Following a similar path as the longer travel Onyx did in 2023 by jumping to 38mm stanchions, the DVO Diamond is moving to 36mm stanchions, up from 35mm, and switches to their SL Air Spring.
Conveniently, the new Diamond gets the Onyx’s prior lowers since that fork used to have 36mm sliders, but the rest of its chassis and some internals are new.
Starting at the top, it gets a new, lighter crown. Inside, it gets the new SL Air Spring with self-equalizing chamber. DVO’s prior OTT (Off The Top) allowed for independent adjustment of the positive and negative chambers, but unless you really spent the time to fiddle with it, they found many users weren’t taking full advantage of that system.
The SL Air Spring uses a simple transfer port to automatically fill both positive and negative chambers simultaneously and equally, just like most other air forks on the market. You lose a bit of the customization opportunity, but it drops up to 150g, too.
This move also starts to simplify their fork travel hierarchy. The Onyx will have 160-180mm travel, internally adjustable in 10mm increments. The Diamond does the same, but with 140-160mm travel (so, no more 170mm option). We’re betting the Sapphire will only be 120-140mm, soon.
This lets them optimize the stanchion length for a given category rather than have to carry extra weight for longer stanchions just to accommodate a higher travel range.
Look for this new DVO Diamond to hit the market a little later this year. Weight is TBA, we’ll update when we get final specs.
Update: Weight claim on the new 36mm stanchion, 29″ DVO Diamond D1 SL fork starts at 2200g, with a retail price of $1049.
