Stiff, no vibration, smooth

None, but needs service at an experienced shop 1x a year.

I love Maverick forks. This is my third one and I am looking for another DUC32 for next years build. This fork rides considerably better than the Reba it replaced. It is smooth and besides servicing it once each year, I never touch it. I raced three endurance races on it this year with out any complaints. It gets ridden 3-4 times each week. A great cross country fork, and it can handle some rougher trails if necessary. Find an experienced shop if you need service. Luby at Dirt Works always treats me well.

Similar Products Used:

Reba; DUC32; 2011 Fox Talas FIT 120

Light weight, simplicity

Blows seals regularly, especially the left side, right onto my nice Hope discs. Basically, it's trying to kill me.

I haved owned Mavericks for years and I had three at one point, but I got so fed up with them that I threw away the two on my wife's and my all-mountain bikes. Yes, I threw them away. Read on and see why I could not in good conscience sell them to someone.

I know my way around a bike, doing virtually all the maintenance on all nine of our family's bikes and got pretty good at rebuilding these forks. I realized in hind sight that it was the most common repair I was making. The problem I was always fixing was that their seals blow out at inopportune times, dumping the oil bath onto the front brake rotor. I hated worrying about when the next blowout was going to happen as I charged down a technical trail section. Of course, it tended to happen in just such technical sections where the jarring, with the help of gravit, knocked the seal loose. Not surprisingly, it really affected my attitude about riding. I was never sure I was going to be able to slow down, let alone stop if I needed to.

Even so, I did keep a SC32 (which has been returned twice to the factory) on my super lightweight singlespeed and today it finally happened. As I braked into a fast sweeping turn, I realized I was not slowing down. It was happening all over again. Even before I finally came to a stop way off in the bushes after flying over the outer berm, I knew that when I looked I would see the left side seal halfway down the stanchion and oil all over the front brake. And indeed it was so.

I think the problem is that these forks have not been updated for years and are now technologically primitive compared to virtually anything else out there. Their "upside down" design is a likely culprit. And damping? What damping? Also, the proprietary 24mm axles seemed like a great idea when everything else had skinny little QRs, but now everything is 15mm and 20mm through-axle mounting systems that work a hell of a lot better than Maverick's. With theirs, you don't want to be taking your wheel off any more than you have to, but considering how often you'll be cleaning oil from everything around the front hub, you'll have your wheel off a lot.

Maverick's own authorized repair people at Suspension Experts advertise a solution: "HeadlocksTM were the result of many calls from Maverick riders who had their main wiper seals pop out, drenching the brake caliper in oil-bath. People generally don't like it when this happens. The rear end of Maverick bikes uses a threaded collar to permanently capture the seal and keep it in place. I just needed to design a sealhead that would do the same for the fork."

So why the hell hasn't Maverick applied this solution or something like it to their forks?! Can you imagine any other fork manufacturer ignoring this issue for years like they have? Shouldn't they care that their own authorized repair company has had to produce their own fix, let alone have that quote on their web site? Even so, I was glad to see it wasn't just my problem.

I have had some very scary experiences with these forks, like discovering that the left seal on my DUC32 (exactly the same system as the SC32) had blown out in the middle of a gnarly, high speed downhill section. How do you stop safely without a front brake? You don't. You do your best to pick a spot to bail where you're least likely to die, and some of the trail sections we ride around here don't have a lot of those kind of spots. Let's just say there's a few rocks that Maverick helped me get to know better than I would have liked to. And then you limp home (sometimes literally), trying to control your speed on every downhill. These incidents aren't too great for your bike, either.

What really angers me is finding out Maverick had a solution all along like what Suspension Experts is offering, a threaded seal collar. Keep in mind that even with this upgrade that your fork will still leak, even with regular seal and oil changes, but at least the oil on your rotor will just build up over time instead of getting coated all at once. Hell, I should have realized these things were crap when I started taking alcohol and cleaning wipes with me on every ride. If you own one of these, keep a stash of denatured alcohol with you at all times, because you're going to need it.

Maverick seduced me with their light weight and their solutions to the "problems" of other "conventional" forks, and don't we all want to be unconventional? But with no subsequent improvements, their products are now simply primitive compared to virtually anything else, and their forks' features are no comparison to what you can get on a similarly priced fork from other manufacturers...that will also keep working reliably so you can spend more of your precious free time riding instead of working on your bike.

It's a shame, because I really wanted to like Maverick forks. Maybe that's why it took me so long to realize that they just aren't very good. The bottom line: To maintain your sanity, your peace of mind on the trail, and your money, get a Fox or RockShox, anything but a Maverick.

Similar Products Used:

Fox, Rock Shox

Finely built and a stiff fork. Great cornering. better than not riding at all good for my 29er

Its not junk but it does have its flaws. Where to start... Ahh The Fisher Price knob. Yes the adjustment knob on right leg.Its like the knob on a Fisher Price toy for a child. It looks good, it turns it keeps me occupied but does NOTHING.Full left to full right gives no noticable difference in compression or rebound. Shop did not know how to work on it .. They just sell them. but Suspension Experts in Asheville does and fork is way better but without a Neg air spring the plush factor is NOT there. Fork ramps up quite harshly in compressiuon compared to my trusty Reba. Dropouts are really a great big hassle. Run tubeless and get a hitch rack.OTHERWISE you will be really hating the wheel insertion.. Ohh and Rack mount adaptor needed if you put on top of vehicle..

Get it from a shop that knows Mavericks and your experience will be better. Have your Mav tuned by the guys at Suspension Experts. I even got a service sticker to remind me when to send it back.. They fixed a nasty creak that fork had also. Fork is stiff lightish and shows promise but its loads behind in performance on a 29er than even a Reba. HA HA FISHER PRICE knob is the bomb.. C mon guys.. Really??? Save money buy a Reba or get a Fox..

Similar Products Used:

REBA Race REBA Team White Bros and rode a Fox Float 29er

Stiff, and consistent. Easy to change oil. Light, and looks cool.

Proprietary hub. In the event of a wheel or hub failure, you might be sitting at the sidelines as there generally are not prebuilt 24mm spares at shops.

Not as plush as my 130 travel Marz, but thats to be expected from a fork with 2/3 the travel. Spokes on occasion rub on Disc brake knob. I have bottomed the fork hard enough for the tire to rub underside of the crown twice (~3+ ft drops/airs). Overall, I consider it a step up from my Reba Race at 100mm travel. I talked a buddy into getting a Maverick, and he agrees that it performs great.

Similar Products Used:

Marz, and Manitou

Tunability, performance when appropriately tuned, front-to-back stiffness, wheel strength/stiffness (with the maverick hub), lock-down mode for climbing, low axle-to-crown height for its travel.

Slight twist in hard cornering, esp. on rocks, stock damper settings have too much high-speed compression damping, making it hard to get full-travel from the fork on hard hits. The dropouts, while an integral part of the Maverick fork, are tempermental to work with during a flat in the field, and from my experience, if you use the company's guidelines for closing pressure on the dropouts, the fork is flexy. So you over-tighten the dropouts to fix the flex situation (not a good thing to do in itself for obvious reasons).

If it weren't for the dropouts, I'd absolutely love this fork. As it is, the performance of the fork (once tuned to eliminate the high-speed compression spike) is fabulous. It feels 10-percent more burly to me than my Reba set at 90mm travel. The solidity of the fork gives me the confidence to hit stuff harder.

If you understand how to work with and tune a basic shimmed damper, or you're willing to have someone competent tune it for you, the SC32 is an excellent 29er suspension fork option. It gives a lot of travel for its 492mm axle-to-crown height (a Reba is about the same length when set at 80mm travel; the SC32 has 90mm travel).

If you want a fork to buy, install and ride without another thought (especially with regards to the dropouts), save a little dough and get a Reba. Maverick forks are awesome, but they're like a Porche -- they work better in a well-tuned state. Rebas are much more neglect tolerant, from my experience owning both forks.

Similar Products Used:

RockShox Reba Race (29er); Marzocchi MX-Comp (26er); Manitou Minute 2 (26er); Fox TALAS RLC (26er); Manitou X-Vert Super;

its differnt, weight

cost in buying all the other stuff to service it

i havnt ridden it and it is great for having something that a lot of people have BUT... if you are a do it yourselfer then this fork isnt a good option. since the maverick axle is 24mm you have to buy their hub then in order to build with that hub you have to buy their truing stand attachment. and with that 24mm thru axle you have to buy the attachment to but it on your fork mounted rack. so all in all for all that money you could just buy a really really nice fork that has traditional "build". but you would still be differnt by having a super nice fork. so good idea, could be better if it was a 20mm thru axle even if you lose some stiffness.

Similar Products Used:

rockshox, manitou, fox,

Easy to set up. Very plush,feels like it has more than the 90mm travel promised. Stiff. Tracks perfectly on my frame.Drop outs are a snap to use. Very nice craftsmanship. Climbing setting.

Protector plates are a little buzzy.However, they are not irritating and have done there job.

My Reba was a great fork, but I noticed quite a bit of flex going into hard corners or in off-camber situations. The SC32 has eliminated that problem and improved the handling over all. The trail/rake seems perfect for the Moots, as does the travel at 90mm. I am surprised by the reviews on this site...a few of my friends have Maverick products,and while they have not been trouble free,they have been impressed with Mavericks service and continue to ride them. Had Fox brought out a 29er thru-axle this year, I might have tried it first. As it stands, I am glad they didn't. This is a great fork...simple and solid. I think 4 chilies would be an appropriate overall rating given the time I have ridden this product,but I'm going to give it 5 to offset Alex's review which is useless...didn't even own or ride the fork...!?

Similar Products Used:

Reba set at 100mm.