Fox is testing a new rear-bridge fork that could be hiding disruptive technology

The XC World Championships have brought us a lot of new equipment, such as the new Pinarello Dogma XC HT or the electronic Flight Attendant system from RockShox that has now spread across the entire grid, but Fox was also testing new things, although in a much more discreet way.

Fox is testing a new fork with a rear bridge, what's the point now?

Suspension manufacturer Fox has long had an intelligent electronic suspension system for XC on the market, something that RockShox, for example, has been testing in competition for some months but has not yet officially presented. This seems to have left Fox free to continue innovating and trying new things apart from electronics.

During the Glasgow XC World Championships some riders already rode this prototype, but Fox took all possible precautions to hide it from everyone's eyes. In its prototype version this fork is completely black, it does not stand out from the rest, and none of the brand's star riders rode it.

It was almost impossible to hunt it down in Glasgow, but just a few days later we saw it much better on the SCOTT Scale that American Bradyn Lange used to compete in the Leadville 100.

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Fox patents a hollow crown that functions as an air chamber

Brands like Magura or DT Swiss have made the rear bridge of their forks a hallmark, but what sense does it make that Fox is adopting that design now.

The truth is that we do not have any information about it and it may be tests to lighten or improve the weight of some of the current models.

But Fox has filed a patent a few days ago proposing a hollow crown that functions as an extension of the inner tube. The physical limitations of a fork's tubes make it difficult to achieve the optimal internal balance between the positive and negative air chambers, so Fox proposes a hollow crown that expands the space and even allows air exchange between the two fork tubes.

Letting our imaginations run wild, we might even think that the rear bridge we are seeing on this Fox prototype fork is intended to complement this nascent hollow crown technology in some way.

We'll see if Fox continues to develop this idea in the coming months or if we get more information on the new rear-bridge forks.