Ohlins Racing Suspension Forks

Mapping the Ohlins Fork Family

Ohlins currently run four distinct MTB fork families, and getting the right one starts with being honest about what you actually ride. The RXF34 is the lightweight end of the range - short travel, 34mm stanchions, aimed at downcountry and light trail use where you want suspension compliance without hauling excess weight uphill. Step up to the RXF36 m.2 and you're into genuine all-mountain and enduro territory: 36mm stanchion diameter, travel options from 120mm to 160mm, and the full TTX18 damper package. This is the fork most UK enduro racers and serious trail riders will be looking at.

The RXF38 m.2 runs 38mm stanchions and is built for long-travel enduro, aggressive all-mountain, and e-MTB duties where the added chassis stiffness pays dividends under load or at speed. Then there's the DH38 m.1 - a dedicated downhill race fork with dual-crown geometry and 200mm travel. Not a trail fork that moonlights on race day; a proper DH38 race fork built specifically for lift-served descending. The 'm.1' and 'm.2' suffixes simply denote iteration updates within each platform - think of them as generation markers rather than fundamentally different products. Both the RXF36 and RXF38 are available in air or coil variants: air spring suits riders who want a wider tuning range and lighter weight, while the coil version delivers a more linear, plush feel that some riders prefer on rougher, choppier ground. If you're running an Ohlins rear shock already, pairing it with a matching fork makes suspension tuning across the whole bike considerably more coherent.

How the Ohlins Tech Actually Works

The TTX18 cartridge is what separates Ohlins from most of the competition on paper - and in practice. Twin-tube technology means there are two concentric tubes inside the damper. Oil flows through both circuits simultaneously, which keeps pressure consistent behind the piston regardless of shaft speed. The practical result is that mid-stroke support stays stable even when you're smashing through a rock garden at pace. Conventional single-tube dampers can cavitate - introducing air into the oil circuit - which causes that vague, unpredictable feel mid-stroke. The TTX18 design sidesteps that problem entirely.

The three-chamber air spring deserves equal attention. Most air forks use a positive chamber and a negative chamber, with volume spacers to alter ramp-up. Ohlins add a third, dedicated ramp-up chamber that you pressurise independently with a shock pump. Want a more progressive feel to resist bottom-out? Add pressure to the ramp-up chamber. Want a more linear feel through the mid-stroke? Reduce it. You're tuning the same characteristic that volume spacers address, but without opening the fork. It's a cleaner, faster process - and critically, it's reversible in the car park before a run if the track turns out to be different from what you expected.

The floating axle design is a smaller detail but a meaningful one. Rather than clamping rigidly, the axle is allowed to align the lowers during installation, which reduces stiction and ensures the bushings run true. Less binding means the fork moves more freely at low shaft speeds - exactly where off-the-top sensitivity matters on slow, technical trail features. Compared to the stiff, precise feel of Fox suspension forks or the progressive ramp of RockShox forks, Ohlins occupy a distinct space: highly tunable, motorsport-derived, and built for riders who want to understand and adjust every variable. DVO forks and Cane Creek forks also offer deep damper adjustability, but neither brings quite the same motorsport lineage to the low-speed compression and high-speed compression tuning stack.

Running Ohlins in British Conditions

UK riding throws specific problems at suspension that sunnier markets don't worry about much. Gritty winter mud - the kind you get grinding through the Tweed Valley or on a wet Dyfi session - accelerates wiper seal wear faster than dry-condition riding. Ohlins recommend a lower leg service every 50 hours, and in UK conditions that figure isn't conservative. It's the minimum. Treat it as a fixed point in your riding calendar rather than a guideline, and your stanchions will thank you. The full damper service sits at 100 hours, which for most club-level riders means once a season - more if you're racing regularly.

Steep, rooty enduro tracks demand a fork that's supple off the top - so it tracks the ground through slow, technical features - but has genuine mid-stroke support when the trail opens up and speeds climb. That's a difficult balance, and it's where the ramp-up chamber really earns its place. On a track like the Dyfi's steeper sections, you can run lower main chamber pressure for better small-bump sensitivity, then compensate with ramp-up chamber pressure to prevent bottoming on the bigger compressions. It's a more precise way to reach a setup that volume spacers can only approximate. Low-speed compression adjustment via the LSC dial lets you stiffen the initial stroke slightly for pedalling efficiency on the climbs without affecting the fork's behaviour under impact. High-speed compression tuning, meanwhile, governs how the fork handles sharp, fast hits - roots, square-edged rocks, unexpected compressions at speed. Getting HSC dialled for Scottish chunk is a different conversation from getting it right for Surrey Hills flow, and having both adjusters independently accessible matters.

Need replacement wiper seals, service fluids, or rebuild kits? Head over to our dedicated Ohlins spares and accessories page to keep your fork running properly between full services.