DT Swiss F232 ONE fork review

I suppose the first question might be why buy a DT Swiss fork? One answer is to try something different from the usual brands like Fox and RockShox but it’s a decent fork in its own right.

Another consideration is the price. In case anyone has been living under a rock, suspension forks now cost a fortune. At the time of purchase my F232 was nearly 55% off RRP.

Last spring I built up a Trek Supercaliber and decided to go with the DT Swiss F232 ONE, with 110mm of travel and 44mm offset. These forks have since been transferred to my Fairlight Holt.

The original retail price was £925 which sounds expensive, but that’s less than comparable forks from other brands. Plus there are still some decent discounts around, particularly from retailers in mainland Europe.

Installation

The DT Swiss F232 ONE came with a number of small parts and spares including a fender, top cap, and remote lockout. The fender neatly bolts on and works well.

The remote lockout is a clever design. Not only will it operate the fork and rear shock, but also a dropper post, with a separately available lever attaching below the lockout.

Finding a rear lockout was entirely unnecessary on the Supercaliber I decided to do away with cables and convert the fork to a crown lockout instead. Following instructions in the user manual this was fairly straightforward. There’s also a YouTube video.

However it did require dropping three tiny metal caps onto even smaller springs via a pair of tweezers. I’d like to see someone do this with their fingers! These caps on springs are what creates indexing for the lever’s three positions.

Weight

The claimed weight is 1510g. Mine was a little heavier, mainly because the claimed weight doesn’t include the axle, which sort of seems like an integral part of the fork that should be included.

The fork is light, no doubt about it, and currently used by several world cup XC race teams. The issue is how DT Swiss achieve this weight… 32mm stanchions. While the weight is competitive with Fox and RockShox forks, this only applies to ones using larger 34 or 35mm stanchions.

Unfortunately it’s less competitive with 32mm stanchion forks from those brands, which weigh around 150g less. Of course this hasn’t stopped Alessandra Keller winning races, but does seem like a hard sell on paper.

Those lighter alternatives often have stanchions closer together to save weight, reducing tyre clearance, such as Fox’s Step-Cast. On the plus side there’s no such compromise here from DT Swiss.

Performance on the trail

One thing is immediately obvious, this is a smooth fork with excellent small bump compliance.

There’s no break in period and barely a hint of friction. The F232 ONE moves considerably more freely than my 2021 SID Ultimate, or indeed most other forks I’ve ridden.

The SID was also so progressive it was impossible to get near bottoming out.

On the F232 ONE, DT Swiss has got the ramp up about right. It gets closer to full travel but doesn’t bottom out easily. This can be fine tuned with volume spacers with two installed as standard. The SID had none, to save weight, which gave no option to make it less progressive.

The three position lockout has an effective middle setting, preventing unwanted fork movement while still allowing some bump absorption. I was quite pleased by this, having had a series of Fox forks and shocks where the middle setting feels just like open, which is pointless in my view.

In terms of stiffness the F232 feels decently stiff. It’s actually quite impressive for a light 32mm stanchion fork but compared to a 35mm SID it’s noticeably flexier.

Pushing into corners it can feel like ground connection and sense of direction is a little more vague at times.

Whether this vagueness is a problem depends on a few factors. Terrain, rider weight, how hard the bike is being ridden, if the rider is someone who will notice flex, and of course the bike. Trek’s Supercaliber SLR frame is stiff as hell, which tends to show up components that aren’t. On the Fairlight I find any fork flex is much less noticeable.

Reliability

Following some wet rides last autumn I noticed a few faint scratches running up the non-driveside stanchion.

Initially I was a bit concerned (annoyed) by this. However, no more scratches have appeared since, and I can’t feel any difference in performance. If anything they appear less visible now. Sand and grit getting into fork seals is fairly common riding in winter.

Conclusion

With the DT Swiss F232 ONE price is a key consideration. If the F232 didn’t cost less than other options it’s questionable whether I’d pick a 32mm stanchion XC fork that weighs the same or more than other brands 34/35mm forks.

Buying from European companies is also a plus point in my view although Euro XC fork options are somewhat limited… it’s either try DT Swiss or find some gold bars for Ohlins.

For the price I’m fairly happy.