Over the past few years Magura have come on in leaps and bounds with their fork range. The long travel Wotan has certainly won us over as did the all mountain Laurin range.
For 2008 comes the new Durin fork, which fills the 100mm, lightweight XC gap rather nicely. Described as a race weapon, the Durin doesn't look like your regular waif-like XC fork, which is no bad thing in our opinion. The 100mm Durin is a likely contender to the Rock Shox's Reba and Marzocchi's Corsa and XC range. Whereas the 80mm Durin is an obvious short travel race fork and will compete against the likes of a SID.
The extra weight, of which there's little, has certainly made the fork stiff. Tipping the scales at 1450g (3.19lb) for the 80mm version and 1.480g (3.26lb) for the 100mm version, the few additional grams will bother only the most weight obsessed of riders.
Magura's distinctive Dual Arch Design (DAD) lowers slide on what now seem to be the standard width 32mm upper legs which are topped off by the 6082 T6 hollowed out fork crown. The white certainly looks racy especially with one of the legs dipped in a bit of blood red paint.
The Durins are stiff for a 100mm lightweight fork, something which is particularly noticeable when comparing them to a lighter Rock Shox SID race fork. The 80mm Durins feel tight and precise with incredibly quick handling. For a sub 3.3lb fork the stiffness feels great, allowing you to ride it like its bigger, harder hitting siblings.
On the surface there's a welcome lack of knobs and dials. You've got the usual rebound adjuster at the base of the right leg. Air goes in at the top of the left leg and there's a lockout on the right with the option of attaching a remote lever. It's all efficiently executed, simple and easy to live with. Once you're on the go there's little urge to play with it unless you like messing around with lockout levers and knobs. The high quality and overall feel of the fork is one that is built to last rather than require thoroughbred pampering you often undertake with more delicate race forks.
The blue dial is for lockout only and there is an option of a bar mounted remote control lever. This is far better made than Magura's earlier levers but we don't really see why you'd want to lock out a fork like this anyway. The disc calliper attaches to a post mount and will take a 6'' discs. Forward facing safety dropouts sit at the base of each leg.
The Durins will be available at the end of July and will cost in the region of €799 (about £538) - with the UK price to be confirmed nearer to launch. We'll be giving these forks a thorough testing in the coming months and we'll keep posted on how they're performing.
PRICING UPDATE FOR THE UK (17/07/2007)
The official RRP for the Durin's in the UK is now £499 and the forks should be in stock by the end of July.