White Brothers' forks have some interesting features, but performance of the 100mm-travel Magic 100 (an 80mm version is also available) is off the pace.
The CNC-machined structure with its skinny rounded arch and IS brake mounts looks archaic, although it’s reasonably stiff on the trail (especially the £599 20mm bolted axle version).
The air spring is adequately smooth and progressive, and the damping gets the same “it does okay most of the time” feedback from our test team. Reliability of White Brothers forks in recent years has been good.
The Magic lockout system relies on a moveable magnet to keep the compression lockout valve shut. The further away you move the magnet, the easier it is for the fork to open and take the hit.
While it does work, it’s not the smoothest or quietest system, with the on/off patter of the valve clear both in the stroke and the palm of your hands. It’s also heavy for a cross-country fork.
