FOX Racing Shox

40 Float Factory 27.5in Grip X2 Fork

What Our Gearhead® Experts Are Saying:

"The GRIP X2 damper upgrade is a meaningful step forward for the 40 platform. The bigger base valve and tripled valve count give you a tuning range wide enough to dial the fork for everything from fast groomed tracks to chunky, square-edged courses, and the Kashima stanchions keep things sliding freely even deep into long travel runs. Paired with the FLOAT EVOL air spring this fork has the tools to match any downhill course you put in front of it."

Downhill racing is an exercise in controlled aggression, and the fork that connects your hands to the ground is the single most important variable in that equation. The Fox Shox 40 Float Factory GRIP X2 Fork is the result of decades of World Cup development distilled into a production fork, built specifically for riders who treat gravity as a competitive advantage and need a front end that can keep pace no matter what the course throws at them.

The GRIP X2 damper represents the most significant internal update to the 40 platform in recent years. A larger diameter base valve reduces operating pressures throughout the stroke, and the valve stack count has been tripled compared to the outgoing Grip 2 unit, delivering a substantially wider tuning range alongside improved sensitivity across the full 203mm of travel. Independent high and low speed compression circuits give riders precise control over how the fork handles high-frequency chatter versus large, abrupt impacts, while the matching high and low speed rebound circuits allow equally fine control over how quickly the fork recovers between hits. The FLOAT EVOL air spring works in close coordination with the damper, providing a progressive ramp profile that supports mid-stroke tracking and offers tunable bottom-out resistance for riders pushing the fork to its limits on technical, consequence-heavy terrain. Kashima coating on the 40mm aluminum stanchions reduces surface friction to the lowest possible level, a meaningful factor on long descents where consistent damper performance depends on equally consistent stanchion movement. The revised arch geometry maintains the torsional stiffness the 40 is known for while trimming unnecessary weight, and the integrated lower leg bleeders keep positive and negative air chambers equalized across varying temperatures and elevations so the fork performs identically from the top of the run to the bottom.

The dual crown architecture and 20mm Boost axle interface are non-negotiable for a fork at this level of use. The dual crown eliminates the flex and imprecision that a single crown design introduces under extreme lateral load, and the 20mm axle dramatically increases dropout stiffness and wheel tracking precision. Together they create a front end that steers with confidence at race speed even when the line gets rough and the inputs get heavy.

The 40 Float Factory GRIP X2 is the correct specification for dedicated downhill racing builds, serious bike park machines, and any 27.5in platform where maximum travel, maximum stiffness, and Factory-level damper tunability are the design brief. It accepts rotors from 203mm direct mount up to 230mm and is compatible with 20 x 110mm Boost hubs.