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Customer Review: DVO Diamond Fork

We've seen forks from DVO and Manitou battle the ranks held by Rockshox and Fox. Here in this review, our customer Frank Parker is excited to have chosen a DVO Diamond fork for his Specialized Stumpjumper 27.5+ trail bike. Read more!

I decided to do a custom build with a Specialized Stumpjumper S-Works 27.5+ as my fun do it all bike for the Colorado trails. Choosing a fork was a no-brainer. I spent all last season on the Fox Factory 36 and the previous season on the Rockshox Pike RCT3, with the Pike being buttery smooth on my local Rocky Mountain trails. The Pike was easy to find the perfect settings as well as to maintain. I kept my eyes pealed on the used market for a Lyric or Pike 29/27.5+. Both forks were selling around $700 used. I was always curious about the DVO Diamond, but couldn’t budget a new one. Luckily I stumbled onto Worldwide Cyclery’s website and found the newest DVO Diamond Boost 29/27.5+.

Setting up the DVO Diamond was simple. I trust all suspension companies to provide a setup guide/chart to give me a start for the settings. DVO provides the best information by far. I was able to quickly set the suspension for my weight and riding style using DVO’s online guides and videos. Do yourself a favor and watch one of their videos and be amazed with the information you can quickly gather from the employees. The only suspension setting that I was unfamiliar with was the Off-The-Top (OTT) setting, which adjusts the preload on the negative spring using an allen key. I watched DVO’s videos about OTT to better understand the setting and used the OTT setting that DVO recommended. It’s great having well made employee videos for assistance. The DVO Diamond was the easiest fork I’ve initially setup with all of the great information that DVO supplies.

DVO Diamond Fork Review
I can’t provide an extreme trail bashing review of the DVO Diamond yet. Per doctors orders, I’m not supposed to be riding for another couple months due to a shattered clavicle, but I figured post surgery rehabilitation rides on the trails of Moab would help me heal quicker as well as test out the new Diamond. I decided to test my new metal clavicle and DVO Diamond on Moab’s Hymasa and Captain Ahab loop. I’ve only ridden this trail a couple times and love the technical lines. Captain Ahab requires jumping up rocks, technical climbs, double drops, and a descent down a rocky ledge inches from a cliff. To make it more interesting there was an additional 6 inches of fresh snow covering the trails. Good thing I had 27.5x2.8 Maxxis laced wheels perfectly mounted in the boosted DVO Diamond, with more room to spare for whatever 3.0’s I mount up in the future. The front end felt solid. The stock settings let me hop up rocks and jump off the ledges without worry. Every pedal was predictable. I held lines without any worry of losing the front end, even with the additional snow on the trail. The factory mud guard kept the snow and fine Moab dirt off the fork seals.

DVO Diamond Fork Review

Day 2 we broke trail on the Porcupine Rim. We pushed the bikes through miles of snow, spent the middle 9 miles riding through snow banks, down the snowy ledges, and on some faster melted areas, needing to hike out the last mile. The Diamond kept me planted to the ground the entire 14 miles. Day 3 on the Slickrock Trail was my final ride. 15 chilly degrees at sunrise and not another soul around. The Slickrock climbs are hard when the rocks are dry, but add on a few inches of snow to the shadowy areas and it makes for quite the test of bike and body. The trail became steep enough for my nose to be tickled by the tires knobs while the Diamond kept me glued to the slickrock. I had the fork wide open, my tired arms and legs pushing and pulling the bike in every direction, while the Diamond remained planted without any unnecessary bobbling. Any unexpected rebound would have sent me flipping backward and sausage rolling down the rock face. I felt perfectly balanced at all times with the Diamond the entire trip. The DVO Diamond inspired confidence even with its base settings. I have a few months to refine the settings and return to Moab to eat up the Whole Enchilada on this bike. I couldn’t be happier with the DVO Diamond. Thanks Worldwide Cyclery for getting me on such a well built high-end fork.