Is a $1000 Fox 34 GRIP2 really worth it? High Low Ep 3

$1,100 top-of-the-line forks versus a $400 used Bomber Z2. Is the value of the expensive fork really worth $700? And today, we're getting rid of these stock coil forks, one of the biggest upgrades for this mountain bike. The high bike gets an $1,100 Fox 34, and the low bike is getting a used $400 Marzocchi Bomber Z2. As with every fork upgrade, it starts by removing the stock fork and seeing if the new fork can fit. This may be one of the cheapest full suspension bikes on the market, but it has a tapered head tube, meaning that I can install almost anything I want. Now that the forks are off, it looks like there's an unsealed headset, and the Crown Race is only for straight sear tubes. So I picked up a RISC headset for $15 off Amazon, and it comes with a Crown Race that can be used on either straight or tapered sear tubes. Gee, I wonder why a $15 headset is named RISC. I splurged a little and picked up a top-of-the-line Kris King headset for like $170. Dude, are you kidding? That's 10 times the cost of mine. Yeah man, thanks for funding this. Having the right tools for removing the old cups and installing the new ones makes this job a walk in the park. And now we're at the forks, and the reason why this matchup will be so close is because Fox owns and produces Marzocchi, and they made the Bomber Z2 based off the Fox 34, but as a more affordable package. They're very similar and even have the exact same air spring and 34 millimeter stanchions. Yeah, but my fork has gold stanchions. Does Kashima Coating really make that much of a difference? It's more than just gold. It's fused with a lubricating compound, so the surface is way smoother. I don't know, that sounds like marketing to me. Plus, my Fox 34 has a way better damper, which is really what you're paying for. I can adjust low and high speed compression, and low and high speed rebound. Well, my Bomber Z2 is made for a simple guy like me with its rail damper. It has a compression knob, which I'll never touch, and one rebound knob. Also, the Bomber is 200 grams heavier because of the different alloys used. Cutting the forks to the right length can be pretty risky, but remember, measure twice, cut once. And using a high quality pipe cutter makes quick work of this. The forks are on, but that was the easy part. The biggest dilemma is that the stock front wheel is not compatible with these new forks. And there's no adapters or anything that could make this work. So instead of buying a whole new front wheel, I picked up these Koozer Boost Hubs for $58 a piece. So I'm just going to unspoke the stock hub and just lace up this new one using the same spokes and nipples. Lacing wheels? I have a guy for that. You have fun. Lacing up wheels can seem like one of the hardest things to do, but it's all about following a pattern. And I just got this Park Tool Truing Stand for Christmas, and this is my very first time using it. And wow, it sure does make it easy to get the rim pretty straight. Both bikes are complete, and I gotta say, the Marzocchi looks amazing on this bike. Definitely a five out of five. The Fox Forks with the Kashima coating are definitely a status symbol, but they come in second on looks on this one. But looks can only get you so far. I'm curious how they feel on the trail. To make things equal, they're both set to the same air pressure, sag, and rebound. So let's find out if the Fox Fork is really worth the extra $700, or will the Bomber perform just as good? And go! Right away on the high bike, I can tell the Fox 34 is just amazing. It's really soft at the top of the stroke, meaning that it soaks up all the small bumps. Plus it really shined while jumping and was really supportive up the lip and on the big hits. And go! On the low bike, the Bomber was a huge improvement, but I didn't seem to have the rebound set right. I felt downright sketchy at times. I even felt like I got bucked on some jumps. On the first downhill segment, I noticed that my budget headset was coming loose and making horrible noises. I even had to get off and tighten it. My headset is loose. I was flying on that downhill segment. I could hit any bump and take pretty much any line. At the end of the segment, I was two seconds faster than the low bike. I really loved the feel of this fork and across the line, I clocked a time of 8 minutes and 38 seconds. After several sketchy moments, I made it to the line in 9 minutes 25 seconds. But here's where it gets interesting. Without me getting off and tightening my headset, my time is 8 minutes and 23 seconds, 15 seconds faster than the high bike. You stop, that doesn't even count. Plus, you went full tryhard on the climbs. I'm shocked as well. The low bike was faster, but it didn't even feel that great. The crazy thing is I had already spent time tuning this fork on my D7 before the video and it was feeling pretty good. So which fork would I buy after testing both? Comfort and overall feel on the bike is super important. And with the Fox fork, I couldn't stop smiling with how smooth it felt. And I know I'm the budget mountain bike guy and everything, but this time, I'm siding with the high bike. I knew you'd come over to my side. What is that? How much did you spend?