When Cedric Gracia isn't trying to bleed himself to death, he's singing the praises of the Vital's 2013 Product of the Year. The well-executed, inverted design of our 2013 favorite is just the tip of the iceberg. The readily available adjustments on DVO's Emerald create a fork that is quickly tunable to perfectly-suit any rider or terrain. The fork is smooth, predictable, easy to service and offers a well-supported ability to take the edge off a hit in a way we had never experienced before. The unique "Off the Top” negative spring adjustment and DVO’s clever stiffness solution to the inverted fork’s biggest shortcoming, all combine to make the Emerald one of the best-performing downhill forks we’ve ever tried. In a time when others are dumb-ing things down, DVO’s push towards increased rider access to their product is a welcome breath of fresh air. For all these reasons, we’re awarding the DVO Emerald with the coveted Vital MTB Product of the Year Shreddy award. Congrats, DVO, on a job well done.
brysonbryson
1/1/2014 9:28 PM
YoYo
12/31/2013 6:00 PM
Big call on a yet to be proven product. Proven is way more credable than hype n hope. Not saying they are or will be bad, but what about Dorradoes? They offer very similer stuff but are well proven, including their stiffness or lack there of it.
Personally love my BOS forks and Void shock, my Zerode G2, my Formula TheOne brakes, my Works Components narrow wide chain ring. All proven products.
I believe enough to buy the DVOs if I needed forks, but I'd not say they're the most advanced in any way or the best YET.
beerguzlinfool
12/31/2013 3:56 PM
ryan.egusquiza
12/30/2013 11:23 AM
tbox
12/29/2013 8:12 PM
Randy_Geniec
12/29/2013 7:47 PM
bikeboardorblade
12/29/2013 5:24 PM
davetrumpore
12/29/2013 5:49 PM
diatribe69
12/30/2013 10:24 AM
Well, that's the sample size I need: one. The conundrum these "let's support the small guys" companies are in is that once their hand-made batch of 10 forks become popular, due to their quality and performance, they have to scale up and start sending stuff to Bangladesh and Nigeria to get manufactured.
Fox is a good example: Ever since they moved their manufacturing to Taiwan, their products and CS has gone to the dumps. They're barely riding their good name right now. Product managers prefer Rockshox, yet customers still expect Fox on the high end bikes.
Let's see what happens when DVO gets spec on the big bikes and have to produce more than 10 forks per year.
bikeboardorblade
12/30/2013 10:53 AM
Randy_Geniec
12/30/2013 1:36 PM