MRP's Stage trades high weight and slightly limited travel for impressively smooth performance and minimal servicing reliability.
The chunkily rounded
lower casting and sturdy crown mean it's heavy for a 34mm stanchion fork. MRP's
own QtapeR 15mm screw-thru and cam axle need to be kept clean to stop it
seizing in place too. It feels more like a 35/36mm fork in terms of solid
connection to the trail and minimal steering/ braking deflection though. That's
even more obvious if you move up to the 29er sized model, so it's worth the
weight penalty if you're an aggressive rider.
The stroke itself
takes a few hours to become fully luid but once settled in it's impressively
smooth and consistent. The magnetic controlled compression valve has eight fine
graded settings between full open and locked so you can make it feel as eager
or irmly eficient as you want off the top. There's also a Ramp Control dial to
create a more progressive end to the naturally linear stroke. Adding a few
clicks of Ramp and then reducing air pressure for a more sensitive, high
traction small bump response became our default setting but it does make it
harder to get the final 10-15mm of travel out of the stroke.
Otherwise both our
650b and 29er long termer sets have been totally reliable through a full season
of riding without any servicing, and look set to continue that way.
Travel 160mm (150mm available)
Wheel size 26in/650b (29in available)
Weight 2050g
PRICE 1095$
