It's not often that a new suspension start-up hits the scene running, but that's exactly what DVO did when they debuted their inverted Emerald downhill fork back in 2012. Five years on and DVO's catalog has grown to include a dropper post, multiple offerings for the mid-travel crowd, both coil and air-sprung shocks, and they also
recently debuted their lower priced Onyx DC downhill fork. That's a whole lot of headway in the high-end suspension segment, a market that, up until just a few years ago, only had two or three major players.
So, do you have a question about one of DVO's forks or shocks? Need some suspension setup advice? Curious as to what's coming in the future? DVO's Lead technician Ronnie Dilan, along with Marketing and Product Development specialist Bryson Martin Jr, are here to answer your questions, beginning today at 10:00 AM PDT.
Bryson Martin Jr. – Marketing / Product Development A man of many hats, Bryson Martin Jr. can also more than hold his own on a bike. That speed led him to a spot on the Junior Worlds Team for the USA back in 2010, and he hasn't gotten any slower since, a fact that works well with his product development role at DVO.
Ronnie Dilan – Lead Technician Having been in the suspension game since 1998, it's safe to say that Ronnie knows a thing or two when it comes to springs, shims, and oil. Dilan has had a major role in the development of DVO's current range of forks and shocks, and he's also the man getting his hands dirty in the service department.
How ‘Ask Us Anything' Works: Starting at
10:00 AM PDT/6:00 PM BST on Tuesday, July 18th you can type your questions for DVO into the comment box following this article and the guys will have a crack at answering them. Sometimes your answer will pop up in a few seconds; others may take a few minutes while Bryson and Ronnie work their way through questions that are popping up. Everyone who posts a question, large or small, will be taken seriously.
To make this go as smooth as possible, try to follow these guidelines:
•
Keep your questions relevant •
Stay focused and to keep your questions on one topic if possible. You can always ask about another item later
• Try to keep your questions to about
100 words •
Ask Us Anything is a service to PB readers who are seeking helpful information, not a forum to broadcast opinions or grievances. If you do have an issue that you want to ask about, no worries, just keep your complaints relevant and in the context of a question so that it can be addressed in a productive manner
•
Use propping to acknowledge good (or not so good) questions and bump them up or down to where they belong
Other time zones:
• 1:00 PM EST (New York)
• 6:00 PM BST (London)
• 7:00 PM CET (Paris)
• 8:00 PM SAST (Cape Town)
• 5:00 AM AEST (Sydney, Aus)
MENTIONS:
@DVOSuspension
I assume this is also why unicycling hasn't taken off either. When you are only selling a small fraction of the components per person the profits go down.
By your logic, tricycle riding should be more popular than bicycle riding. I don't think that is the case.
Do you think tricycling is poised to take off? I'll be honest, I'm not up to date in the triking world.
@me2menow i have to imagine with shocks it is tougher since you have a much shorter stroke.
Go 350 NCR Ti then.
Hello!
When and what travel? Open bath on both legs?
Or some of that only means coil?
www.pinkbike.com/news/push-acs-3-coil-spring-conversion-kit-first-look.html
Not fair Pinkbike, not fair...
Thanks @DVOSuspension @bryson-dvo @ronnie-dvo
Anyway, quality bushings can already make a difference compared to the standard ones.
i have looked into this extensively
They've got to have one for 27.5 as well please someone ffs tell me I'm right.
As for Marzocchi, are you expecting issues with spares? I might have missed something but the last thing I heard was that Fox bought Marzocchi and that Marzocchi would keep producing and releasing Marzocchi gear. Which seemed to be the case at least until recently. Harry Heath and his team (forgot who was on it, didn't he also have the Italian national champ on board?) are running Marzocchi. Ryan Leech was also sponsored by them but in his most recent videos I saw him ride Fox forks so I don't know whether anything changed recently.
www.vitalmtb.com/news/press-release/Convert-Your-FOX-36-Fork-to-a-Coil-Spring-with-the-PUSH-Industries-ACS-3-Kit,1704 (Also works on Pike)
This is exactly the reason why DVO Suspension was born. We were all getting tired of the instant gratification approach that has been adopted by most of the other brands. We wanted to have the ability to give our customers the same features that we wanted to play with to fine tune our rides.
Having to convince the target market you are catering to that they should buy your product at 50% off is silly, just shows how much damage MARZ did to their reputation over the years that when they finally made a top notch product people wouldn't even consider it. Shame seeing as how the guys that run dvo now did most of the design and tuning on the stuff before they left.
If the customers are choked with aggressive and extensive marketing they hand their money to who shouts louder. And there is the fear of going a different way than the crowd. That only shows how much of a gamble it is staying alive on the market. And this happens with all of the products in the bike industry, all day; you enter in a bikeshop chatting about the problems you had on a FS bike (direct sales brand, which already had sorted the problem out with stellar service) and the only thing you hear is that you deserved it since you did not buy Specialized from a local bike shop (at double the price). The ending that things got very smooth and professional is totally ignored. There is much hate in the MTB industry. And it distorts the sales, because people pay for stories not for facts.
Likewise, there is still some developments to be made in the market in regards to A2C and intended wheel diameter. It'd be sweet if more manufacturers offered forks with super low A2C for a 29er model that could also have a competitive A2C for 275x2.6. I'm curious about what goes into the arch shapes and how that might influence A2C.
Looking forward to the upgrade, THANK YOU ;-)
Additionally, the website mentions the use of rapid prototyping with a 3D printer. Is this done only to ensure parts are properly sized and keep dimensional mistakes form going through to machining, or are hoping to one day rely on additive manufacturing?
We use Solidworks to design 100% of the product that we produce. We use our 3D printer so that we can get a realistic idea of how some parts will actually fit or feel when introduced to the mating parts. most of the time Tom or Zeke will print a quick idea to see how it will looks physically.
And splsce, I think the burger just celebrated it's 7 birthday if I remember?
mine feels good without much LSC and just 4 or 5 clicks of HSC, but wouldn't mind getting a recommended base tune
Ronnie
The shock lost a small amount of pressure every ride since it was new, and i've serviced it once as well, including changing out all the seals and the schrader valve cores.
Do you have any tips/tricks to get the Topaz to hold pressure long term?
THE BUSHINGS (SCRATCH A LINE ON THEM) AND USE A FILE IF YOU HAVE LIMITED RESOURCES MEASURE TWICE CUT ONCE / FILE TO PERFECTION-OR JUST FILE TILL THEY FIT WITHOUT MEASURING YOU CAN DO IT!! DVO HAS EXCELLENT BUSH--
The ability to tune both chambers of the shock really allow you to make the shock suite any bike with whatever suspension design it may have.
(I have no experience with DVO forks and am not accusing them of being creaky. I just thought you might be able to comment on the design aspects.)
My red bike really looks like crap with the green accents on my Diamond and Jade. Looks like a Christmas bike. Black QR, black air caps/dials, Black spring perch... And then all black decals... Would be HOT!
When a SC USD Fork?
P.S. I don't currently own a DVO product but have read EVERYTHING online about the Topaz, Diamond and Beryl, your customer service and the fact you can completely service the shocks is brilliant. I'm going to retire my Marzocchi 350 and pushed Fox RP23 next year and will definitely be going green
Are you actually riding an Emerald or is your only experience trying to flex it between your legs? I have run into a few Emeralds that had the crowns bolted in a very poor location. The riders were complaining about some flex and stiction in the stroke. It turned out that the lower crown was being installed above the correct clamping location, this cause the fork to twist and stick in the direction that you forced it in.
Ronnie
I had a Dorado and loved it - sure the fork between the leg test seemed flexy, but it was plenty stiff where you needed it and didn't shoot offline too easy. As previously stated - the fork between leg test is pretty misleading for the inverted forks.
When, how, and why would a rider want to start using these internal tuning features?
It's very rare that we get into a rebound stack because the rider is unhappy with the "feel" of it . It's more of a range thing...
The dynamic aspect of it refers to the rate at which the oil is flowing through the stack and how the shims control the rebound based on that. The faster that oil flows through it (big hits) the more the rebound slows down. The stack controls high and low speed rebound on it's own without having to externally adjust high and low speed independently. You could get in there and tune it but it's very rare we've had a rider that wants something different. The stock set up is pretty sweet.
Hope this helps!
MRP will say that theirs is better, and DVO will say that theirs is better..... HOW are they DIFFERENT? and WHY is DVO's better ?
Thanks!
@bryson-dvo:
Ok, that comment can only mean one thing......
You'll be using an Oleo damper
Am I right or am I right ???
Am I just way out of the spectrum on HSC? I tried running 6 clicks of HSC at Highland this past weekend and ended up dialing it back to wide open for the brake bumps
OTT: I have run it wide open in the past but dropped it down recently to test settings. My initial small bump is good.
I believe my issue is more mid stroke, my idea to the solution is to dial back air pressure to 25-30% sag and increase HSC to keep the fork up in the travel. Is that a logical solution?
I think your preferences might be outside the kind tuning that you can just rely on sag. tune the spring rate to keep the fork riding in the dynamic ride height you prefer, tune the OTT to make small bump compliance work at that spring rate, & then add damping if you need to. If you still have problems with it eating travel, try bracketing your rebound setting: you may be running it too slow.
Could you give me more information on how to maintain your products in perfect condition and some tips on setting it up?
Cheers
We have all kinds of information on our site to assist with setup and service for our product. I am also available through email Ronnied@dvosuspension.com if you require any help.
Our air shocks allow you to tune both the positive and negative chambers. That really does give you the ability to tune the shock to fit your weight and bike. It may take some time to tinker with the adjustments and the tunes to find what works best for you but it's always good fun learning!
The OTT feature on our forks allow you to adjust the preload on the negative spring. That gives you full control of the beginning stroke then you set your air pressure for bottom out. We made that adjustment so the fork could work for an extremely wide range of riders. Cedric Gracia is running the same fork that one of our female riders that's 90lbs uses. That's not an exaggeration either.
Thanks Sam
johnp@dvosuspension.com
I think I saw someone post something above as well, but I'm also curious about linear vs. progressive spring trends. It seems like adding tokens/volume spacers, or upping negative air chamber pressure ratios to positive significantly boosts air suspension performance (to a point), but coil shocks that are super linear through their travel perform even better?
My Topaz is fantastic. Can you please explain the effect of volume reducers on the negative side vs. the positive side?
The negative bands affect the amount of force it takes to initiate shock movement. We usually add them if a rider's shock is sagging too much or wallows too much in the beginning to mid of the stroke. Positive spacers make the shock more progressive.
If you add some positive spacers to assist with bottom out, you may find that it gets difficult to achieve the proper sag. That's when the negative bands come in and will help out!
210 lbs un-kitted. 116 psi. 13 clicks OTT. 15 clicks (in) rebound, 0 HSC. I actively use the 6-position low speed compression switch - setting 1 or 2 for fast choppy, foot-deep holes. Higher settings when steep or deep transitions (g-outs) expected.
I'm running 2 bands on the negative side on the Topaz, none on positive side. Seems right for me.
Oh - Tracer T275 DVO Edition, XL.
Thanks for responding personally!
On a Santa Cruz 5010 v2 and currently running with 3POS/1NEG bands. It's pretty darn good but the ride quality seems to vary week-to-week and I need to adjust it constantly to keep it riding nice. This was after a couple months of adjusting pressures and bands to get it riding good.
Also curious about consequences of adding negative bands. I added one to keep it from moving through first part of travel too quickly.
If you're really looking for that stuck to the ground feeling, run your bladder pressure at 160PSI and remove the band from the negative chamber. This will make it super plush. It's definitely a DH set-up.
The negative bands affect the amount of force it takes to initiate shock movement. We usually add them if a rider's shock is sagging too much or wallows too much in the beginning to mid of the stroke.
For your personal bike set-up, I would recommend 2 positive, 0-1 negative and mess with your bladder pressure. Set your SAG at 25-30%
Hope this helps!
Some examples.... Marzocchi Rocco Air, MRP Groove 200, and Fox DHX RC-4 have reservoirs that allow you to add air to affect bottom out and/or curve. The direction in the industry, with rear shocks in particular seem to be moving away from this.
My experience with others (CCDB CS in particular) is that they don't have enough control over compression for me (200 lbs), no mid stroke support, and no ramp up near the end of the stroke. The linear nature of my frame doesn't help ('15 Canfield Balance). Adding as many volume spacers as possible left the linear nature of the shock in place but left a near vertical curve at the end of the stoke. It was so useless that last year during Crankworx I turned the low speed compression all the way up and ran with with the climb switch on!
My interest is in the Topaz obviously. Perhaps I should look for a head to head comparison of the Topaz, RC3 (which I had on my last bike and loved), and CCDB CS.
And no problem for answering you, that's why I'm here! Hopefully it helps out
Thanx again! :-)
Any chance we might see a properly burly and responsive fatbike fork from you guys? Seriously. Something like a 100-160mm version of the Diamond/Beryl/or SC Onyx. There needs to be a better, stronger and proven alternative to what is currently out there, including the new Manitou. With a lot of clearance.
I always imagine that digressive damping work better for chunky natural trails, while linear works better for freeride/bikepark.
Which damping profile would YOU assign to which riding style?
www.pinkbike.com/news/dvos-new-onyx-and-beryl-forks-taipei-cycle-show.html
I've heard DVO has new products coming down the pipeline? Would love to see some 170mm+ travel 29er forks with offsets around 40mm. There is a small, but emerging market for this type of fork, and besides CSU swapping FOX 36s there is very little on the market now.
Ronnie
I have no complaints at my current setup, but can't help but wonder what a more useable range would do for tuning
Bypass suspension (and more recently, internal bypass) are a big deal in the 4x4 off road world. Have you ever experimented with anything like that for biking, or is it just not possible in the given amount of space?
Just annoying the OTT adjustment can only be done when the fork is flat obviously because of the pre-load against the OTT from the air.
Also I noticed that the little plastic washers on the CTA crack when the mounting bolts are tightened up to the recommended torque :oP
Otherwise great fork and I've only started from the the all rounder kind of recommended settings in the manual and tweaked rebound a bit to suit me and looking forward to getting back on them again this weekend
When will you start releasing reduced offset forks to the masses?
Just release it. I'll buy it the next day!
Cheers
@DVOSuspension @ronnie-dvo @bryson-dvo Thanks for taking the time today to answer all these questions, suspension advice, comments, etc.. Great employees - customer service - and company.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gl8UoxpEzfk
I am very interested in the Garnet, but the lack of any documentation on service is why I have not bought one.
tech.dvosuspension.com/service-guides
If the soon to be released Onyx dual crown fork has been dubbed by you guys as a dual crown Diamond, why isn't there a 29er compatible option?
Who distributes DVO in Canada?
What's your experience with the WPL oils and their absolute grease? I've been using them in my Diamond and really enjoying them for the performance feel and how much nicer they are to work with and handle. They make a 7wt oil, and you spec a 7.5 in the Diamond. Any considerations to be made in this regard or with their products in general, or do you fully recommend them?
Any plans on making service tools like sockets, seal presses, shaft clamps, damper bleed tool, etc?
Also, I think I still owe you guys like $60. Can I mail you my credit card?
Any hints or sneaky tips to get my Diamond performing at their best?
Ta
Thanks!
I would like / sub / comment.
We're all riders here at DVO and we know what it's like to be off your bike because your fork takes 6 months to get serviced. Our products can be serviced at home with the guidance of our tech site (tech.dvosuspension.com) and access to spare parts is easy.
Quality is a no brainer for us. The fork does end up costing a bit more at the end because we don't skimp on crappy o-rings, plastic parts or gimmicks. It ends up being cheaper for us when you do it right the first time instead of dealing with warranties/upset customers.
Performance is number one and always will be. Sometimes you do end up taking a hit on weight but we feel it's worth it when the suspension out-performs everything else on the market. We don't buy enduro/dh bikes to race XC. They're high performance machines that need suspension that can keep up and take the abuse.
The relationship of the company to the customer should never end at the cash register, if you go DVO, know we'll always take care of you.
We also try to make sure that we have enough range in our products to allow the suspension to suite any bike and rider. That is extremely difficult. Suspension is not a one size/set up fits all, but we do our best to accommodate our products for the majority.
We're all riders here at DVO and we know what it's like to be off your bike because your fork takes 6 months to get serviced. Our products can be serviced at home with the guidance of our tech site (tech.dvosuspension.com) and access to spare parts is easy.
Quality is a no brainer for us. The fork does end up costing a bit more at the end because we don't skimp on crappy o-rings, plastic parts or gimmicks. It ends up being cheaper for us when you do it right the first time instead of dealing with warranties/upset customers.
Performance is number one and always will be. Sometimes you do end up taking a hit on weight but we feel it's worth it when the suspension out-performs everything else on the market. We don't buy enduro/dh bikes to race XC. They're high performance machines that need suspension that can keep up and take the abuse.
The relationship of the company to the customer should never end at the cash register, if you go DVO, know we'll always take care of you.
Use the brand as a background and develop a sub brand to offer to bike companies and hard up customers (me).
Isak Leivsson
any guess to when?
brysonjr@dvosuspension.com