I know this has been talked about a bunch but its kinda wild experiencing it yourself. Its amazing how much ramp the air in the fork...
I know this has been talked about a bunch but its kinda wild experiencing it yourself. Its amazing how much ramp the air in the fork lowers causes. I had my air cap off to change some volume spacers and I pushed down on the fork out of curiosity and it was difficult to get the fork to full compression with just the air in the lowers.
FWIW, the negative part of the airspring also plays a role here. Removing the top cap only removes the positive spring side from the equation.
Blew the compression (again) on this DVO, about 400 miles on it, maybe less. This frame has a 3:1 leverage ratio, and 30% progressive (I still hit the bottom too much).
Are there any other non premium brands out there you guys could recommend that might hold up better?
I briefly owned a topaz back in the t2 days (in 2016) and constantly had reliability issues. No comment on their current stuff... but it doesn't surprise me given how many challenges I had back then.
I would just buy a take-off float x or rockshox super deluxe. I can't tell what frame that is, but seems like it has a rocker link and not a yoke, so your coil options may be worth a look. You can get a heck of a coil shock these days in the 150-200 range that is a self/home service away from being good as new. Bomber CRs with a fluid focus home tune are also worth a look... find one for 150, buy 150-200 worth of upgrade/service parts and have an insanely good shock.
I briefly owned a topaz back in the t2 days (in 2016) and constantly had reliability issues. No comment on their current stuff... but it doesn't...
I briefly owned a topaz back in the t2 days (in 2016) and constantly had reliability issues. No comment on their current stuff... but it doesn't surprise me given how many challenges I had back then.
I would just buy a take-off float x or rockshox super deluxe. I can't tell what frame that is, but seems like it has a rocker link and not a yoke, so your coil options may be worth a look. You can get a heck of a coil shock these days in the 150-200 range that is a self/home service away from being good as new. Bomber CRs with a fluid focus home tune are also worth a look... find one for 150, buy 150-200 worth of upgrade/service parts and have an insanely good shock.
The clearance is tight, most coils would struggle. Since this is an ebike I need air anyways as all my friends end up on it and vary in weight.
I've already posted this on another forum; maybe it'll spark some interest here, too:
Context: Forbidden Druid V2, size S4:
For the past few weeks, I've been riding a Lyrik Flight Attendant and a Super Deluxe—also converted to Flight Attendant—in combination with a GX power meter crank (155 mm) on the Druid V2.
I have to say, it’s really awesome. Sure, you could argue that it’s just a glorified lockout, but it actually works really well.
On the road or flat trails, it’s in lock mode 98% of the time—you really get the feeling that all your effort is going into propulsion. It works really well even when standing on the pedals on steep asphalt climbs. As soon as there’s one (!) small bump, it switches to “Pedal” mode—a semi-locked position. And when you stop pedaling and/or the bike “leans forward” (going downhill), it opens up.
The only “drawback” is that the “old” FA Lyrik (I’m not familiar with the new one) apparently doesn’t have a quiet damping cartridge, like you’re used to with the Charger 3.0+. But since the suspension makes litte robo-noises every time it switches mode anyway, I think I can get used to it.
Edit: second drawback: with the FA module installed on the Druid, the rebound is now practically impossible to adjust—it’s totally messed up. But I don’t mess with it that often anyway...
My conclusion is: Definitely pretty cool for bike nerds and “tech-savvy” folks, but not exactly a must-have. It does, however, give the Druid a noticeable “efficiency boost” in uphill mode. I like it!
Carbon uppers, Cerakote® Transfer Grey crowns, gold details. For years, Intend's wildest ideas stayed one-offs: show bikes, prototypes, rumours. Now they finally have a home of their own. Meet Unicorn, the new direct-to-rider label for curated, small-batch Intend products, launching with two flagships built to win World Cups.
HELLO THERE
My name is Harald Bogdan. I’ve been riding bikes for as long as I can remember, and the first workshop experience came soon after. I ran my own bike shop in Karlsruhe, did my time as a world cup mechanic and then worked on the technical side in retail and at manufacturer level.
I've known Cornelius for years from the Freiburg bike bubble and have followed Intend's journey closely. What always stood out to me were the projects off the beaten track: the carbon fork, moto suspension, special colours and much more. The possibilities seem endless, but lots of it stayed a one-off or a special edition, which led me to the question: why is that?
"With Intend growing and daily orders for forks, brakes and shocks in standard configuration, there's rarely any time left for the extraordinary projects. That's also why the carbon fork never went into production, and why it's now time to put these things in other hands."
-CORNELIUS KAPFINGER · FOUNDER, INTEND BC
ROOM TO FOCUS
Unicorn gives Intend room to focus. The aim for the core Intend lineup is to move away from limited batch releases and keep as many products as possible permanently available, through the channels riders and shops already know. Right now, for example, the team in Freiburg is working on scaling up brake production.
HOW UNICORN WORKS
So I convinced Cornelius to let me drive the extraordinary projects forward. Under the Unicorn (by Intend) label, we make curated products. We pick what's feasible, set a quantity and get going. Sometimes that means carbon, sometimes a different anodising, sometimes single pieces from leftover stock.
Built first, then released. Unicorn products aren't made to order. They're produced first and then made available to buy.
Trusted Performance: Every Unicorn is based on an Intend product and developed in close collaboration with the team in Freiburg, so the latest Intend technology goes into every Unicorn product, without exception.
Small numbers, on purpose. Every release has a fixed quantity. When it's gone, it's gone.
THE WISHBOX
Your feedback is at the heart of it. In the Wishbox, we collect ideas for what should come next. Which colours are trending? Which options deserve a closer look? Which combination have you always wanted to see on your bike? The more riders back an idea, the higher it climbs on our list. The best ideas often come from the community pool. And if a wish doesn't make it this time, it usually just hasn't gathered enough voices yet. So share it, push it, and bring your friends.
One thing needs to be clear, though: Unicorn is not a custom shop. We can't build one-offs to individual specs the way a frame builder or a shoemaker would. Custom-anodising different parts to individual orders is a bottomless pit on its own, and things are bound to go wrong. Seeing an order like that through to the end is next to impossible.
TWO FLAGSHIPS. ONE WORLD CHAMPION.
To celebrate the start properly, we're launching with two flagships: the Infinity World Cup and the Edge World Cup. The name isn't just for show. On October 18, Raphaela Richter won the Enduro World Championships in Finale Ligure, Italy.
WEIGHT OF A HERO. STIFFER THAN FLASH.
Thanks to its carbon upper tubes, the Edge WC weighs only as little as our Hero fork and is stiffer than the Flash. That gives it a superior weight-to-stiffness ratio, exactly what you want when every second counts.
INFINITY WORLD CUP
Intend's dual-crown downhill fork in its most extreme form: carbon upper tubes, crowns in Cerakote® Transfer Grey and gold details, assembled by hand in Freiburg.
WEIGHT: 3050 g TRAVEL: 170-200 mm AXLE: 15 and 20mm BRAKE MOUNT: 200/203, 220/223 OFFSET: 48mm AXLE-TO- CROWN: 591.5 (180mm travel) STEM MOUNT: Direct Mount MSRP: €2.899 EUR
EDGE WORLD CUP
The single-crown upside-down fork for the fastest enduro stages on the planet. Like its big brother, it comes with carbon upper tubes, a Cerakote® Transfer Grey crown and gold details, based on the latest Intend Edge.
Sales stay as close to the rider as possible. Unicorn products are available exclusively direct, in the online shop at unicorn.bike, as long as stock lasts. Since they're limited products, they're sold B2C only through https://unicorn.bike The regular Intend lineup is not affected and remains available as usual to customers directly and other partners alike.
I told the intend guys to bring back the infinity EN, as lots of people would take it off my hands/bike.. well, now its from my 12 YO son's bike, who was roking it to podium in the rookies cup/champs..... but with the ful DH version, I am ok too ! just make it normal alloy ; ), not everybody wants the unicorns
Is there any particular tech they’re using in moto that would be new in MTB, or is it a case of good design, excellently executed?
FWIW, the negative part of the airspring also plays a role here. Removing the top cap only removes the positive spring side from the equation.
Blew the compression (again) on this DVO, about 400 miles on it, maybe less. This frame has a 3:1 leverage ratio, and 30% progressive (I still hit the bottom too much).
Are there any other non premium brands out there you guys could recommend that might hold up better?
I briefly owned a topaz back in the t2 days (in 2016) and constantly had reliability issues. No comment on their current stuff... but it doesn't surprise me given how many challenges I had back then.
I would just buy a take-off float x or rockshox super deluxe. I can't tell what frame that is, but seems like it has a rocker link and not a yoke, so your coil options may be worth a look. You can get a heck of a coil shock these days in the 150-200 range that is a self/home service away from being good as new. Bomber CRs with a fluid focus home tune are also worth a look... find one for 150, buy 150-200 worth of upgrade/service parts and have an insanely good shock.
The clearance is tight, most coils would struggle. Since this is an ebike I need air anyways as all my friends end up on it and vary in weight.
Get a recent Float X or get an old one (i.e. MY22-24) and send it to Fluid Focus. Reliable and durable shock.
EXT just dropped the V2 ARIA air shock, as well as a new DH version: https://www.vitalmtb.com/news/press-release/ext-introduces-aria-v2-and-aria-v2-dh. Our experience with the first generation was very positive, so if this is a further improvement, it should be very good indeed.
I've already posted this on another forum; maybe it'll spark some interest here, too:
Context: Forbidden Druid V2, size S4:
For the past few weeks, I've been riding a Lyrik Flight Attendant and a Super Deluxe—also converted to Flight Attendant—in combination with a GX power meter crank (155 mm) on the Druid V2.
I have to say, it’s really awesome. Sure, you could argue that it’s just a glorified lockout, but it actually works really well.
On the road or flat trails, it’s in lock mode 98% of the time—you really get the feeling that all your effort is going into propulsion. It works really well even when standing on the pedals on steep asphalt climbs. As soon as there’s one (!) small bump, it switches to “Pedal” mode—a semi-locked position. And when you stop pedaling and/or the bike “leans forward” (going downhill), it opens up.
The only “drawback” is that the “old” FA Lyrik (I’m not familiar with the new one) apparently doesn’t have a quiet damping cartridge, like you’re used to with the Charger 3.0+. But since the suspension makes litte robo-noises every time it switches mode anyway, I think I can get used to it.
Edit: second drawback: with the FA module installed on the Druid, the rebound is now practically impossible to adjust—it’s totally messed up. But I don’t mess with it that often anyway...
My conclusion is: Definitely pretty cool for bike nerds and “tech-savvy” folks, but not exactly a must-have. It does, however, give the Druid a noticeable “efficiency boost” in uphill mode. I like it!
Intend is at it again, making special stuff - and this time, it's serious!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Introducing Unicorn by Intend
Carbon uppers, Cerakote® Transfer Grey crowns, gold details. For years, Intend's wildest ideas stayed one-offs: show bikes, prototypes, rumours. Now they finally have a home of their own. Meet Unicorn, the new direct-to-rider label for curated, small-batch Intend products, launching with two flagships built to win World Cups.
HELLO THERE
My name is Harald Bogdan. I’ve been riding bikes for as long as I can remember, and the first workshop experience came soon after. I ran my own bike shop in Karlsruhe, did my time as a world cup mechanic and then worked on the technical side in retail and at manufacturer level.
I've known Cornelius for years from the Freiburg bike bubble and have followed Intend's journey closely. What always stood out to me were the projects off the beaten track: the carbon fork, moto suspension, special colours and much more. The possibilities seem endless, but lots of it stayed a one-off or a special edition, which led me to the question: why is that?
"With Intend growing and daily orders for forks, brakes and shocks in standard configuration, there's rarely any time left for the extraordinary projects. That's also why the carbon fork never went into production, and why it's now time to put these things in other hands."
-CORNELIUS KAPFINGER · FOUNDER, INTEND BC
ROOM TO FOCUS
Unicorn gives Intend room to focus. The aim for the core Intend lineup is to move away from limited batch releases and keep as many products as
possible permanently available, through the channels riders and shops already know. Right now, for example, the team in Freiburg is working on scaling up brake production.
HOW UNICORN WORKS
So I convinced Cornelius to let me drive the extraordinary projects forward. Under the Unicorn (by Intend) label, we make curated products. We pick what's feasible, set a quantity and get going. Sometimes that means carbon, sometimes a different anodising, sometimes single pieces from leftover stock.
THE WISHBOX
Your feedback is at the heart of it. In the Wishbox, we collect ideas for what should come next. Which colours are trending? Which options deserve a closer look? Which combination have you always wanted to see on your bike? The more riders back an idea, the higher it climbs on our list. The best ideas often come from the community pool. And if a wish doesn't make it this time, it usually just hasn't gathered enough voices yet. So share it, push it, and bring your friends.
unicorn.bike/wishbox
WHAT UNICORN ISN'T
One thing needs to be clear, though: Unicorn is not a custom shop. We can't build one-offs to individual specs the way a frame builder or a shoemaker would. Custom-anodising different parts to individual orders is a bottomless pit on its own, and things are bound to go wrong. Seeing an order like that through to the end is next to impossible.
TWO FLAGSHIPS. ONE WORLD CHAMPION.
To celebrate the start properly, we're launching with two flagships: the Infinity World Cup and the Edge World Cup. The name isn't just for show. On October 18, Raphaela Richter won the Enduro World Championships in Finale Ligure, Italy.
WEIGHT OF A HERO. STIFFER THAN FLASH.
Thanks to its carbon upper tubes, the Edge WC weighs only as little as our Hero fork and is stiffer than the Flash. That gives it a superior weight-to-stiffness ratio, exactly what you want when every second counts.
INFINITY WORLD CUP
Intend's dual-crown downhill fork in its most extreme form: carbon upper tubes, crowns in Cerakote® Transfer Grey and gold details, assembled by hand in Freiburg.
WEIGHT: 3050 g
TRAVEL: 170-200 mm
AXLE: 15 and 20mm
BRAKE MOUNT: 200/203, 220/223
OFFSET: 48mm
AXLE-TO- CROWN: 591.5 (180mm travel)
STEM MOUNT: Direct Mount
MSRP: €2.899 EUR
EDGE WORLD CUP
The single-crown upside-down fork for the fastest enduro stages on the planet. Like its big brother, it comes with carbon upper tubes, a Cerakote® Transfer Grey crown and gold details, based on the latest Intend Edge.
WEIGHT: 2230 grams
TRAVEL: 150-180mm
AXLE: 15mm
BRAKE MOUNT: 200/203, 220/223
OFFSET: 44mm
AXLE-TO- CROWN: 591.5 (180mm travel)
MSRP: €2.549 EUR
STRAIGHT TO THE RIDER
Sales stay as close to the rider as possible. Unicorn products are available exclusively direct, in the online shop at unicorn.bike, as long as stock lasts. Since they're limited products, they're sold B2C only through https://unicorn.bike The regular Intend lineup is not affected and remains available as usual to customers directly and other partners alike.
And already sold out - crazy! Well done to Cornelius and the team. Much deserved.
I told the intend guys to bring back the infinity EN, as lots of people would take it off my hands/bike.. well, now its from my 12 YO son's bike, who was roking it to podium in the rookies cup/champs..... but with the ful DH version, I am ok too ! just make it normal alloy ; ), not everybody wants the unicorns
Silly idea
38 bandit carbon without gold and non pressed/glued crowns.
Intend definitely understands their buyers lol
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