



X-Fusion Prototype Details

X-Fusion's stock has been on the rise ever since riders began to catch on to the impressive performance of their HLR damper-equipped Vengeance fork. Admittedly the underdogs in the suspension biz, the Vengeance equalled, if not surpassed, the performance of more expensive offerings from the competition. While the Vengeance's travel has been upped to 170mm, X-Fusion has also been working on another project that slots in the same realm: a 160mm travel inverted fork for the aggressive all-mountain crowd.



Anyone who has ridden an inverted single crown (remember the single crown Shiver or Dorado?) knows while there are advantages to the upside down layout, torsional flex is simply too much of an issue to make the chassis a contender. Having said that, talking to X-Fusion at Eurobike gave us the impression that they are quite confident in the prototype's stiffness, with them also admitting that there is some internal trickery going on within the tubes that greatly ups the fork's rigidity, although they wouldn't go into detail.



Time to speculate? Of course. The fork employs a standard sized 20mm thru-axle, as well as somewhat average diameter stanchion tubes, and we're betting that it also uses a typical dual

bushing layout inside of each leg. The answer, we think, lies in an interlocking shape on the upper portion of the stanchions (hidden from view within the upper tubes) that mates with the upper tubes. This arrangement would greatly reducing twisting under torsional loads, allowing X-Fusion to build an inverted fork that approaches the torsional stiffness of their burly Vengeance, but without the added weight that would usually be required to meet that goal. X-Fusion was mum on the topic, and we're simply making an educated guess, but this design would be one of the few ways of building a 4.3lb (claimed) inverted, single crown fork that is stiff enough for aggressive riders. There would obviously be challenges when it comes to having the shaped sections slide smoothly within the upper tubes, but we're betting that X-Fusion has come up with a remedy for this.

• Single crown, inverted design• Travel: 160mm• Air sprung• Uses twin-tube HLR damper from Vengeance• External adjustments: rebound, separate high and low compression, air pressure• Weight: 4.3lbs (• Availability: TBA• MSRP: TBAWhy would X-Fusion, among others, pursue an inverted design, especially when it presents such a design challenge? It boils down to less unsprung weight () that allows the suspension to react quicker to impacts, with another plus being that the fork's lubrication oil is likely to spend more time around the seals and bushings, thereby keeping the fork running smooth.The prototype fork is fitted with X-Fusion's HLR damper, the very same unit that has proven itself within their high-end Vengeance offerings. External adjustments include separate dials for both high and low-speed compression, as well as a rebound adjuster at the top of the fork. The twin-tube HLR damper has shown to be among the best out there, leaving X-Fusion with the task of designing a new inverted chassis and dropping the HLR unit into it. When will we see a production version of the inverted fork? Will it actually make production? We don't have the answers to either of those questions, but we're crossing our fingers that we get to try it on the trail at some point soon.