Öhlins mtb fork review

The thru-axle can be removed and secured with a standard 6 mm hex key.

Learn more about this comparison test: The best MTB fork – 8 forks in comparison

Aside from the RXF38 m.2, Öhlins offer the RXF36 m.2 Air trail fork, with travel ranging between 140 mm and 170 mm. But occasionally I really smashed through all the travel on the biggest hits (maybe once every few runs) and got a very harsh, almost metallic, bottom out.

One thing I really like about his fork though is you can run quite a bit (too much even) of damping without it feeling harsh and spikey, so it’s harder to ‘mess up’ the TTx damping. Particularly with high-frequency impacts, which make it hard to maintain consistent pressure, the RXF38 m.2 struggles to absorb fast, consecutive hits, occasionally resulting in a harsh, jerky response that impairs control.

You’re having to control bounce back with extra damping, rather than relying on a bigger proportion of friction and stiction in the fork as it slides to keep it calm. In the RXF36 m.3, Öhlins has dropped the negative chamber spacer altogether and put a larger one in the main chamber. I’m guessing the longer spring unit weighs more.

The RXF 36 price of a penny under £1,300 is top end, but not dissimilar to other mainstream rivals.

The floating axle design ensures the lowers don’t warp when tightened, although there isn’t a quick-release variant. Pump up the ramp up chamber too much though, to combat this like on the older M2 model, and it seems to affect the ride height and overall ride feel here more, rather than just the bottom out zone.

It’s a good bit of trial and error to cycle between the settings and find the sweet spot, which might be a big ask for some riders that don’t fiddle with suspension all the time. Above this are the self-balancing positive and negative chambers that use another separate air valve to add pressure at the crown end. It can better resist smashing through the travel with a reduced air volume, whereas Öhlins’ ramp up chamber doesn’t affect the main air spring in the same fixed way.

You get more travel than with a conventional token set up, and extra bottom out resistance too

If I haven’t lost you, the outcome is that you will get slightly more travel for a given spring force than with a conventional token set up, but also still get extra bottom out resistance.

It was doable — and, again, I was able to get great results out of the spring as configured in the m.2 — but it wasn’t the easiest fork to set up.

The reconfigured spring in the RXF36 m.3 feels like that transition has been smoothed out across a wider range of spring settings. But can it shine in our comprehensive comparison test?

The Öhlins RXF38 m.2 flaunts its Swedish heritage with yellow decals and blue wiper seals, all rounded off by a colour-matched sag ring – a nod to the Swedish national flag.

My overall conclusion therefore was that it didn’t stand out from its mainstream rivals when ridden in a “more relaxed style” and that it also needed more looking after and more faffing to set up.

Well, I’ll tell you straight away that this M3 version is markedly more supple and sensitive than its predecessor, so does that mean it’s now the best 36mm fork on the market?

The latter lets you fine-tune the end progression, or, in other words, the firmness in the final third of its travel. It gets 140mm, 150mm or 160mm travel (170mm with a 27.5in wheel) and this recently been updated version has a couple of new tricks under its crown that could make it one of the best mountain bike forks around.

The RXF line has been around for almost a decade and this 36mm version is the first to make it to a third (M3) generation after a significant redesign.

The midstroke support from the spring in the m.3 iteration is still very good, but the spring curve feels smoother and more predictable.

I’m also a fan of the lighter rebound damping tune Öhlins switched to with the RXF36 m.3. The combined result is that the initial sensitivity of the new fork is noticeably better, and that the inflection point where the second positive chamber comes into play feels smoother and less abrupt.

The excellent midstroke support of the m.2 iteration was one of its most standout traits, but it could also be somewhat tricky to balance pressures in the two positive air chambers such that there wasn’t a big, rather sharp ramp-up fairly deep in the stroke shortly before the second positive chamber came into play.

Retailing at €1,674, it’s the second most expensive fork in this test, right after the EXT Era V2.1, which costs € 85 more. There are 15 clicks of low-speed compression and three of high-speed compression on the blue dial at the top of the leg, and 15 clicks of rebound adjustment on the lower gold knob to allow more or less oil to flow.

Öhlins also uses a novel 3 chamber air spring design.

With its beefy 38 mm stanchions and adjustable end progression, it’s designed to deliver uncompromising trail performance. You can see a more pronounced double hump around the seals and a different shape at the front of the arch here.