DVO's Prototype 4-Way Adjustable Coil-Sprung Shock - Crankworx Whistler 2019
DVO has been developing a 4-way adjustable shock to compete with ultra-tuneable offerings from Fox and others, with the new Jade Twin taking its name from its twin-tube internals. There's no word on pricing yet as it's not going to be available until next year, and the green and black coil-sprung shock was tucked out of sight inside the DVO truck, but the Whistler Bike Park makes an ideal location for testing.
DVO's Jade Twin is a 4-way adjustable twin-tube shock that offers low-speed rebound and compression, and high-speed rebound and compression adjustments.
What the heck is a twin-tube system? It's exactly what it sounds like; the damper is a tube-in-a-tube design that sees both filled with oil and the piston working inside of the inner tube. In the simple terms, it's constantly recirculating the oil between the two tubes and through the damping circuits. And speaking of damping, the Twin will offer external low-speed compression and rebound tuning, and external high-speed compression and rebound tuning, all done via 3mm and 5mm hex keys.
Like their other shocks, the Twin uses DVO's essentially friction-less bladder compensator rather than an internal floating piston, and riders can adjust the bladder's air pressure between 160 and 200 PSI. Does that mean that the DVO Twin is 5-way adjustable?
The Jade X is aimed at trail riders.
There was another new Jade variant hiding in the DVO booth as well. With a 3-position compression switch, the Jade X is aimed at trail riders rather than full-on enduro types, and you can expect to see it available in a few months.
Hidden inside the Jade X are all-new damping circuits, a new mid-valve, and a main piston that saw over fifty different designs tested before DVO settled on the production version. The 3-position pedal-assist lever also sees a good amount of definition between each mode. There's a rubber bladder inside the piggyback, as on all of DVO's shocks, and the pressure can be adjusted between 160 and 200 PSI.
Aim's data logging kit for mountain bikes sends the info to your smartphone.
In between looking at new suspension, DVO's Bryson Martin pulled out a black case that held Motion Instruments' (disregard the Aim sticker on the unit - it fooled me, too) upcoming mountain bike suspension data logger. DVO has been using this little guy to develop and tune their latest forks and shocks, and Martin said that the easy-to-use system has been a game-changer for them. It employs a relatively small linear potentiometer, at least compared to those used on car or motorbike data loggers from Motion Instruments, as well as an accelerometer and gyro sensor. To tell you what's going on, it sends all of the information, including vibration measurements, to your smartphone via the MotionIQ app.
There have been a few other mountain bike-specific data-logging kits in the past, but it sounds like this one will be priced comparatively low, although the exact MSRP isn't set in stone yet.
The Onyx E1 gets more bushing overlap for more torsional rigidity.
One last prototype, this one for the battery brigade. DVO's upcoming Onyx E1 fork will employ the same internals as the standard Onyx, including their D1 damper, but the beefier chassis also gets longer bushings for more overlap and, presumably, more torsional rigidity.
Author Info:
Must Read This Week
Pros: Plush, easy to tune, does exactly what it was designed to do - Send it.
Cons: A bit on the heavier side but who cares when you're already pedaling a behemoth 'trail' bike to the top.
Fully agree. I have the Onyx SC combined with a Jade coil shock and the way the suspension behaves reminds me of a trophy truck. Hit any rock garden/berm/jump/log at nearly any speed and the suspension will soak it up. Very much encourages the full send mentality.
Put a Fox 36 RC2 on and had airspring issues and stuck in 3 month backlog for warranty over the summer and needed to ride. But dialled it in in two rides before it stuffed itself.
Put a DVO Onyx SC D1 180mm on and sold the Fox 36 when it finally came back as it was outclassed.
DVO was harder to set up as everything is adjustable but that is one of the benefits.
Out of the three forks the Onyx is giving me the best small bump, best traction on loose, dirt or sketchy surfaces, best midstroke, feels bottomless and makes the Fox 36 feel like a noodle. Closest feel to a triple on SC I've ridden.
The best shock in the business is one set up for your weight, bike and riding style.
BTW - I would not call the EXT the best one, there are others that can be tuned to the same level of performance.
They actually don't feel that dissimilar to a Marzocchi TST shock from 15 years ago. It's not new technology, they're just the only ones doing it right now (that I'm aware of).
Twin tube allows for easier external adjustment access to hi and low damping adjustments for compression and rebound though, this is why most monotube shocks only have 1 rebound adjustment.
At least this is my basic understanding of it all.
Damping quality is not defined by being a monotube, a twin or other type of hydraulic circuits, it’s defined by the correct damping characteristics chosen for the bike/rider, the damping values or damping coefficient, the way the damping forces develop during bump acceleration phase or rebound phase, by the hysteresis level, how damper responds on frequency, the overall friction hence the lower pressure of the system and for the "end user" how reliable and tunable is for the application.
The bike doesn't know if it gas a monotube or a twin fitted in, the bike/rider mass system will act and react dipendently of the above quality.
Yes a twin tube design technically should deliver more tunability but this doesn't mean better quality ,only " Should"!
The reality is which quality will be delivered by the damper!?
We at EXT use twin tube dampers in many winning motorsport applications : in car from rally to Gt and in motorcycle racing, Mx or street circuits; I have been one of the first engineer designing racing dampers with twin tube technologies since 1994, but twin tube it s also one of the older damper system used for normal OE car damper production for the last 60 years ,so nothing new.
In relation to Reservoir:
Reservoir in both mono and twin is there to receive the oil displaced by the rod intrusion during each cycle, in a twin tube design the reservoir function it’s only for this and should make it easier to use Low air Pressure; in the monotube the reservoir also carry the compression valve and this makes the design somehow more complex and more difficult to use with Low pressure to avoid possible cavitation.
To clarify, on our bike dampers, we have fitted what's called an "HBS", it’s a system that is position dependant, and the HBS have a Progressive damping characteristic, while all our dampers have a degressive force/velocity damping characteristics.
Maybe this short description will help to clarify some point or maybe now it s even more of a dilemma
Thank you very much
Franco Fratton
most people are looking for ride characteristics that would be fairly linear through the stroke, even somewhat digressive for square edges and chatter, but still want bottom out resistance. A progressive bike, or falling rate, with a progressive shock (like a YT with an x2 air) is gonna be great for hucks and harsh landings, but more likely to buck you on steeps and shelf riding. A digressive shock will track better on steep, loose and rocky but will fail the huck test.
The bottom out cup is a novel idea that been used across multiple platforms, another solution is a taller MCU bottom out bumper that is more progressive than the nitrile hard bottom out bumper. an example of this is the new bumper inside the 2019+ fox x2 air
@MikerJ: I'd stay away from Fox DHX2, while it seems like a good shock when it works, many of my friends have been struggling with reliability to the point that they would go to French DH cups with a Fox Van in the tool case expecting the DHX 2.0 to blow mid weekend. Sending your shock 3/4 times per season is not fun.
Double Adjustment = Double the Price
FOX and Cane Creek are $650 for current gen or $400 for last years model
They were OEM on Giant and Norco for a year or two as well so I'm surprised you haven't seen them more.
I'm running a Onxy/Jade combo on my new Nomad and I wouldn't have it any other way.
The smaller brands are catching up and are on par or are better than the big two.
I think DVO stuff is highly regarded here in the UK , but not so much of it about as not so many people sell it
Which is a real shame.
When setting up my topaz , emailed DVO. and Bryson personally emailed me with everything I needed to know and more, best customer service I’ve had in a long while.