Intend Ebonite 1,675 shipped (approx £1,510)

Adjustment LSC, LSR, air-spring pressure, air-spring volume (3-in-1 spacer) Travel 140 180mm, internally adjustable Offset 44mm Weight 2,296g (29in, 170mm)

Intend’s only non-inverted fork is beautifully boutique. The 7075 aluminium lowers are CNC-machined in parts then bolted and bonded together.

A clever, reversible volume spacer offers two progression options, or it can be removed entirely. We removed it to get more support in the middle of the travel without the final 20mm becoming inaccessible.

We needed the rebound fully open for it to remain fully active over rapid-fire hits. This setting was perfect for us, but lighter riders, especially in cold temperatures, may not be able to get it fast enough for some trails. It tops out with a tap when left fully open, but we wouldn’t want to set it any slower just to stop this.

Intend recommend 1-1.1psi per kilogram of body weight. At 85kg, we tried everything from 80 to 100psi, but settled on 90. Any less and it lacked support under braking. But even at this pressure it’s not as settled into the very first part of the travel as the best forks are, making it less ground-hugging when you let off the brakes.

Because the valve fills both the positive and negative chambers simultaneously, setting the pressure with the fork 10mm into its travel overfills the negative chamber, which improves off-the-top sensitivity and eliminates the top-out issue. It also reduces the available travel by 5-10mm, but does provide some good initial suppleness.

Friction is kept impressively low – it takes very little force to budge the fork from its sagged position and it reacts to small bumps very responsively. Set up like this, traction is very good. But on fast, square-edged hits and in rough, high-load turns, there’s slightly more feedback and waywardness than with the Lyrik or 36, making it hard to rationalise paying more. www.intend-bc.com