Diaz Suspension Design RUNT

I've been riding mountain bikes a long time. I had an original Marzocchi z1 when most other forks were using elastomers in the mid 90's. I've had at least 20 high end bikes between then and now, from DJ to trail to enduro to DH. On those bikes I've easily had 30 or more different forks and have had them in many configurations, always looking for that perfect feel. It's been an expensive and futile effort for the most part. Some forks have been better than others, and some have excelled in some aspects while sacrificing in other ways. Most recently I've been riding a 2019 170mm 36 on my SB150. I had run it stock, then with a Push ACS for about a year. I was a big fan of the ACS too but that had a few shortcomings for me. With the Push I felt I was in between springs. It also didn’t have enough ramp for me, even at max ramp pressure. Up until very recently I had ditched the DH bike and had been riding a Slash and then a SB150 as my enduro and DH/park bike. I could run what I felt was slightly under sprung (I fall well within their recommended weight rating for the green spring) and have the feel I wanted 90% of the time but it would run a bit deeper than I wanted when it got steep and chunky. My other choice was to ride the firmer black spring rated for way over my weight and have it beat up my hands in braking bumps and long runs.

Enter the Runt. I have not had too many air forks that I loved. Maybe I'm overly sensitive but the small bump on air springs just has not cut it for me in the past. The runt has changed that for me. Pretty much the only air spring I had ridden prior that I really liked was on a BOS DH fork. I've had 36's, 40's, Pikes, Lyriks, Boxxers, Ohlins and a few others in the past. With the Runt I'm running over 20 PSI less than I would with the standard Evol spring. I love the suppleness of that low pressure in beginning stroke. It's not quite as supple as the ACS with green spring but it's quite close enough that I'm satisfied. What the runt provides is the best mid stroke support of any fork I've ridden. The mid-stroke support is more on par with the over sprung ACS but with the suppleness of the softer spring off the top. It's the best of both worlds. Supple off the top but the runt rides extremely composed and high in its travel. I ended up going from the near closed end on compression settings to closer to the open end because the spring is so supportive. Bottom out resistance is smooth and progressive, unlike the feel off 3+ tokens that can feel like hitting a wall. Full travel does occur occasionally but it’s few and far between and never noticeable when it does. For reference I'm 185 lbs., running 58 PSI in the low chamber and 125 in the high chamber. For $200, it's well worth it. I've tried quite a few modifications and custom tunes over the years and I would say this has made the biggest difference in ride quality over all of them.