Weight: 4.15lb / Travel: 130–100mm / International Standard mount / Double Arch Design / Custom colours available / Shock pump included / Contact: www.magura.com

You’ll notice from the picture two cables exit the fork — one connects a remote lever to the Flight Control and sets the travel at any point between 130 and 100mm. Internally air bleeds from the positive to negative chambers but Magura says the spring rate decreases ever so slightly in the shorter travel setting to retain some suppleness on the climbs when seated. Like the Manitou IT, unweighting the front wheel is necessary to get the fork back to full extension.
The right-hand lever is connected to the Albert Select, which is a platform compression damping system. It’s a straight on-and-off system, but you can dial in the amount of platform (all the way to full lockout) with the gold knob on top of the blue dial. This is actually bigger this year and much easier to turn. Magura has designed both remotes with hinges so they’re easy to fit, but they do stick out a fair bit — the two cables also look messy.
With the Double Arch Design the Laurin is stiff but this didn’t stop it feeling harsh in the corners. There’s always a lot of stiction in Magura forks and, while it eventually gets less over time, on the first dozen or so rides the fork feels firm but then suddenly breaks away.
There are a couple of details worth mentioning: the lowers get Firm Tech mounts for Magura’s HS22 hydraulic caliper brakes; stainless steel inserts in the dropouts and disc mount to protect against corrosion. Getting the wheel in is hampered by the inserts but the dropouts are angled at 45 degrees for strength.
Since we got this fork we’ve been having a few problems with the Flight Control travel adjuster — by pressing the left-hand remote, weighting the fork and then releasing the lever again we were able to reduce the travel by 30mm.
The problem is that sometimes the fork stays down and sometimes it creeps back up. Magura told us that we have a pre-production fork that “cannot be working properly” and is sending a replacement. These issues mean that, for now, it is only getting a provisional rating.

MBR RATING: 8/10