DVO Onyx D1 38 SL

When DVO suspension blipped on my radar, I was already enamored with the current crop of burly 38mm legged single crown forks, lending their incredible smash-ability to save my ass while learning to ride smoother. At that time, DVO forks had 36mm stanchions - that's not to say a "smaller" fork is below me, but I could tangibly feel the benefit of the 38mm forks immediately. And shit, there's many a bicycle ace getting rowdy beyond belief with the gear of yesterday, laughing in the faces of bike gear technocrats, or just not giving an F. From what I can gather, Uncle Dave last tested a DVO Diamond fork in 2017. It's been a few minutes since we've tested gear from the California-based suspension company, whose creators revolutionized bicycle forks in the late 90s.

Alas, I'm attempting to refine my riding style from caveman smash to smooth, interspersed with occasional caveman smash. At the height of summer, DVO sent over their newest suspenders - the Onyx D1 38 SL, and the Topaz Prime, an infinitely adjustable air shock. Today I'll tell you about the Onyx D1 38 SL, a 160-180mm travel single crown 38mm stanchioned enduro/e-bike fork. DVO has dialed up a stiff chassis supported by their D1 damper, propped up with a dual-chamber air spring. Let's see what the D1 38 SL is all about.

What It Is

The Onyx D1 38 SL is designed for e-bikes, enduro racing, and freeriding. Travel is adjustable in 10mm increments, from 160-180mm. With an uncut steerer, my home scale reads 2536g/5.58lb - burly. I'm not overly concerned with weight, but your mileage may vary. The chassis accommodates 29" wheels only, with a 44mm offset. Lower leg bleeders can be cracked open quickly with a 5mm hex key, alleviating pressure differences. A 15mm floating axle clamps the wheel down. The brake post mount is 203mm - FFS, can we please have incremental standards of 20mm instead of this nitpicky 3mm? An integrated fender is included in the box - as it should be!

DVO uses their D1 damper, which employs a bladder-type construction. The high-speed compression circuit offers audible clicks, but DVO recommends adjusting in half rotations instead, offering 10 HSC settings. Low-speed compression is added by rotating the knob counter-clockwise, with a total of 5 clicks. There are 24 available clicks of rebound adjustment. The dual-chamber air spring is tunable with up to four included volume spacers, via a standard cassette tool.

Setup

I mounted the Onyx D1 38 to my long-term test rig, a Rocky Mountain Altitiude. DVO's pressure chart suggests 70-80 PSI for riders between 200-219lb. I aired the Onyx up to 75 PSI, splitting the difference between soft and firm pressures for my weight. I often find pressure charts on the soft side, so arriving at 20% sag was surprising. More surprising was that I'm not 205-210lb, but 185lb! Turns out that Sunshine Coast pedaling drastically reduces North Shore shuttle pudge, sweet! Regardless, I stuck with 75 PSI as I prefer the feeling of a stiff fork. I dialed in the D1 damper to suggested baseline compression settings, and set the rebound as fast as possible without getting bucked. I opened up the air spring and installed two volume spacers, I prefer a ramp at the end-stroke instead of a linear feel. From closed, I ran LSC at 3, HSC at 6, and rebound at 14.

The Ride

My first ride with the Onyx D1 38 SL was in the Whistler Bike Park, post-Crankworx. Tell me a better way to test suspension than using a chairlift? Far from tacky Coastal BC hero dirt, the August soil baked for weeks in 30°C-plus temperatures without a drop of rain, smashed to literal bits by thousands of riders. Terra firma's summer decay had formed dusty ruts, chunky braking bumps, and kitty-litter filled corners, threatening grip everywhere.

Warming up, I trepidatiously chased a steezy racer buddy who knew smooth WBP lines. Even at 20% sag, the Onyx felt very buttery in the top part of its stroke, and quite supportive. I was surprised with the amount of grip I could generate on the front end, particularly in dry conditions I often whinge about. I didn't notice much chatter transmitting into my hands, nor was I death-gripping the bar. Steering accuracy felt as high as any other 38mm fork, no more, no less.

Steeper laps shone a light on the supportive feel of the D1 damper, staying fairly high in the travel without diving too far into the mid-stroke. The rebound circuit is audibly present, with some damper swooshing telling me when the oil was returning home. When I chose a bad line ending up in a deep dusty hole, most if not all of my available travel had been used up, albeit without a nasty clank from bottoming out. This affirmed my choice to install volume spacers. The HSC circuit feels relatively smooth, but I can't say there's a silky wow-factor over repeated big hits in rapid succession - it just works, without reminding me I need to do more pushups. Still - I need to do more pushups in general.

Inverse to my Whistler experience, I ended up in Revelstoke after a large rainstorm. I opened up the high and low-speed compression to comply with the single-digit temperatures, leaving my rebound fairly fast. Mud and squidgy dirt had replaced dust. The Onyx D1 38 SL felt composed on flow trails and excelled with a sensitive grip on troughed-out wet tech laced with snaky roots. Teeing up a 4M ladder drop into a perfect transition, I nosed into the landing, accelerating away like dropping into a quarter pipe with a BMX. I'd used just over half of my available travel - the midstroke support shining through, though less than my giant grin from hitting a bigger air than I'd regularly be comfortable with.

Regarding damper adjustment, each click of low-speed compression offers an incremental feel. Using full turns on the high-speed compression circuit instead of half turns worked best for me to differentiate feel. The 24 rebound clicks felt most useable toward the closed end of their range, with two clicks changing the feel more than one.

Last words

DVO has done an admirable job building a completely new fork in the 38mm department. The setup guide is straightforward and precipitates a great ride feel, with easy tweaking to achieve a more honed ride feel. The Onyx D1 38 SL feels stiff without being harsh, and quite damp, in a good sense. I haven't noticed any degradation in performance over the last two months of testing in bike parks and my local trails. I intend on bolting it to an ebike for some winter thrashing, and I'll report back as to how that goes.

At 1550 CAD/1150 USD, the Onyx D1 38 SL sits in the realm of premium suspension and is worth considering for a decidedly different take than the big players.

DVO Onyx D1 38