Magura Durin Marathon Fork Review

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Magura Durin Marathon Review

Magura Durin Marathon Fork Review

High Quality controls are standard on the Magura Fork lineup!

Magura does not enjoy the name recognition of many of the other fork brands like RockShox or Fox but that doesn't mean they aren't a very wise selection when it comes to finding the right fork for you. The Magura fork lineup has been weighted pretty heavily to the mid range travel shocks up to their heavy hitter the Magura Wotan. The Magura Durin lineup contains a few choices, the Race (80 or 100mm), SL and the Magura Durin Marathon that we are reviewing here.   We have tested or are testing most of the Magura lineup and we have to say, so far we're impressed. This review is going to be on the adjustable version of the Magura Durin Marathon but I would expect that much of it would apply to the straight 120mm version as well.

Magura Durin Construction

Standard 45 deg wheel retention dropouts keep the wheel in place should a failure occur.

The construction of the Magura Durin Marathon is of the high quality that German engineering is known for but the overall design isn't really anything you haven't see before. It's air sprung and utilizes the Magura Dual Arch technology on the lowers. Basically these arches are designed to strengthen and stiffen the chassis of the fork and we'll tell you how it does in a minute. The 6082 T-6 crown is connected to the lower legs via a pair of 32mm stanchions. As we continue down the fork leg, the dropouts are paced at a 45° forward angle, which is pretty much the current standard for wheel retention in case of failure. The brake calipers are post mounted and a standard PM caliper will mount properly if you are using a 6 inch rotor but the forks are built to handle up to an 8 inch rotor if you should desire.

Fork adjustment and setup is pretty straightforward as we have one air valve, a rebound dial and the compression damping adjustment. Magura includes a table of recommended air pressures for various rider weights but you will have to adjust to your personal tastes. Our experience was that we needed more air pressure than the recommended starting point from Magura Durin Marathon. This was the same way with the Magura Thor that we reviewed as well. Not sure why, just did.

Magura Flight Control System allows on the fly adjustment of fork travel. Way Cool!

The upper end Magura forks utilize a system they call the Flight Control Remote lock down to adjust the travel on the fork. This system, while straightforward, complicates matters a bit, nothing serious but you need to tweak it to get it right. It works quite simply, depress the lever, compress the fork and release the lever. The Magura Durin Marathon can be adjusted down as low as an 80mm travel fork and tops out at the 120mm mark by simply pushing the lever, unloading the front wheel, and releasing the lever. Pretty slick system to give you a range of suspension travel, without having to change out the fork.

The control knobs and adjusters on the Magura forks are all excellent quality and made out of aluminum. No cheap plastic knobs here. Nothing major, but a nice touch in our opinion.  Some might say that appearance shouldn't be a factor, but in our opinion, we want gear that works AND that looks high end, high tech, high dollar and just plain cool.  We're vain,  so sue us.

Magura Durin Marathon Ride Quality

Honesty...Magura makes a drop dead sexy fork in our opinion. Definitely a factor.

As we stated above, Magura is not one of the most widely known forks but they have really been making an impact the last few years. We've had the good fortune to test the Magura Thor and we are currently testing the Magura Wotan as well and have been nothing short of impressed with all of them. The Magura Durin Marathon is equally impressive.

Once we got the air shock adjusted to our liking the fork started smoothing right out and we quickly hit a few of our favorite trails. Until we added a considerable amount more pressure that Magura recommends, the fork would bottom out very easily and wasn't a very good ride. Once proper pressure was added though, it changed quickly.

The Dual Arch system works great and the Durin Marathon chassis is rock solid and stiff enough to keep the wheel planted in the most technical of terrain. The fork action is smooth and controlled and the fork handled everything we put to it with ease. You have to remember that it is still a 120mm fork, so don't expect to hang with a purpose built downhill machine but for an all purpose XC mixed terrain fork, this Magura is a beauty.

The Marathon even surprised us as to how capably it handled the more technical terrain. A fork in the 3.5lb fork category rarely feels as solid and rugged as the Magura Durin does and while we took it a bit easy on the fork at first, we were soon just beating the heck out of it to see what it would take, and it took it all. Now don't let us mislead you, this thing isn't bomb proof but it as up to whatever we threw at it. We know the trend in the XC category as of late has been getting heavier, but after putting the Magura Durin Marathon through it's paces, we're actually pleased to see it. It will make them more durable.

The Magura Durin Marathon is a pretty straight forward and simply designed mountain bike fork. It took a little extra time to get it set up just right as we had to play with the air pressure to get it right as the settings in the manual were not right. You also have an extra step on the Marathon to set up the FCR setup and make sure that you have the negative air pressure set correctly as well. It sounds complicated, but it isn't. It's just another step though so read the manual before you go charging down the side of a mountain.

Magura Marathon Review Summary

What really attracts us to a brand like Magura, is that it's different. I like having something different than every other bike on the trail and I don't want to see my bike coming and going every time I turn around. Magura is gaining market share in the states but you will still likely be one of the precious few that are riding a German engineered Magura fork if you choose to go this route. For us, that's an attractive point, not to mention that the Madura Durin Marathon is just straight out a great mountain bike fork.

Video Review

Check out this cool video review from Competitive Cyclist of the Magura Durin Mountain Bike Fork. This review is of the 2008 version of the Durin which came in either 80 or 100mm versions. So the technical aspects of the video are not quite the same, it does give you an idea of the level of quality and engineering that you get from Magura.