RockShox 35 Gold RL [Rider Review]

Our "Rider Review" article series features the honest reviews from verified purchasers of Worldwide Cyclery. They contain the photos, thoughts, feedback & overall review you are looking for.

RockShox offers the 35 Gold forks for those who are demanding more from their bike with bigger hits and more stable control in rough terrain, all while not burning a hole in the wallet. See what our Customer thinks of their new 35 Gold RL fork.

Overview

After spending a few months riding my Trek Marlin on the single track trails here in northern Illinois, I was aching for something better. I was able to get a great deal on a Trek Xcaliber, which is a nice bike “out of the box”, but it did have some room for improvement.

The Xcaliber comes stock with a RockShox Judy 100mm travel fork, which for the rougher trails I was trying to navigate, felt a little too “flexy” and I was also interested in getting more front travel. I didn’t want to break the bank, which is where Worldwide Cyclery came in.

With the tapered head tube on the Xcaliber, there were quite a few front forks available. I liked the RockShox Recon I had purchased from Worldwide Cyclery for the Marlin, so I decided to stick with RockShox. But, as the trails I was now trying to ride were a bit more aggressive, I wanted to go “heavier duty” this time around with the fork stanchion tubes, bumping up from the 30mm on the Judy, and the 32mm on the Recon, to the 35mm stanchions on the RockShox 35. And I wanted to get more travel. Looking at the specs that Trek’s website listed for the Xcaliber 8, I realized I could bump up to 120mm of front fork travel and still be okay.

The other issue with the stock Xcaliber was that it felt a bit under-braked, with 160mm rotors front and rear. The RockShox 35 Gold RL comes with a 180 brake post mount, so when I installed it, I bumped my front rotor up to 180mm.

Like with the Recon, having the RockShox 35 Gold RL allows me to go to the Suspension Set Up page on the RockShox website. There I put in my weight as a rider and the type of bike, and their suspension calculator tells me what air pressure to run in the forks, and how many clicks to set on the rebound adjuster. The low speed compression damping can be set on top of the fork and I adjust that as I ride, depending on the condition of the terrain.

I’m not a real experienced single track rider, and I mostly stay on blue and green trails. But with the RockShox 35 Gold RL on the Xcaliber, at times, it almost feels like the bike is full sus. The longer travel on the fork, coupled with running at a bit lower air pressure from what the suspension calculator recommends, and running tubeless tires at lower pressure, the ride is almost plush.

My buddy and I were riding for about three hours this past summer, him on a full suspension bike, and me on my Xcaliber, and when we were back at the cars loading the bikes, he commented that I must now want a full suspension bike, and I had to tell him, not really.

Final Thoughts

Sure, the RockShox 35 Gold RL is not going to make your hardtail track with the ground over the roughest stuff like a full suspension bike, but it is going to smooth out your ride, so you can ride longer and further without getting as fatigued.