Modern Inverted Single Crown Forks

Unofficially? Definitely maybe.

Anyone else enjoying the new Smooth Operator? Perhaps it is placebo, but my fork now feels more stable / less divey without giving up the amazing buttery feeling and compliance in high-speed chatter.

I just had a play with it, but I haven’t used a normal one before 

I’m still adjusting pressures and all that

So far 81kg 81psi

Tired 0/3/5/7 clicks from full open and 5turns from full closed rebound

It felt the best at either 3 or 0 lsc 

I still feel it’s got plenty of ramp up so I might try lower pressures or the less linear cap

That’s on a Edge Blackline brand new on a new bike so I’m all adjusting to it

With the compression fully open on more cross country trails it was insanely smooth but without lacking support 

I've tried both, the new damper just gives me more confidence to introduce Lsc without the harshness the previous Gen had in that same scenario. 

Have a flash @100kg run 101psi 5click for steep, 6 for a little more comfort. 

I'd love to get the old damper custom tuned with a dyno mind you 🤷 

You stated before that you never noticed any flex from your previous F35.

Now that you've ridden the F38 (I presume that you've ridden it by now) can you comment on the F35 vs. F38 and include your weight, conditions, riding level?

Why did you make this change over?

Thx.

thanks to your president, i am still not able to ride the fork as the velduro is still on a ship, needing to take a huge u-turn around africa.

i changed it because my cousin wanted one and i can't have him have the burlier looking fork. simple as that. and i got a great deal on both of them

It’s great to see Cane Creek enter the chat with the Invert. I’ve always found their forks great, and have a Helm coil on one bike I tend to ride back to back with my Nine:one.

If the torsional stiffness claims are true (40% stiffer than the podium when using the 20mm axle) it will be interesting to see if ‘too stiff’ becomes a thing.

It looks well supported, easy to service, and relatively well priced. I suspect having a well priced option rolling out will actually sell more Push and Intend forks. Rather than compete directly.

Excited to learn more about this one.

They are offering a compelling package between the travel, weight, guards, axle choices, price, etc. 

Woah that heavy as 

I’m happy that brands like Intend exist, still making stuff for non e-bike 

I understand a lot of the ebike backlash at the moment. What gets tiring is people trying to connect any other component they don't like to e-bikes as if they’re the same thing. 

I put in a deposit on the Cane Creek. They are local to me and it'd be interesting to compare them to the Intend, I'll report in when it shows up.

Sick! Very curious

What intend do you have? 

I have a Flash 35, been on it about 9 months or so.

Mine has the Travelizer, which I think is brilliant, but I can also see why they got rid of it. The only downside to the fork is getting that setup correctly, it took a lot of fiddling for me to get it to lock into place and I ended up having it set at like 172mm or something odd like that because it would not lock at 170. 

I too put a deposit on the In(tro)vert as I am thinking about turning my idle Megatower frame into a bike park bruiser, and once you go USD, you can't go back. The comparison to Intend will be interesting. I can't imagine CC can have the same attention to detail and QA like them but I am hopeful to be pleasantly surprised.

Hey @PUSH Industries, a question and some thoughts after owning a nine one for a while.

I did a 50h service today (what a great process) and noticed how discoloured the suspension fluid was, and that it was much less than the 25mm I put back.

Is it fair to say one characteristic of the fluid bearing you’re using is that wear is experienced through loss of fluid over time, and slightly more contamination? I’m not complaining, it’s worth it.

After 20,000m descending in the last 3 weeks or so I couldn’t be more satisfied with my nine one. I’ve run it at both 160 and 170mm over that time.

If I had only one highly pedantic gripe, it would be that I’d love the fork to ship with two service syringes and fittings, one to remove the old oil, one to keep for clean new oil. 

Flex is something I can discern with it stationary, but once rolling the fork disappears in the best of ways. I mention that in part because I reckon when people say they can’t discern flex with a 38 they often don’t make the connection with how harsh / overly stiff they can feel once rolling. 

I’d planned to fit some CK torque caps when swapping travel but they don’t appear to fit between CK hub generation.

The sub chamber is wild. In the right situations it’s incredible how well it works. I tend to leave it off unless I’m riding somewhere really groomed, but I’m wondering if dropping a spring rate and using it more would be something to play with. I was borderline green and the rate below, and opted green as I’ve always preferred coils slightly more supportive - maybe the sub chamber changes that?

I'm USD fork curious. I've read this thread, and others on other mtb forums about Intend forks and the like, and am curious on which way I should try to go. I'm 6'3" and about 220 in the flesh currently. Like to ride a bit of everything, preference to rocky/chundery/slabby natural trails - local trails are loose with square-edge rock. Largest jumps I'm willing to hit are a-line/dirt merchant. Currently on a mezzer at 170 - fork mostly feels great but I've got some complaints with respect to hand fatigue on more sustained descents, and recurring CSU creaks.

Anyhow, of the current models available, I'm most interested in the infinity/bandit (if I can get one)/Flash 35. Or at my stature, is the flash 38 the consideration vs 35?

Also, with the dorado pro currently being quite affordable, does anyone have any experience with one of those on a bike that gets pedaled for 98% of riding? 

I have Intend Edge & a Dorado on a pedal bike (Canfield Lithium) - couldn't recommend the Dorado enough, especially for the price right now. It's so confidence inspiring, and for the riding you're describing, it sounds perfect. It's great out of the box, but made better by Shockcraft's Rockeater kit if that's up your ally.

Assuming this is on an enduro bike (Kavenz VHP, IIRC)? I had a Kavenz VHP18 a couple years back where I would swap back and forth between a 180mm Mezzer and 200mm Dorado Pro. The Dorado adds some heft, but it’s not unmanageable. I found it to be a bit more work/tiring if I was going very technical climbing that required a lot of lift and placing the front end, but for smoother climbs and fireroads the difference was a wash. I did 1000m vert days on it, the same as I did on the Mezzer. On the downs though it’s not even a comparison, the Dorado is next level, especially in the terrain and type of riding you’re describing. I still dream about how easily you could just charge into anything with it up front. It just eats rough terrain, and the added fore-aft stiffness from the dual crown is absolutely noticeable. Anyone that rode that bike couldn’t get over how well the fork worked and how much front wheel grip it had. If your climbing as a means to get to the descending, I’d say just go for it. If you regularly do big days with lots of technical climbing, it’s probably still worth it if you’re willing to be a tiny bit slower and more tired. I’m happy enough with my Avy 38 right now to not get another Dorado, but every time they go on sale it’s tempting…

I will note it is the only USD fork I’ve ridden, so @johnsogr’s reply above probably helps a bit more comparing usd-to-usd. And if I had to warrant a guess, it’s probably stiffer than the flash 38 or Infinity, but it also comes with a weight penalty. 

I've been riding a Dorado since 2018. First on my Pole 176 and now on my Nicolai G1. I use it for everything from 7 hour all day rides in the alps to smashing out laps at the bikepark to riding my own backcountry trails. My bike is heavy at 19kg (42lb) but with the right gearing (22T front chain ring) I can get up all the climbs and ride all day. The Dorado is heavier than a single crown fork but the performance is next level and unlike the boxxer the turning radius is pretty good. I really recommend it. I'm light at 60kg (132lb) and notice the increased stiffness compared to a single crown. I suspect it will be even more obvious for you. 

Hi,

Good discussion.

I have a Flash 35 from 2023 and I wanted to try the new stiffer 38 so I sold my 35 and ordered the 38.

Will be interesting to see if I will notice the difference.

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Need a place to store your suspension tunes or keep track of parts maintenance forecasts?

https://MTB-Tracker.com

Hard not to notice I guess, it’s a monster, really huge 

Anyone here that has ridden both 35 and 38 with 20mm axle?

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Need a place to store your suspension tunes or keep track of parts maintenance forecasts?

https://MTB-Tracker.com

I switched from the Edge to the 38, and the difference in lateral stiffness is pretty significant. Of course, the added weight is noticeable too—it took me a little while to get used to it. But I don't notice it anymore, not even on sharper, more technical sections. It goes exactly where I point it, without hesitation

Nice, you ate also using 20mm axle? 

38 vs 35 weight difference is about 200g so for my part I guess I'm not going to notice the weight difference going from 35 to 38.

What about new internals like smooth operator?

I've been using the linearizer but it always felt a bit hard Imo.

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Need a place to store your suspension tunes or keep track of parts maintenance forecasts?

https://MTB-Tracker.com

As a follow-up to my questions earlier in this thread, I ended up getting a flash 38 with 20mm axle (was debating between a flash/infinity/dorado). I decided I didn't want to pedal a dual crown around; mostly out of fear of being a "poser" if I wasn't sending everything in sight. 

I'm stoked on my choice. The flash is insane. Broke it on a week-long trip to Squamish and Whistler. It started off butter-smooth; after a day and a half, it somehow got even better. I did feel some torsional flex a couple times - once when landing a jump awkwardly, and possibly in a fast smooth berm (but also could have been my radial magic mary?). Otherwise, it handled steep slab, fast chunky rock, roots, etc beautifully.

The fork feels more supportive than my mezzer, while offering a much more comfortable ride. Was it worth the price difference? Hard to say but I don't regret buying it at this point.

Ok gang... I need the collective group think to help talk me into or out of yolo'ing a USD fork for a whistler trip I leave for in a week.  My reasons are mostly stupid... I dislocated my right ring finger 6 weeks ago and it's not quite as healed as I was hoping for, but I'm just going to keep my plans for whistler and hope for the best.  The reason I'm considering this last minute swap is that while my grip strength seems good enough, I'm worried about braking bumps and impacts aggravating my joint.  

My current fork is a 38 grip x2 with a smashpot @ 170mm and it's on a v6 nomad with an 11.6 and a cascade link.  I demo'd both a Fox Podium and a v1 Push Nine One.  In my time riding both, I preferred the podium mostly because it felt more familiar to me from a front end accuracy and stiffness perspective.  In my time demo'ing both, my struggles with the v1 Nine One were that there was not enough bottom out resistance even if I went up a spring rate... I believe that is resolved now with the V2.  The bigger problem was perceived front end accuracy in situations with high load on the front end and at high rates of speed.  I believe that my front hub situation was less then optimum as I rode the Nine One with a dt350 (not good) and a i9 1/1 better but still not great.  

I digress... as I type this, it all seems stupid as my 38 with a smashpot is very good and I've been pretty happy with it on past bike park trips.  My take on the current crop of USD forks is that I have gripes with either to some degree.  I just can't shake my current situation of spending 5 days up in whistler, with what I hear is a particularly bad year for dry conditions and braking bumps, with a less the perfect hand.  My take on USD forks is that they are not universally better then a 38 or Zeb with a few hundred dollars in upgrades... but in situations where the front end is loaded they stay more active and send less feedback to the bars.  Something that I'm particularly interested in with my current situation.  

Cost and terrible american capitalist consumer vibes not withstanding... for the love of my sanity please reality check me.  

Have you ridden Whistler before?

Yeah, I go up for 4-6 days of riding every year and have for the last 5 years, so I have a decent idea of what to expect.  From the sounds of it, conditions are worse this year then all of the past years I've been up there.    Last year I was running a 180mm 38 with a v1 smashpot with a 45lb spring and I was pretty happy with it... but I had been riding a bunch before hand and was feeling really good.  That will not be the case this year... I already realize I'm going to have to dial my expectations back... and I suppose that's the answer.  Stick with the known commodity and adjust myself as necessary... I guess I'm just grasping at straws for how to ensure I have a good trip this year, and I guess the answer is that I'm the one that controls that, not some equipment change.  

I just did my first trip there ever last week and I was a bit overwhelmed by how much bigger and faster everything was compared to the other bike parks I’ve been to lmao

Im on a Nomad 7 Fox 38 X2 with a Telum and thats the first time I’ve ever felt under-gunned on an enduro bike. I can’t speak to historical conditions but  the brake bumps were plentiful and firm. 

I guess if you want to talk yourself into new gear you can but I can’t see how a USD fork would improve the situation over your current setup. I’d maybe consider renting a DH bike because at a certain point there’s no replacement for displacement.