WoFlowzFun fact kashima is a scam your just paying for a anodized version of what makes bolts and screws at the a grey kinda speckle 🤠🤠totally worth 300-400$ more than a rockshox fork with a similar damper
This one is interesting because it comes up a lot, but it's actually much more nuanced than this. Yes, the difference between Fox Performance Elite, and Factory is the Kashima. So on a 38, at MSRP, you're paying a surcharge of $100 dollars for that coating, which, when you're already buying a $1K+ fork, really isn't much of anything. So, while I personally would buy Performance Elite over Factory, I don't have beef with anyone that does.
Rockshox on the other hand, doesn't give you the aftermarket option to buy a more affordable fork with the same spring and damper as their top-end version. The aftermarket options are the Zeb Ultimate ($1000) or the Zeb Select ($815). So, with Rockshox, if you want to save $185 off the top-end model, you get a fork with a totally different damper, which is more analogous to a Fox Performance fork, with the Grip 1 damper. Basically, Fox covers the "High end, but not highest end" market better than Rockshox.
And then on top of that, Fox forks have the channels and bleed valves, the sort of feature that arguably adds the manufacturing costs and complexities to justify the $200ish dollar difference between a Factory 38 and a Zeb Ultimate. Fox also gives you an extra knob to turn (both HSR and LSR vs. one rebound knob on Rockshox). And the folks ponying up over a grand for a new fork are the kind of people who like extra knobs, and that knob adds even more manufacturing cost. So it's actually pretty easy to justify the price difference between the two based on manufacturing complexity, if not performance.
All that to say, both brands are making really good products right now, and I'll run whatever I can get at a reasonable price. But just bashing on Kashima, without looking at the breakdown of what models are actually available to end consumers, and what the actual pricing differences come out as doesn't make sense. For folks buying top end bikes, the price difference doesn't matter.
Sorry, procrastinating from work, and just had this conversation with another friend the other night.
