THE EMERALD HAS been at Jithe centre of a whirlwind of hype since it was first announced. After three months of riding in the UK and Europe, we can finally give you the full lowdown.
Before you can get the fork on your bike, you'll probably
need a new lower headset cup, because the Emerald has a tapered steerer. That
also means that if your bike has an old-school 1.125in head tube the DVO won't
fit. You'll need to read the manual before bolting the fork on too, to ensure
the crowns are set within their clamping limits.
The Emerald is massive, with
41-43mm tapered legs, and it's heavier than its main rivals too, but its 3.49kg
(7.691b) heft goes surprisingly unnoticed on the trail. Its upside-down design
and Carbon Torsion Arch give a unique feel. The chassis has a larger amount of
fore-aft flex built in than its competitors, which lets you ride out some scary
situations where a stiffer fork might get you into trouble. But the steering
remains predictable and it doesn't feel as if it's seriously flexing. Testing
the Emerald back to back with a Fox 40 and RockShox Boxxer, we found
that this extra compliance reduced arm fatigue.
The fork has four external dials with a daunting
number of clicks. DVO's website will help you towards a base setting - a must
if you want to get it feeling as it should. Don't be put off by the car park
feel. The air spring and negative spring adjustment mean it can be set up hard
but remain supple over smaller bumps, though it did take some experimentation
to get it feeling as we wanted. The damping, on the other hand, required very
little effort to get dialled in. With just a few clicks away from the base
settings, we experienced some of the best damping we've ever had the pleasure
of smashing down a hill on.
The Emerald has been
supportive and predictable through everything we've thrown at it, and has never
used more travel than needed. You need to be patient when fitting the fork and
setting it up to make the most of it though.
A different chassis feel to everything else out there
and near flawless damping, but set-up takes time
PRICE 2640$
