While out in Colorado, I rented a Ripmo AF. It was a 2019 bike and came with a suspension I have personally never heard of, the DVO suspension.
I have always been a Fox fanboy, well not really a fan boy but it just happened to come on the bike(s) that I’ve purchased and never thought I wanted or needed anything different.
That was until I tried out the DVO Diamond! It was so smooth and plush compared to all the Fox forks I’ve ridden. At first I thought OK, maybe it’s because the Diamond is a longer travel than I normally ride. So I searched the web for DVO reviews, and not much was out there on the Sapphire. I took a chance and ordered the shorter travel 120mm-140mm Sapphire to see for myself.
Long story short, yes it’s a lot nicer than the Fox Factory 34 that I swapped it for! It just soaks up the tiny bumps like they weren’t even there! I wouldn’t say it was night and day difference but I could really tell it was better than the Fox.
Installation was pretty straightforward like any other fork. DVO has a lot of tutorial videos and documentation on their website to help set it up. It took me about 10 minutes to do, 5 simple steps, and the recommended settings for my weight seemed to work well!
The fork has this setting they call Over The Top(OTT) which is supposed to dial in the first 30mm of travel to your liking and the rest of travel is unaffected by this. I can attest it works! I am not sure how this differs than other brands exactly. It might be similar to the open/mid/closed setting on the Fox 34 but with a lot more adjustments in between.
I am by no means an expert on suspension, or even how to explain to you what high speed, low speed compression, rebounds mean but by my butt-o-meter this fork is a winner! I might even look into their rear shock now!