The X-Fusion Sweep RL2 DLA packs in a lot of features for its sub-£500 price, including a reduced-travel setting that lowers the fork 30mm for climbing, and an effective lockout dial. It has a bigger 46mm offset than other brands, which has a noticeable effect of sharpening up the steering, offering a direct response and lightness in turning that felt well-balanced and easy to control.
The chassis is a little flexy when threading through big rocks, and arguably it’s the least solid-feeling fork on test, but combined with the super-soft initial part of the stroke there’s good tracking and grip on off-camber trails and through corners. In the past X-Fusion forks have been a little slow to get moving, but the Sweep is its first fork to use new Nvolve wiper seals, which might explain why the breakaway action is way more reactive. There is a trade-off though, and it’s a lack of support against body weight shifts and braking forces. This over-activeness extends slightly deeper into the stroke than ideal and means the suspension action isn’t as stabilised through compressions or when out of the saddle sprinting hard.
Setting the air pressure on the forks significantly higher than recommended encourages the fork to remain higher in the travel and offer more stability, but an option to adjust the range of low-speed compression would be our ideal solution.
Unusually, the Sweeps don’t offer any external compression adjustment at all, and use an internal sealed aluminium damper cartridge with a mid-valve circuit — this means a second, mid-stroke circuit enters play once the first damper is fully open to help control and support the fork deeper in the stroke. The design appears to work well in preventing excessive dive or wallow, and despite the forks often feeling quite soft, the damping is effective in stabilising the fork against harsh impacts and knobbly terrain without feeling too choppy. We found we could confidently launch into rough, fast sections and the fork handled whatever we threw at it