at 100mm travel, and most racers at every level are on 120mm forks these days.

You can even get it with a remote lockout, if that’s your jam. It’s not mine, and I rarely take the fork out of full-open mode. Maybe on long road transfers to the trailhead, but not always.

I went with the Grip SL damper because it’s lighter. Like, 100g (or more) lighter than the GRIP X2 with all the adjustments.

I like lots of adjustments, but for shorter travel forks, I prioritize weight savings, and I haven’t missed the extra high-speed adjustments here at all.

The fork still offers plenty of support for seated hammering. Yeah, it bobs a bit when standing and hammering (or just using a lot of body english), but that’s a tradeoff I’m personally OK with to have an uncluttered cockpit or not have to reach down and fiddle while I’m riding.

Instead, I tune my fork with the air spring volume and pressure, and even here I’m running it extremely soft.

How soft?

Fox’s chart suggests about 95 psi for my riding weight.

I’m at 85 psi.

I also added a volume spacer. More on that in a minute, but just know this: You can run this fork really soft and it will feel amazing and it will still have plenty of support for most of what you’re going to do on a short travel bike, because…

It also Descends Really Well.

I put the video overview at the bottom of this review if you wanna see moving pictures, but here’s the deal:

At the launch in Arizona, I ran a little more air pressure (about the recommended amount) to account for the bigger drops and harder hits on the descents. This was without any volume spacers, so the extra air volume kept it more linear, and the extra air pressure kept it riding mid-stroke where it should be without bottoming out on big hits.

Back home (not pictured), I added the volume spacer (and I might add another) so the fork would ramp up faster at the end of its stroke to prevent bottom out, which is what’s letting me run the ridiculously low air pressure.

None of that is exclusive to the new Fox 34 SL. You can tune almost any fork’s air spring to achieve similar results.

Where this one really shines is just how much smoother it is, which lets those subtle tweaks to the air spring really shine. This is hands down the smoothest short travel, air-sprung fork I’ve ever ridden, That, too, is saying a lot, because I really like the recent SID fork, too (full disclosure, I have not ridden the absolute latest model, but have ridden most of the iterations over the past five years).

If you like a fork to soak up all the little stuff but still need it to handle big hits, give the new Fox forks a good, hard look. The new 36 and 36 SL take the smoothness efforts even more seriously, with features that the 34 SL doesn’t get.

Those are probably great for bigger bikes (I also haven’t ridden those yet). But if you need a 110-130mm fork for your race bike, I’d recommend the 2026 Fox 34 SL. It’s the closest yet to making trail chatter disappear, even mitigating those late-season, teeth-rattling braking bumps, which should be the ultimate litmus test for any suspension fork.