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Suspension

Formula Nero DH Forks

Italian brand continues to expand

Any fan of downhill will not fail to recognise Formula’s long standing association with the sport. After all they produced the first hydraulic brakes back in 1993 as used by Anne Caroline Chausson, Nico Vouilloz to huge success. When the mighty Honda arrived on the scene a decade later it was the Italian brand they turned to and ran 220mm discs on their Formula brakes.

Today marks a new era for them as they launch their Nero triple clamp downhill fork. The coil version of this 35mm fork features the usual high and low speed compression and rebound adjustments but its the air version that sees a new development in its three way air adjust which is deigned to bring the possibility of a full tune through the shape of the curve of your fork on the hill without the need for any pit dismantling.

Formula believe this air version to be aimed at pros but in truth its a system that anyone can use pretty simply. The three air system features gold and silver valves on the top of the leg and bronze at the rear. The gold is the bottom out control but in reality it’s a bit more than that and controls matters from 110-120mm.

The fork has base settings on the lowers and also an inflating sequence which has to be followed. I took a run down a Val Di Sole downhill run yesterday and found the recommendations good, certainly within five percent on the short time I spent on the fork.

As with any fork its always a question of knowing what exactly you’re after plus a huge variety of other factors that input to the front end of the bike – frame stiffness, wheel tension, tyre durometer. More than this its also about your philosophy on how to set the fork up. Even around the pits of the pro teams here in the World Cup finals riders are still searching.

The Nero comes in at 20mm Boost and comes with adaptors for discs. Pricing is going to be strong and will be less than a Fox 40 and comparable to a RockShox Boxxer. Available from December in both 27.5″ and 29″ the Nero marks the start of a new era from this hugely respected brand.

From Formula:

What does every downhill rider look for? The answer is simple: the perfect suspension. Unfortunately, however, that doesn’t exist. The reason being that there is no perfect rider, because everyone has got his or her own riding style, different from all the others.

The perfect suspension doesn’t exist because there is no such thing as a perfect trail. Trails vary from place to place and from run to run. Loose rocks, rain, mud, lines that develop from other riders – all these factors make the trail in front of you during your descent unpredictable. Instead of finding a setup that works quite well in most situations, instead the aim should be to find the most easily and quickly adaptable suspension for any situation.

The perfect fork doesn’t exist, but what if you could have a fork that was easily adaptable to every situation? This was our goal when we decided to design our first downhill fork. Nero is the result of this journey.

The 3Air is the technological heart of the Nero R. The fork features a three air chamber system: Gold (end-stroke progressivity), Silver (positive) and Bronze (negative). The use of this technology allows full customisation of the spring curve.

The big advantage is not only to be able to shape the fork’s performance the finest amount, but also to do it quickly and easily.

Thanks to the 3Air system, you will be able to accurately adjust your fork without taking it of the bike, without using tools, without having to use internal air volume spacers; all you will need is a shock pump.

With 3Air, you can quickly find the perfect setup for your fork, and quickly change it if needed to the specific needs of a race course or weather conditions.
The range of adjustments are so wide that you will be able to manipulate the spring curve using only air. In other words, the advantage of the 3Air system is to be able to obtain any type of performance, including the feeling of a coil spring, but with fine-tuning options that a traditional air system, or a coil spring, can’t provide.

Furthermore, given the short amount of time you need to set your bike up, you can stay focused on choosing the lines for your race run.

Visit the following link to watch the tutorial on how to adjust the three air chambers on the Nero R: youtu.be/_YwXRwLgp5c

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