Back in Jan 2017 Specialized Gravity racing moved to Öhlins suspension, with the obvious subtext of a new World Cup level DH fork being raced. A year and a half later that Worlds-winning DH Race Fork is official. And you’ll even be able to drop the same internals into your current Fox & RockShox DH forks too at the end of this summer.
Öhlins DH Race Fork – adjustable, tunable downhill fork
Only one race season after its World Cup debut, and that development fork was ridden to two world Championship titles under Miranda Miller and Loic Bruni last year in Cairns. In order to excel at that top level of DH, a race fork has to not only be great, but incredibly tunable for a racer to get the most support & control possible out of any track conditions.
Ohlins claims to offer more pistons, more tubes & more offset options than you’ll know what to do with. Plus the DH fork can be adjusted anywhere from 160-200mm of travel, a huge range for a DH fork that might just make it the killer bikepark fork as well.
Tech Details
Inside the left leg of the DH Race is the Ohlins TTX 18 damping system, with an 18mm piston optimized for excellent small bump sensitivity on the DH track. They also build in extra range of operable damping pressures that claims to boost the response of their damping valve and improve sensitivity.
A wider range of damping adjustability – 15 low-speed compression clicks, 4 high-speed, plus 15 low-speed rebound – also suit most gravity riding from fast racing to big hit park riding.
In the right leg a twin-piston, three-chamber air spring system is also isolated fromany flex of the upper tubes, additionally in order to minimize head build up. It also features Ohlins’ Total Tune Spring Curve System (TTSC) which is designed to let the rider finely tune the air spring though out its travel from the first movement to bottom out.
It uses a self equalizing design that transfers air between the main chamber and the negative air chamber so all riders get the same ride position. Then you can fine tune performance by alternating pressures in the main & ramp up chambers. And beyond thaT, adding volume spacers to either chamber lets you further adjust the spring curves.
All that sits inside a 20x110mm Boost DH spaced double crown DH fork with 38mm uppers, sliding inside custom SKF wiper seals. Offsets are available in 46, 50, 54 & 58mm to suit different bike geometries, and the fork can be run with 29″ wheels & up to 2.8″ tires, or 27.5″ wheels up to 3.0″ tires.
The fork is prepped to install a fender, fits 200mm post mount disc brakes, and gets a floating, dual-clamp axle inspired by Motocross bikes. The fork itself sells for $1600/1392€, plus $350/304€ for the set of crowns that lets you pick the perfect offset. They will be available from Ohlins starting in September 2018.
Overall fork weight is claimed at 2825g, uncut and including all of its hardware.
Öhlins TTX 18 DH fork internals for Fox 40 & RockShox Boxxer forks
If you want the same Worlds-winning tech, but you already have a World Cup level fork, Ohlins has you covered as well. With their separate TTX 18 Cartridge Kit you can drop the same exact air & damping cartridges into the chassis of your existing Fox 40 or RockShox Boxxer.
All of the internal tech, functionality, and adjustability remains, minus the offset adjustability. The drop-in TTX 18 internals to upgrade your 40 or Boxxer DH forks sell for $750/650€, also with September availability.
