# Rockshox Domain dual crown is a freeride and not downhill fork? Why?



## Speeder500 (Oct 9, 2012)

It says in this review that this shock is a freeride and not good for downhill.

I quote from the article.
RockShox Domain Dual Crown R Fork Review | Singletracks Mountain Bike Blog


> When you look at buying a Domain R, you need to be aware that this is a freeride fork and not a downhill fork.


I was thinking about using this for downhill and I am wondering if the article is correct in that this is a bad downhill fork. It says it is not great for "high-speed chatter".

Can someone explain why this fork would be bad for downhill and if there is a better dual crown fork in the same price range for downhill?


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## syl3 (Apr 23, 2008)

it's explained right there in the article, same paragraph as your quote.


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## Speeder500 (Oct 9, 2012)

I know what it says but I would like to hear why this is the case? Is it because it is a coil shock? It just does not make sense to me why and there must be a better explanation. All the article says is that it is not good at that but does not really state why. 

Is the Marzocchi 888 CR better at downhill?


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## Terminator Z (Feb 16, 2007)

I think it’s just the authors perspective/opinion. Is the Boxxer RC not a DH fork? They’re pretty much the same fork: same chassis, just lighter stanchions. 

I think the author was just trying to justify the Domain R fork as “freeride” because of its weight and lack of compression dampening. 

You can definitely ride down hill on a Domain fork. I have... They’re great entry level forks, and easy to maintain. If you are seriously considering racing, then you might want to up your budget and look at a lighter fork with more of range of adjustability.

If you can afford it, get the Domain RC (with low speed compression). 

Never ridden on a Marz 888CR, but I’m guessing adjustability is similar to the Domain RC.


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## Jayem (Jul 16, 2005)

By "freeride" they probably mean it lacks the ability to deal with high-speed impacts, which is a common issue with low-end forks. It's not "freeride", it's just low-end. This is like the old marzocchi Z1 "dropoff" and Boxxer Race models that lacked any kind of high-speed circuit. Low speed damping is fairly easy to put in a fork, as it's just an orifice and the fork doesn't have to move all that much oil all that fast, but if it's a high speed impact, you somehow have to very quickly increase the size of the orofice, which takes much more advanced circuits. Of course, it's borderline stupid to think that freeriders aren't going to ride the same kind of terrain as downhillers, the only difference being they get themselves to the top and ride trails that aren't as much downhill all the time. There's going to be plenty of high speed impacts, meaning this fork is going to be pretty crappy much of the time if it lacks high-speed damping, but by "freeride" they mean that it'll "take a drop" or a big jump, thanks to the low speed damping and coil spring + air volume.

They used shimmed damper setups from back in the late 90s with the first generation of rockshox and marzocchi forks. They moved away from this for some time, but eventually came back to it and we have some very good performing stuff now, we are even starting to see a little trickle down to some lower products like the marzocchi CR stuff that isn't terrible, as it actually has a shimmed damper in it similar to the higher end stuff. Many products still exist that don't just lack the adjustments of the higher end stuff, they lack the dampers that allow you to ride through varied terrain without the fork feeling like a jackhammer or making you lose control. Thankfully rear shocks have been pretty consistent through the years, but front forks have been all over the -bleeping- place.

Forks that "do not perform" at certain speeds are a pet peeve of mine. Jr T, Z1 Dropoff, Wedge, Z3, Z4, Z5, Monster T2, Boxxer Race, Judy T2, etc. Work ok in the showroom or in the parking lot at parking-lot speeds, but as soon as you try to do something like actually ride a DH trail, they bite you in the a$$ and you are fighting the bike the whole way down the mountain, which is not fun.


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## Speeder500 (Oct 9, 2012)

Jayem: what would be the cheapest fork that you would recommend for downhill? Weight is not an issue.


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## Jayem (Jul 16, 2005)

That marzocchi 2013 888 CR is supposed to be pretty nice for a lower-end fork, avalanche and others have commented on it, I wouldn't go with any of the older ones though. The other way to go about it is just get a cheap older fork with a good chassis (old 888 of almost any kind) and get an avalanche cartridge for it (Avalanche Downhill Racing) That would outperform most everything, but you obviously have to start with a decent chassis. There are often lots of "tired" DH forks out there that have fairly blown dampers, but you can breathe new life into them by retrofitting an avalanche cartridge.


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## meSSican (Aug 8, 2010)

I think it works fine for someone cutting their teeth DHing, and it would be any easy fork to get comfortable tearing down for service. No it is not a world cup fork but if your out o have fun on a budget it will serve that. Sure when one gets better they would want better but that is true for all things. My wife rides DH with a Domain R and loves it. Granted she is not hucking it but is getting faster and trying bigger things and not a single complaint. I would recommend getting the Motion Control damper for it for a bit more adjust-ability for high speed compression and that runs about $60.
Amazon.com: RockShox Domain 318 Compression Damper: Sports & Outdoors

All that said it really depends on how much you are spending on the Domain. I paid $800 for a new Boxxer R2C2.


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## Speeder500 (Oct 9, 2012)

This fork seems to be the more updated fork then what was in the review. It is a Domain RC
Amazon.com: RockShox Domain RC - Coil 200 mm, (Maxle Lite 20, (1-1/8, 26 - Inch), Black): Sports & Outdoors

Does this have the high speed dampening or high speed compression adjustment that will make it better for downhill than the fork that was in the review? You mentioned "motion control damper", and I think this fork has it.

Only reason I ask is that the review was for the Domain R, and this is the Doman RC, so maybe this one will be OK for downhill while the one in the review is not good for downhill.


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## mullen119 (Aug 30, 2009)

Jayem said:


> That marzocchi 2013 888 CR is supposed to be pretty nice for a lower-end fork, avalanche and others have commented on it, I wouldn't go with any of the older ones though. The other way to go about it is just get a cheap older fork with a good chassis (old 888 of almost any kind) and get an avalanche cartridge for it (Avalanche Downhill Racing) That would outperform most everything, but you obviously have to start with a decent chassis. There are often lots of "tired" DH forks out there that have fairly blown dampers, but you can breathe new life into them by retrofitting an avalanche cartridge.


Just out of curiosity, what is in the 2012 that makes it worse than the 2013? I dont remember reading any differences other than gold stanchions on the 13'. I may have just missed it because I dont follow Marzocchi very closely.


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## Jayem (Jul 16, 2005)

mullen119 said:


> Just out of curiosity, what is in the 2012 that makes it worse than the 2013? I dont remember reading any differences other than gold stanchions on the 13'. I may have just missed it because I dont follow Marzocchi very closely.


I don't know if it's the same, it may be, but it's hard to keep track of marzocchi, sometimes they use the same terms when they have totally different stuff. The 2013 manual describes the CR cartridge damper as having a shim-stack, and craig at avalanche actually said it's probably capable of pretty darn good performance by itself. My last DH fork was an 888 with an avalanche cartridge. The damper that was in the 888 WC stock was terrible, right before they switched to the RC3 Ti Evo stuff, which was significantly better.


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## dwyooaj (Dec 14, 2006)

the domain rc has a high-speed circuit, but it is not externally adjustable. it can be adjusted inetrnally if you are handy, theres a thread on here somewhere about that. OP, if you get the domain definitely get the rc or pop a motion control damper in there. boxxer definitely ahs more advanced/tunable damping that will be better for high speed rock gardeny stuff. I have a domain rc 160 single crown on my AM bike; its not the best fork out there but its really not too bad; feels like a big version of the old Pike and i keep thinking about replacing it with a lyric but just cant justify the expense.
However. I have a totem coil on my big bike and it sure feels smootehr than the 180 domain i used to have on it.


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## mullen119 (Aug 30, 2009)

Jayem said:


> I don't know if it's the same, it may be, but it's hard to keep track of marzocchi, sometimes they use the same terms when they have totally different stuff. The 2013 manual describes the CR cartridge damper as having a shim-stack, and craig at avalanche actually said it's probably capable of pretty darn good performance by itself. My last DH fork was an 888 with an avalanche cartridge. The damper that was in the 888 WC stock was terrible, right before they switched to the RC3 Ti Evo stuff, which was significantly better.


I think( and I may be wrong) the the current CR cartridge came out in 2012. Before that they used RCV which was a really bad.


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## meSSican (Aug 8, 2010)

2013 Rock Shox Boxxer RC Firm Coil Cut Steer Tube New | eBay

Boxxer RC from an ebay seller in canada for $680. I have bought things from them and they have been good.


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