Just Like Christmas - Magura Laurin
About 5 months ago, I had put together a bit of a race resume and sent it off to a couple companies. I didn’t really expect much out of it, I mostly just wanted to start getting my name out there, and if I got a couple deals out of it, that was cool by me.
I got pretty much blown off by every company that I contacted, with the exception of one. That one was Magura. They got back to me quickly, were totally awesome to talk with, and although I didn’t get hooked up with any free stuff to use (didn’t really expect it anyways) they hooked me up with some good pricing on all their stuff.
Fast forward a few months to last week, and I finally decided that enough was enough with my old, beat-up Minute 2, and plunked down some cash for a brand spankin’ new Magura Laurin. It came in today, and I busted it open and headed down to the shop to throw it on the gunnar.
I love the box, this says it all. It kinda reminds me of the awesome VW commercials. (don’t forget part 2)
The fork looks incredibly beefy with the 32mm diameter stanchions and the double arch. Despite the looks, it’s definitely lighter than my old minute (not sure how much, but when we pulled the old one off, it was very noticeable holding them side by side). The construction looks solid with all the adjustment knobs being metal not plastic.
As expected, out of the box it feels incredibly smooth. Nice and plush all the way through the travel (which will be very different from present state of the minute).
It doesn’t have a lockout, but it does have “adjustable platform compression dampening” (which magura calls “albert select”). This is basically an adjustable blow-off valve so the fork doesn’t activate with small bumps. You can turn the platform compression dampening completely off with the flip of a lever on the top of the right leg, and adjust it with a gold knob in the middle. It’s definitely going to take some playing to figure out where I want it, but it seems to have a HUGE range of adjustment, so I should be able to figure out something that works.
I’ll definitely post some more thoughts on it after this weekend. I’ll have all of saturday and sunday on the sedona circumcision to figure it out. I need to get my packing list down for it, but I’m definitely going to leave a little room for a fork pump. . .
Very nice fork, I’d call it “sexy” if I had to choose one word. Allergies have gotten the best of me this week, have not even got on the bike once since the RR. Unless I make a turn for the better today, I might have to forgo the Sedona Circ.
- Chad
Link | April 4th, 2008 at 10:26 am
The Magura folks are truly my favorite folks in the industry. I’m glad you are checking out their forks! I have been on a Magura Durin 100 for about 8 months now and I love love love it. They have a strong AZ connection as well, with Jude-the-brakes-guy living down the hill in Fenix and they hold their press camp each May in Sedona.
- daralyn
Link | April 7th, 2008 at 3:33 pm
Chad – Definitely a sexy fork. I love the dual-arch, it looks super-beefy. Then again, it’s mostly covered in red dirt now, but I think that qualifies it as sexy as well. . .
We missed you at the circ this weekend, good times.
Dara – I was so impressed with those guys, they were awesome to work with and super-helpful. I’m not familiar with Jude-the-brakes-guy, but I’m hoping to be familiar with Marta-SL-the-brakes sometime when I finally decide to replace the avids on my bike right now. The Durin looked totally sweet, but I went for a little cheaper, a little heavier, and (hopefully) a little beefier with the Laurin. Once I got it dialed in, it flowed like buttah this weekend at the circ.
- Nathan
Link | April 7th, 2008 at 3:52 pm