Fox Racing Fall 2023 – Ranger and Flexair

Mountain bikers who have been around the sport for a while will remember the days when riding apparel looked and felt like motocross leftovers - garish, heavy and unreasonably baggy. Well, the textile industry has been incredibly innovative over the past few years, coming up with all kinds of modern materials and fabrics to make life on the go better, and Fox has certainly put these advances to good use in their product development. Here’s a quick overview of some of their latest women’s and men’s offerings, complete with our riding impressions straight from the trail.

Women’s Flexair Race Long Sleeve Jersey Highlights

• TruDri® moisture-wicking recycled polyester main body for maximum cooling
• Slit hem detail offers maximum mobility
• Flatlock seams provide improved comfort
• Sublimated, no-fade graphics create the look and feel of going fast)
• MSRP: $89.98 USD

Women’s DriRelease Veni Jersey Highlights

• drirelease® yarns pull moisture off skin fast, last the lifetime of the garment
• Dries 4x faster than cotton
• Mountain bike specific tailoring
• Drop tail back panel for bike-specific coverage
• Full garment utilizes recycled fabrics
• MSRP: $49.95 USD

Women’s Flexair Short Highlights

• Lightweight, 4-way stretch fabric with engineered airflow zones for all-day riding comfort
• Proven race-ratchet closure provides a secure fit and quick on-the-fly adjustments
• Secure, zippered hand pockets
• Bonded hem with over-taping detail is low-profile and reduces chafing
• TruDri® fabrics move sweat away from the body to keep you dry
• DWR finish sheds moisture, dirt, and debris
• Laser-cut perforations increase airflow
• Zipperless design enhances comfort while riding
• MSRP: $119.95 USD

Men’s Ranger Crys Drirelease Jersey Highlights

• drirelease® yarns wick moisture and dry four times faster than cotton
• Full garment utilizes recycled fabrics
• 85% recycled polyester, 15% cotton drirelease® jersey
• MSRP: $49.95 USD

Men’s Ranger Long Sleeve Jersey Highlights

• drirelease® yarns wick moisture and dry four times faster than cotton
• Mountain bike-specific tailoring
• Full garment utilizes recycled fabrics
• MSRP: $59.95 USD

Men’s Ranger Race Drirelease Jersey Highlights

• drirelease® fabric moves sweat away from the body to keep you dry and comfortable
• Full garment utilizes recycled fabrics
• Mountain bike-specific tailoring
• Drop tail back panel for bike-specific coverage
• MSRP: $54.95

Men’s Ranger Race Short Highlights

• TruMotion® stretch ripstop fabric maximizes performance on every ride
• Relaxed fit for on-bike performance and off-bike styling
• Snap closure and adjustable side cinch for a secure fit and on-the-fly adjustments
• TruDri® lined waistband moves sweat and moisture away from the body keeping you comfortable and dry
• Two zip closure hand pockets
• DWR finish sheds moisture, dirt, and debris
• Zipperless design enhances comfort while riding
• MSRP: $89.95 USD

Initial Impressions

As we made our selection for this review mainly from the fall catalog, our new kit showed up sporting quite earthy colors and the more or less understated styling that we’ve become accustomed to from Fox over the past few years.

Ranger is Fox’s workhorse line, made for all kinds of riding in generally clement conditions. We opted for the “drirelease” versions of the jerseys, as we’ve been won over by this fabric that offers both comfort and high levels of performance. The jerseys are fairly simple in construction, without any extras like pockets or goggle wipes, but the cut is elaborate and there are perforated panels around the lower back and under the arms.

The Ranger short is also fairly simple in its construction, although it ticks all the feature boxes: ripstop fabric, adjustable waist, two large zippered pockets, and a TruDri lined waistband to keep you comfy. You can get it with or without Fox’s chamois liner, which we’ve generally always had good experiences with in the past.

Flexair is the premium line in the catalog, with race-inspired features and tighter shapes. The short is constructed from a lighter weight, TruDri, 4-way stretch fabric that is cut pretty tight to the body for that aero fit. Laser-cut ventilation holes provide extra airflow while a DWR coating helps repel dirt and moisture. The front portions of the hems are bonded instead of sewn together, which is said to reduce chafing in this area. The zipper-less fly features a quick ratchet strap that doubles as a waist adjuster.

The Flexair jersey is also lighter than its Ranger counterpart, thanks mainly to a thinner fabric. The fabric is micro-ventilated for extra airflow, and flatlock seams are used to improve comfort. There’s a bonded seam a the front of the collar which gives the jersey a very clean cut look.

On The Trail

We tested both women’s and men’s gear this time around, here are the measurements and sizes worn by our two testers:

Johan
1m84 (6’0”), ~87 kgs (190 lbs), size L jerseys and short

Darina
1m61 (5’3”), ~63 kgs (139 lbs), size S jerseys and size M short

You may have noticed that some men’s Fox shorts were getting progressively tighter over the last couple of years, especially around the waist. The new men’s Ranger seems to mark a sizing/cut reset, as we found plenty of room around the mid section with this latest generation short in our usual 34. Overall, the cut is now quite close to perfection in our opinion, everything falls just right on the body. The pockets are roomy enough for anything you might want to carry on your person, and they are absolutely ideally placed to avoid having your stuff flap around or sitting in an uncomfortable spot. The fabric is confidence-inspiring without being too heavy – it also seems to breathe quite well.

It’s no big secret that we’re huge fans of “drirelease” fabrics here at Vital. They provide the best of two worlds by mimicking your favorite casual T-shirt feel while doing a great job of managing sweat. They also look really cool, and you can easily find a design in the current catalog that will work as well around town as it will on the bike. Both our testers love this piece of kit, and will more often than not reach for these jerseys before going on a ride. The Ranger is a little bit more relaxed in terms of cut, you’ll likely find that it compares to your typical size in casual wear from most brands.

The Flexair collection fits a little tighter, but our tester still managed to fit into her typical size S jersey. She sized up for the short, which turned out to be a good move since it does run pretty tight. The size M left plenty of room for adjustment around the mid section while it sat quite tight over the thighs. Kneepads would work as well, but a real heavy-duty pad is a bit of a squeeze. In action, the short is very comfortable with a cut that works really well on the bike. The pockets are juuust a little bit on the small side, they do fit a relatively large smartphone even in this smaller short size, but we wish it would sit in the same spot as on the Ranger described above. As it stands, it is fully functional but just on the limit in terms of what it can hold.

The Flexair jersey has a more traditional jersey feel to it than the drirelease stuff, due to the polyester mesh, but it’s very soft to the touch still and crucially does not behave like a wet blanket when you sweat in it. The cut is athletic but never restrictive, and it breathes really well in action too. The long sleeve version is perfect for those cooler fall rides or late summer evenings, for example.

What’s The Bottom Line?

We’ve sung the praises of Fox riding apparel in the past, and we see no reason to stop now. Made with comfortable, high-performance fabrics, the current collection feels great on the bike and certainly looks the part too. Go with the Ranger line for a slightly more casual look and everyday performance, or grab a couple of Flexair items when you’re feeling a bit extra racy. In either case you get gear that is well made and will stand up to the rigors of mountain biking – we even managed to properly crash test the Flexair short during testing, and it came away unscathed. That is more than we can say for our tester who paid a bit of trail tax on this occasion! :-)

More information at: foxracing.com.

About The Reviewer

Johan Hjord - Age: 50 // Years Riding MTB: 18 // Weight: 190-pounds (87-kg) // Height: 6'0" (1.84m)

Johan loves bikes, which strangely doesn’t make him any better at riding them. After many years spent practicing falling off cliffs with his snowboard, he took up mountain biking in 2005. Ever since, he’s mostly been riding bikes with too much suspension travel to cover up his many flaws as a rider. His 200-pound body weight coupled with unique skill for poor line choice and clumsy landings make him an expert on durability - if parts survive Johan, they’re pretty much okay for anybody. Johan rides flat pedals with a riding style that he describes as "none" (when in actuality he rips!). Having found most trail features to be not to his liking, Johan uses much of his spare time building his own. Johan’s other accomplishments include surviving this far and helping keep the Vital Media Machine’s stoke dial firmly on 11.

Photos by Johan Hjord and Nils Hjord