Bikes are getting more capable, so the forks keep growing with them to keep up. The new DVO Onyx SC is no exception, with travel bumping up to a max 180mm travel, and stanchions grow to 36mm (up from 170mm and 35mm on prior model). That SC descriptor is for Single Crown…because there’s a new Dual Crown model, too…and an all-new air spring design!
The Onyx DC (Dual Crown) stretches to 203mm and gets a bolt-on 20mm Boost thru axle, but will ship with a 10mm spacer adapter so you can keep running your non-Boost wheels. Both versions are for 27.5″ wheels only.
Damping and OTT air spring technology carries over, just modified to make it longer to match the new travel, but…the Onyx DC gets changes at the top of the air chamber to give you more tuning options. Called AVA (Air Volume Adjust), you can now change the position of the piston on the shaft, effectively changing the total air spring volume in macro amounts to change the overall feel of the fork. Then, using spacers, you can make micro-adjustments to tune the progression. It’s a clever way of giving you more control over how it feels and helping one fork really work for a multitude of rider sizes and weights.
Both get a new Air Release pressure-release valve on the lowers to relieve pressure from altitude changes (which is a thing).
The Onyx SC is aimed squarely at the hardcore enduro crowd and has their stiffest single-crown chassis ever. Both use their high/low speed compression damping with a low speed rebound adjustment knob on the bottom. The SC simply has a longer lever on it (right).
Available now, the SC will run $1,049 (weight TBA) and the DC is $1,850 (2,950g), both available in black, green and blue. Unofficially, you can probably look for an e-bike version of the SC to come soon, too.
2019 DVO Sapphire Trail Fork
The new DVO Sapphire 29er gets stiffer with 34mm stanchions, up from 32mm, but they say it drops weight thanks to a little extra machining on the bottom of the lowers:
Compared to the Onyx (green), the Sapphire (black) has more machining and material removal on the lowers to drop grams. With 120-140mm travel and coming in at a claimed 1,900g, it’s about 200g heavier than the Fox 34 SC (but only 100g heavier than the standard Fox 34 29er), making it a beefier trail fork option, but not necessarily a flyweight “race” trail bike fork. Retail is $899.
If you do want to drop serious weight, though, look for the new lightweight steel coil spring upgrade option that drops somewhere around 150-200g, without breaking the bank. That’s because it’s using a new steel material developed by I CHU Tech that is supposedly the same weight as titanium, but at a fraction of the cost.
