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  • DVO Topaz – Owners thoughts?
  • mboy
    Free Member

    Waiting on a Fox DPX2 for my new frame, but they’re looking like several weeks away still. Been looking at the alternatives that I can get fairly quickly, and keep hearing good things about the DVO Topaz. I’ve had a quick play with one in my hands, but never ridden one. I’ve read all the reviews that seem to rate it, I know it’s supposed to be a lot more user serviceable than most, and it seems the only criticism of it is it lacks the level of damping required for some harder/heavier riders. Well I’m 12 1/2 stone and hold my own but I’m not the hardest or heaviest rider by any stretch so…

    Will I like it…? Very subjective I know. For reference really not that impressed by RockShox Monarch RC3’s (or any of the Monarch range to be honest), they just feel like the compression damping is an afterthought. Loved the Fox X2 I had on my Wreckoning, all the adjustability under the sun, though it did take a while to get dialled in. Also liked the couple of DPS EVOL Floats I’ve tried too, albeit on more XC/trail bikes.

    Any thoughts? And crucially, how in laymans terms does the bladder pressure (175-200psi) affect the feel of the shock when riding? DVO’s description of this seems rather vague to me.

    Going on a single pivot with a very linear leverage ratio of approx 2.5:1 if that makes any difference (200×57 needed), so whatever I get needs to be able to jam it full of volume spacers to make the bike a bit more progressive methinks, certainly compared to my quite progressive Evil before hand.

    Kamakazie
    Full Member

    Also interested in user feedback on this.

    Stevelol
    Free Member

    Same 🙂 I’ve read all there is to read online about them and can’t wait to replace my pushed rp23 (although it works fine). The fact you can completely service them yourself is a big plus for me along with the sensitivity and tuning you can do to the progression of the shock.

    mboy
    Free Member

    Crikey, I wasn’t expecting swathes of responses, but nobody…? 😥

    daver27
    Free Member

    I’m about to bite the bullet and buy one for my Hightower today… cannot stand the Monarch RT3 it came with, just cannot get it to work right.

    fitnessischeating
    Free Member

    After my experience if their (lack of) customer service with a diamond, I’ll be unlikely to buy another DVO product.
    To me they are now filled in the “talk a good game, but don’t back it up” category

    Ymmv

    Stevelol
    Free Member

    I’m very surprised to hear about that, what happened?

    The comments on the mtbr threads are always absolutely singing their praises, it seems a lot of people on there have even phoned up the main tech guy (Ronnie) there and he’s talked them through using different oils and customising shim stacks etc which sounds amazing.

    Kamakazie
    Full Member

    I wonder if the experience in home country is better than export markets?
    That wouldn’t be unprecedented for smaller brands. Hope it is just a one off though as I really like the look of these.

    chakaping
    Free Member

    The interview I heard with Bryson Martin made me think they might be worth a try. There just always seem to be more appealing options out there though.

    Still reading this with interest.

    fitnessischeating
    Free Member

    The forks developed a knocking sound after a couple of rides, I tried to contact DVO directly for any advice on the matter, as would rather have cracked them open and sorted any issues than send back, be without a fork for a couple of weeks etc…
    after a few attempts at contact, and no response whatsoever, went back to the dealer, they had a similar experience, and refunded me, and I bought 36’s

    I’ve since found out that it was likely a known issue that was easy to resolve and I probably could have done it myself in about 10mins.

    So, not an out and out rant about how awful they are, but if a company won’t respond to questions at all then I don’t hold out much hope for help from them in the future.

    Fox on the other hand have MOJO with a uk phone number, and I’ve spoken to them with a fork in bits in front of me before, and had a knowledgeable person on the end of the phone help me out there and then…..

    I posted about this before, and a guy from the importers (silverfish!?) responded saying that I should have contacted them directly, and they were sorry to hear I had problems, but it was too late as by that point the dealer had sorted me out with a good offer on 36’s

    daver27
    Free Member

    aaaannd the purchase is on hold… 😆

    Stevelol
    Free Member

    To be fair, that knocking sound was an easy fix; I think it was a washer that didn’t have enough grease applied to it in the factory, the ‘fix’ was as simple as putting a dab of grease on IIRC. But I completely understand it being a royal PITA trying to get communication from a company, ‘Chris Thomas’ at Silverfish started ignoring my emails recently when I was trying to fix a Formula brake issue.

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