Originated from the US division of Marzocchi: DVO
The fork is upside down: with the "Emerald", DVO presents an upside-down fork for downhill and freeride use. But right from the start: former employees of Marzocchi USA have joined forces under the DVO label - the abbreviation stands for Developed Suspension. DVO founder Bryson Martin was the former director of the Marzocchi division in the USA and the other employees in the areas of sales, marketing and engineering also come from the Italian fork manufacturer's US department.

Turbulence at Marzocchi
The manufacturer with the busty bomber girls has been in turmoil recently. Marzocchi has undergone a change of ownership and now belongs to Tenneco, a supplier to the automotive industry. In addition to the new addition of bicycle forks, Tenneco's core business includes the production of shock absorbers and exhaust control systems in the original equipment and aftermarket business. Marzocchi also had to cope with the loss of SR Suntour as a manufacturer of forks, which led to a loss of OEM business for 2013. At the Taichung Bike Week, John Pelino also expressed his satisfaction at no longer working for Marzocchi: "Tenneco has destroyed the spirit of Marzocchi within a short space of time".

Stiff and synchronous
And now DVO seems to be picking up where Marzocchi left off. With SR Suntour behind them as a manufacturing partner, the Californians are presenting their own interpretation of a long-travel fork with the "Emerald". 203 millimetres of travel is nothing special, but the upside-down design is a rarity on mountain bikes.

The "CTA" or "Carbon Torsion Arch", i.e. the fork bridge, is designed to achieve outstanding torsional rigidity. Made from carbon, this bridge is connected to the magnesium dropouts of the fork and, in addition to stiffness, should also ensure synchronized compression of the fork legs. If this stiffness and the synchronous compression are also demonstrated in riding tests, DVO has succeeded in eliminating one of the few weaknesses of upside-down designs with its debut product.

Sophisticated damping
The Californians are not only innovative when it comes to the fork bridge, the damping is also lubricated with brain lard. In the "Twin Tube" design, the damping oil circulates between the chambers of the rebound and compression stages and constantly passes through these respective components. One advantage of this design is the small amount of oil required, which keeps the overall weight low. In addition, the damping components are constantly in an oil bath, which is an advantage for the response of the fork.

Of course, the air pressure of the fork can be adjusted, but the progression during compression by reducing the air chamber volume is also adjustable. The preload of the negative spring can also be individualized - it almost goes without saying that the rebound and compression stages can be adjusted in high and low speed.

DVO is completely user-friendly when it comes to adjusting the compression unit. This unit can be individually adjusted via shim stack tuning: what sounds complicated is actually easy to implement. The compression unit is located at the bottom of the fork leg and can be replaced by turning the fork over without losing oil. With two to three compression stage units, the fork should be adaptable for all areas of use.

The DVO fork is not only variable in terms of damping and can be adapted to 26-inch and 650b wheel sizes. The lower triple clamp and the CTA unit can also be replaced. The new manufacturer has set a weight target of 2900 grams. The manufacturer has left the thru-axle system without a quick release - the axle is simply clamped with an Allen key. The fork shown at the Taichung Bike Week is still in the prototype stage and is one of the first examples to be assembled. Technically, the fork should not change much in series production, but the colors - black as an option in addition to green - and the decals should still change according to DVO.

First the beginning
The manufacturer launched the "Emerald" fork at record speed, with the starting shots for this product being fired at the beginning of May 2012. And things are set to continue at this pace: at the Taichung Bike Week, a downhill damper prototype was announced, which should be out of the prototype stage by May 2013. For the enduro and all-mountain segment, DVO is expected to present a fork and a damper at Eurobike 2013.

According to Pelino from DVO, talks are underway for a distributor solution in Switzerland. Nothing has been decided yet, but the proximity of DVO to Marzocchi could also be repeated with the distribution partner for the future supplier in this country.

www.dvosuspension.com