Anyone has any info/experience on the RS DOMAIN ?

[Znarf]

Hi,
I need a new fork for my Heckler. I love my Pike 426 Coil u-turn, but it is a bit too short. 160mm /or the according a-c height would be perfect.

I´d love adjustable travel, I love the maxle. Love the Pike, if it would only be 2cm longer (I have a bigger tire in the front already, tall headseat and so on. just not enough)

As 2007 fork prices seem to be odd. Or my budget simply is not up to date (nor am I willing to spend 1000$ for a fork)

I came across the Domain 318is uturn.
I like Motion Control very much, when you turn the floodgate to minimum, it acts as a high speed blowoff and the fork is super plush on really fast repeated hits.

The Domain is missing the Floodgate adjustment, so I want to know if anyone is riding one of those. How does the fork feel on rough repeated hits, or maybe on stairs?

I could get one for a good price, or I could get a newish 66SL 06 for the same price. It´s 0.5kg lighter than the Domain, but has no uturn and no maxle.

I wonder if the damping is better on the 66Sl though.

The fork goes on a medium Heckler with a Fox Dhx5 coil, it´s my one and only bike and I do everything on it. From long epic rides to some shuttling and technical singletrail.
BTW: I am 68kg only, so strength and stiffness is no problem, but finding light enough spring rates :S

Greetings Znarf

[nouseforaname]

I've got a domain 318 uturn, it currently sits on my 06 Awl and balances it very well. The stock fork that the bike comes with (which is a price point fork) is exactly the same a-c as the domain, so there arent any negative ride height issues.
Riding the shore, i can tell the difference between the domain and the other (much more expensive and longer travel) forks that i've had some real time on this year - 888 rc2x, boxxer team, 888vf2, fox 40r. It just doesnt stack up, but thats not a fair comparison. More expensive = better damping, and thats worth bearing in mind when comparing with the 66.

If your budget can stretch, i think you would be foolish not to check out the 66SL or whatever its called for 07 - air sprung u turn from marz. The damping should be better than the domain, for the reason above, and it has u turn - when i checked one out recently i was very impressed.

All that said, i picked up my domain for $650 off the wall, and that is not beatable by the opposition - 66 sl must be nearly twice that... + it has Maxle which is the best invention for freeriding since the original z1 IMO.

Feel free to PM me if you have any more questions.

[ZHendo]

talk to the guys at transition bikes, a couple of them have been running the domain on their bikes and have had some good things to say about them.

[Znarf]

Okay thanks for the reply!!!
You mean I should write them through tech@transitionbikes.com ?
Or how could I contact them, don´t know if it´s okay to contact them through that adress, because it´s not related to their frames? Heard that they are really cool guys though!

Greetings Znarf

[ZHendo]

send it to info@transitionbikes.com, but regardless of where you send it, they're a tiny company so i'm sure they'll help you, they all sit in the same office like 10 feet from eachother. calling them would be good too if you want a reply right now, but the emails usually are replied to quickly.

[Ed von Schleck]

Well Znarf´s from Germany so I highly doubt that he´ll spend tons of money just to get some informations from the Transition-guys. ;-) They usually are very quick at responding to e-mails, so I´d just go ahead and ask them.

As far as the topic goes, I have no clue about the Domain, however there are some issues with the 888 SL 1 ATA, so the 66 SL 1 ATA might have some problems as well. Maybe you should get one of the 06 66s instead? Great, proven quality and as far as I remember, mountainbikes.net offers the 66 150 for like 450€ which is pretty hard to beat.

[Znarf]

OK, I´ll send them an email.

@Ed.
I definitely would get an 06 model, as the 07 Marzocchis are way to expensive for me. I can get a 06 66SL for 400€ almost new or 499€ new with full warranty.

The Domain just seems better for me, because of the u-turn and the maxle. IF the damping is as good as the Motion Control in my PIKE. The Domain seems to have a less sophisticated Motion Control unit. A mixture of a Boxxer Ride(which is good, speedstack) and a Recon or Tora(which is bad because the floodgate can´t be adjusted and I like to adjust the floodgate, so it works as a high speed blow off)
Now it is possible that the Motion Control unit in the Domain is set to be plush on high speed from factory on. But that would lead to a terrific fork, and that would make a LYRIC rather redundant. So I think that the Domain works OK but not perfect.(at least that would be what RockShox would do if they wanted to earn as much money as possible :ohthedrama: )

I am really curious what the transition guys have to report!

Greetings Znarf

[NSTP]

If you try a domain 318 is 180 you mind find a difference. I've never ridden the u-turn, but the 180mm fork is an awesome fork for the price, really under rated. Really i don't think if the guy is looking for a domain he'd look into a 66SL, that is more Totem 2-step range of comparison.

[Znarf]

@NSTP:

So you say, the Domain is a pretty nice fork.

I don´t understand if you mean that the 66SL is BETTER than the Domain or actually worse? (sorry, I am not a native english speaker, I sometimes have difficulties, but I keep trying)

Or do you say, the 66SL compares more to the Totem, than the Domain?
Now is that a comparison because of the price? TOTEM and 66SL are $$$ or because of the performance?

Greetings Znarf

[Znarf]

Hi!
just wanted to let you know, I ordered a 66SL. I got great responses for the Domain, the transition guys were very helpful!!! Super nice, concumer service +feedback that good really draw me closely in their direction, if I need a new frame!

I got the 66SL brand new and with 2 years full warranty for 600can$. The Domain would have been quite a bit more expensive and I would have had to buy a softer spring for additional 80can$.
And I even can return the 66Sl (2006) within 2weeks if I don´t like it.
And it´s white :high: will go great with my white Heckler.

Thanks again to all info-givers

Greetings Znarf