Talon Fox Shocks review

[Emil]

I’m in the process from going from a Razor 1000 2 seater to a Talon R. 95% of my driving is Nevada desert at speeds of 20-40mph(power line roads). Additional gear will include a spare tire and roll bar mount. My past experience with the Walker Evans shocks on the Razor were “ok”...had them re-valved to control the “bucking” on whoops. With the 2.5 Fox Shocks that come on the R do the members feel that it requires to change the springs or re-valve the shocks. Personally I like the idea of the 3 settings on the R vs 12 settings which are on the Razor.....any suggestions...

 

[bjniceguy]

get 200 - 300 miles on the shocks & springs before getting too excited about adjusting. Once they take a set, then your adjustments (for weight & ride height) will be constant. Have not ran a lot of whoops, so can't help much on that

 

[PaulF]

Welcome to the "R" club

Like others have posted, you will find the springs to be quite stiff at first. The amount of weight you carry will effect the ride and how long it takes to settle them. The stock springs are made to carry the full payload allowed so (in my opinion) that is why Honda used such stiff springs. If you carry a lot of weight then the stock springs might work fine after they settle in.

I ride primarily alone without too much extra weight and my springs seemed to settle in around 500-750 miles. Whoops got much better but I do a lot of duning and the stiff springs cause wheel hop/chatter so I installed the Shock Therapy spring set and they made a big difference all around...

• MUCH smoother ride at all speeds (Talon is now wifey approved)!
• Stopped 95% of all wheel hop/chatter.
• Dramatically reduced bucking.
• Way more stable at higher speeds and a lot less wheel correction.
• Feels safer to go fast.

Shock Therapy asks a lot of questions and sends you springs based on your answers. They got mine spot on. They also offer complete shock revalve if you want.

There are also some tender spring replacements that some say do a fairly good job at less than half the cost. I know they are available for the X but I am not sure if they make them for an R.

 

[hondabob]

The tender spring cross over rings are set for an early cross over. Try moving the cross over rings up 10 turns on the back and 5 turns up on the front. You can compress the shock by driving one wheel up a ramp to check the cross over and make sure the tender springs don't coil bind before cross over. Stock settings are ok for high speed whoops but too stiff for washboard and the boney trails especially at low speed. The aftermarket springs will take it to the next level.

 

[PaulF]

The tender spring cross over rings are set for an early cross over. Try moving the cross over rings up 10 turns on the back and 5 turns up on the front. You can compress the shock by driving one wheel up a ramp to check the cross over and make sure the tender springs don't coil bind before cross over. Stock settings are ok for high speed whoops but too stiff for washboard and the boney trails especially at low speed. The aftermarket springs will take it to the next level.

Thanks for bringing that up hondabob, I completely forgot about the crossover adjustment. I ended up 21 turns up in the rear and 15 on the front. Made for a much improved suspension but that was on the verge of coil bind and that is when I decided to change the springs.

 

[Ezgoin]

I’m in the process from going from a Razor 1000 2 seater to a Talon R. 95% of my driving is Nevada desert at speeds of 20-40mph(power line roads). Additional gear will include a spare tire and roll bar mount. My past experience with the Walker Evans shocks on the Razor were “ok”...had them re-valved to control the “bucking” on whoops. With the 2.5 Fox Shocks that come on the R do the members feel that it requires to change the springs or re-valve the shocks. Personally I like the idea of the 3 settings on the R vs 12 settings which are on the Razor.....any suggestions...

If you find the stock springs on the R to be stiff, stay clear away from the X! I find the X springs ridiculously hard on slow speed rocky trails, and after trying to keep up with my buddy in his stock R through the whoops, I found them borderline dangerous! Not only will they beat the occupants to a pulp, the bucking and kicking of the rear end when trying to run deep whoops with any speed at all will have the rear end all over the place. I tried all positions on the selector and it was unacceptable no matter what.
As soon as I get the extra $1600, the shocks/springs are going to Shock Therapy for the full rework! Having driven both the X and the R, the R is way more compliant a ride!

 

[Daveb6618]

If you find the stock springs on the R to be stiff, stay clear away from the X! I find the X springs ridiculously hard on slow speed rocky trails, and after trying to keep up with my buddy in his stock R through the whoops, I found them borderline dangerous! Not only will they beat the occupants to a pulp, the bucking and kicking of the rear end when trying to run deep whoops with any speed at all will have the rear end all over the place. I tried all positions on the selector and it was unacceptable no matter what.
As soon as I get the extra $1600, the shocks/springs are going to Shock Therapy for the full rework! Having driven both the X and the R, the R is way more compliant a ride!

I don't know man. My wife and I love our X. We had a xp1k before and the X rides way better. At first it was a little stiff but now that we have 350 miles on it and I have the front set on medium and the rear on soft it rides great. We both agree that we like the talon way better.

 

[CumminsPusher]

I don't know man. My wife and I love our X. We had a xp1k before and the X rides way better. At first it was a little stiff but now that we have 350 miles on it and I have the front set on medium and the rear on soft it rides great. We both agree that we like the talon way better.

I think it all depends on where and how ya ride. From my experience on and around the Talon x is that until about 25 the Pioneer with Fox was smoother and kept planted better. I scared a Talon owner in the more technical tighter stuff because was able to carry more controlled speed.
With that said at higher speed things take a massive swing the other way, just had to watch out that nasty buck from the rear end on occasion.
I’m paying attention to see what the group will come up with. Sounds like Shock Therapy may do the trick. I wanna know what I need to do to mine when it comes time.

 

[Daveb6618]

I think it all depends on where and how ya ride. From my experience on and around the Talon x is that until about 25 the Pioneer with Fox was smoother and kept planted better. I scared a Talon owner in the more technical tighter stuff because was able to carry more controlled speed.
With that said at higher speed things take a massive swing the other way, just had to watch out that nasty buck from the rear end on occasion.
I’m paying attention to see what the group will come up with. Sounds like Shock Therapy may do the trick. I wanna know what I need to do to mine when it comes time.

We ride from fast to slow and in some very tight trails and think it rides fine, better than the xp1k we had. It did buck a little when new but after I adjust the front to medium and the rear to soft and got a few miles on it the ride really improved and it rides just fine. Every time we ride and that's almost every weekend we talk about how much we like the talon and how we don't know what some people are talking about because it rides just fine. We ride some fast trails to slow technical trails and have never had a problem keeping up with anybody. Infact a lot of times if we are behind them we are waiting on them to get out of our way.

 

[Ezgoin]

We ride from fast to slow and in some very tight trails and think it rides fine, better than the xp1k we had. It did buck a little when new but after I adjust the front to medium and the rear to soft and got a few miles on it the ride really improved and it rides just fine. Every time we ride and that's almost every weekend we talk about how much we like the talon and how we don't know what some people are talking about because it rides just fine. We ride some fast trails to slow technical trails and have never had a problem keeping up with anybody. Infact a lot of times if we are behind them we are waiting on them to get out of our way.

It’s hard for me to imagine we’re talking about the same machine! Maybe it’s the difference in the type of trails, or past comparisons. I had done a lot of research before I bought the Talon and had heard it was stiff, but I did expect it to be better than it is. I also have a 2018 RZR 900 Trail with a whopping 10” of travel and the first ride in the Talon was on rough rocky mountain trails we’d ridden many times in the RZR and after a day of riding my wife announced she’d rather ride in the RZR and I couldn’t really argue with her. Having said that, the one ride we took the Talon on that was fast smoother trails with sweeping banked corners etc., the Talon was just a blast, and it climbed as well as anything else I’ve seen, but whoops and slow rough stuff is not it’s forte as far as I can tell. I only have about 275 miles on it so maybe it will soften up and become more compliant with more miles but after the last couple hours in the whoops, I’d think the strings would be as broke in as they’ll ever be. I hope it gets better or Shock Therapy will be getting a chunk of my hard earned money!

 

[Daveb6618]

It’s hard for me to imagine we’re talking about the same machine! Maybe it’s the difference in the type of trails, or past comparisons. I had done a lot of research before I bought the Talon and had heard it was stiff, but I did expect it to be better than it is. I also have a 2018 RZR 900 Trail with a whopping 10” of travel and the first ride in the Talon was on rough rocky mountain trails we’d ridden many times in the RZR and after a day of riding my wife announced she’d rather ride in the RZR and I couldn’t really argue with her. Having said that, the one ride we took the Talon on that was fast smoother trails with sweeping banked corners etc., the Talon was just a blast, and it climbed as well as anything else I’ve seen, but whoops and slow rough stuff is not it’s forte as far as I can tell. I only have about 275 miles on it so maybe it will soften up and become more compliant with more miles but after the last couple hours in the whoops, I’d think the strings would be as broke in as they’ll ever be. I hope it gets better or Shock Therapy will be getting a chunk of my hard earned money!

When new it did buck a lot. My wife said it was starting to hurt her head on our first trail ride on rock house on the Hatfield and McCoy trails. Even on the pavement it had a back and forth seesaw motion. Someone at trail fest in Gilbert suggested to set the front shocks to medium and the rear to soft. I did this and right away my wife said wow what ever you did to the talon it rides much better. Now that we have over 350 miles on it the ride improved even more. Last weekend we rode stone mountain and Pocahontas on the spearhead trails and it rode really well. My wife says and I.have to agree that it rides better than the Polaris we had. We have been riding a lot of rocky trails and the ride is great. I have never driven a sxs with computer controlled active suspension so I can't compare it to that. In our xp1k with ride command I always felt beat up after a long days ride but I don't feel that way at all in the talon. We usually ride around 75 to 100 miles a day and I don't get sore or tired at all. Over all We are very happy with the talon and I was so happy to lose the cvt belt.

 

[Ezgoin]

I’ll agree with you on loosing the belt for sure! Even tough I’ve never had a belt problem with either of my RZRs, I just don’t like the thought of changing a belt up on the mountain side.
As for the suspension, I typically changed all four corners together to see if I could get a better ride. I’ll try what you did next time out and see what happens.