What's that? Everyone is staring! I could probably have stood naked in the lift queue, the effect would have been similar. But I'm not the reason for the excitement, it's the emerald green fork in my big bike. A magnet for the eyes. The park junkies at the Geißkopf stare at the over-thick tubes of the upside-down fork with the coal-black spoilers - and whisper. This is due to the enormous hype surrounding the fork so far. The new American label DVO had been announcing the supposed miracle fork for a long time, but it never materialised. Instead, the rumour mill was buzzing until the internet forums started talking shit: "technical problems", "funding problems", "probably never coming", they said. We almost believed that the green fork in team rider Cedric Gracia's bike was possibly the only DVO and would remain so. Then suddenly the time had come: Daniel Gareus from Cosmic Sports brought us the exclusive luxury fork to test. However, before we wanted to push the "Emerald" through bumpy trails, it first travelled to our test laboratory for data recording. The scales showed 3.53 kilos. That's heavy! For comparison: The Fox "40 Float" weighs 2.83 kilos, the RockShox "Boxxer Worldcup" 2.77 kilos or Manitou's upside-down fork "Dorado Pro" 3.07 kilos. As expected, the torsional rigidity test resulted in low values (i.e. a lot of flex). This is typical for upside-down forks - the "Emerald" is no exception. However, the value is significantly higher than that of the Manitou "Dorado" upside-down fork (see table).
The bolted carbon bridge is supposed to provide 50 per cent more stiffness, according to the product information. Is that possible? We checked and lo and behold: without the bridge, our test bench only found a difference of 5 per cent, although the carbon bridge weighs 377 grams without bolts. The DVO proved to be tougher in the brake stiffness test - here it achieved an astonishingly high result (437.2 Nm/°). If you take a look at the table of our fork test (FREERIDE 1/14), you can see that the DVO is well ahead of the competition. Only Manitou's "Dorado Pro" comes close (412.9 Nm/°).
On the trail
Firstly, we tuned the fork as recommended by the manufacturer - after all, the DVO guys know their product best and the rebound alone counts for 40 clicks. A rough guide is helpful. Good: the ratchet dials can be operated by hand, albeit somewhat laboriously. Ingenious: the so-called "OTT", a negative spring that improves the response behaviour. 90 clicks adjustment range? Ten would have been enough in our eyes.
We chose the downhill section on the Geißkopf as our test track. Jumps, rock steps, rock pools, flat landings, tight bends - just the right terrain to lure a fork out of its reserve. To give the test the necessary dose of speed, we engaged celebrity tester and speed expert Johannes Fischbach. His job was to find out how the DVO performs as a race fork. Right from the first few metres, we were amazed by the DVO's creamy response. That's amazing for an air fork! Fischbach also had to admit: "I've never experienced anything like it!" The "Emerald" generates a lot of traction - the bike really sticks to the trail. Also striking: the high level of damping comfort. The fork buffers everything away like a presidential limousine. The DVO reduces hard impacts from boulders and root loops to slight vibrations at the wrists. Even high rock steps disappear into the suspension travel. This gives the fork a sense of security that makes the rider happy to play with the virtual accelerator pedal. And then there is the visual effect: the fat motocross-style tubes and the dazzling green colour (the fork is also available in black, by the way) boost self-confidence to a "Yes, I can" attitude. But Johannes Fischbach puts the brakes on the euphoria: "On fast, small bumps (e.g. braking bumps), the fork works too slowly and then gets stuck in the suspension travel!" is the racer's verdict. Indeed: Even after we turn up the rebound all the way, the DVO rebounds too slowly. And then there is the aforementioned high weight of the "Emerald". "You can clearly feel the 3.5 kilos," says Fischbach. The racer doesn't like this extra weight. But the excess weight is also noticeable away from the hunt for seconds - for example when we switch from the identical comparison bike with the RockShox "Worldcup" to the "Emerald" bike. It can happen that you pull too gently on the rock step and end up front-heavy.
Conclusion: The DVO responds as soft as cream, develops a high level of damping comfort and plenty of grip. This is inspiring and gives you a lot of confidence even in angry rock gardens. However, the weight of 3.5 kilos cannot be denied, nor can the high price. In our eyes, it is not the "miracle fork", but it plays in the same league as the top forks from RockShox, Fox and BOS - albeit with a much higher bling-bling factor.
PLUS Response behaviour, workmanship, appearance
MINUS Weight, expensive, rebound function
MANUFACTURER INFORMATION
Distribution
www.cosmicsports.de
Price from 2 099 Euro
Weight (shaft 245 mm incl. claw) 3,530 grammes
Spring travel 203 mm
SETTING OPTIONS Air pressure, rebound, high + low speed compression manually adjustable, breakaway torque (OTT)
Variants 26", 27,5"
Brake rigidity * 437.2 Nm/°
Torsional rigidity ** 19.9 Nm/°
Response behaviour ******
Damping function *****
Torsional rigidity ***
(max. 6 stars)
* STW (Stiffness to weight) - we used 21.05 kilos as the measured weight for the brake stiffness.
**STW (Stiffness to weight) - we used 10.5 kilos as the measured weight for the torsional stiffness.
Johannes Fischbach (26), DH-Worldcupper: "I like the response behaviour and the motocross look of the 'Emerald'. I've never ridden a fork that works so completely without breakaway torque. However, the 'Emerald' works too slowly for me on fast hits - even with the rebound fully open. I didn't notice the supposedly low torsional stiffness in practice. However, the high weight - 3.5 kilos - is clearly noticeable."
This test was published in FREERIDE issue 2/2014.
Buy edition here!
Dimitri Lehner
Editor
