Fox SLS vs Steel Springs

All mountain bikers using a Fox DHX, DHX2, or Marzocchi Bomber CR face the same question, should they buy an orange SLS spring or a black Steel Spring for their brand new shock? While riding, these two coil springs feel exactly the same when comparing the same weight springs, but some riders still have a very strong preference for one over the other! Let's look at the differences between them and help you figure out which is the best for you!

This is the number one reason to buy the Standard Steel Spring over the SLS, and you can pick up 3.5 of the more affordable Steel Springs before getting one SLS, assuming that you can figure out how to buy half a spring! We always recommend using the standard steel spring when trying to figure which spring rate is right for you and your bike for the sake of saving some coin! Our Spring Rate Calculator offers a great starting point when figuring out the right spring rate, but because of the infinite variables in the suspension design of your bike, the trails you're riding, and how you ride your bike, it's impossible for a computer to know exactly which spring you'll like best! Because of this, it often takes trying two or three springs before deciding which works best for you, and it's easier to stomach another $37 purchase than a $130 sized hole in your bank account.

This is the number one reason to buy the SLS spring over the Steel Spring, and the reason why we're writing this article! Coil shocks are notoriously heavier than their air counterparts, and a lightweight spring is a great way to bring the overall weight of your coil shock closer to an air shock. It's up to you to decide if the weight savings are worth the extra coin! We've listed the exact weights of all the springs down below, and all shocks that don't have a weight just haven't come through the shop since we started weighing them and recording the answers here.

Now for the last reason to buy one of these springs over the other one, and it's the only visual difference between them! The SLS Spring will only come in the signature Fox orange, while the Steel Spring only comes in a gloss black. Mountain bikers are more vain than they'd like to admit, and getting the perfect color match could be all it takes to make a decision between the two!

Now for the reason you probably clicked on this article, here are the real world weight differences between the SLS and Standard Steel springs. We've weighed as many as have come through our door here at The Lost Co, so this list isn't exhaustive, but we will continue to update it as more springs pass through our hands. We had multiple of lots of spring on the list, so we took the average weight for all the duplicate springs we weighed for their final weight. Duplicate springs were typically within a few grams of the average, but there was the occasional outlier that was as much as 10 grams from the average. All that is to say that your spring will probably not have the exact weight listed here, but it'll be pretty close, close enough to not notice while riding!

The main goal of this is to see the difference in weight between the SLS and the Standard Steel springs of the same spring weight and similar length. How much weight are you really saving by spending an extra hundred dollars? Well it varies depending on the springs you're comparing, but the difference is between 50 and 140 grams, so check it out!

We don't typically carry springs longer than 2.90" because trail/enduro bikes are our bread and butter and don't typically need any crazy long springs. So while there are 3.15" and 3.65" SLS springs, we don't have any on hand to throw on the scale!

Just like with the SLS Springs, we just carry the shorter length springs for trail and enduro bikes. So if you're looking for the weight of a 3.19" or 3.64" Standard Steel spring, just know that they're real heavy!