Sea Otter 2017: Answer/Manitou And The New Forks

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The Hayes, Answer/Manitou booth is always worth a visit at Sea Otter. Not only do the staff there always have great Wisconsin bratwursts on offer for lunch, but they generally have a great selection of new products.

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Best fork name ever – the Manitou Mastodon fat bike fork

One thing that Manitou does well is to know that it doesn’t quite have the clout of the big two suspension companies and so it tries to make sure that it looks around to see corners of the bike world that perhaps aren’t very well covered. Or to see what a new and emerging trend might be where it can steal a march on things. This was one of the reasons that the Manitou Magnum was basically the only 29+ suspension fork out there for a couple of years.

2017/2018 is no different and Manitou has gazed at the cycling world before it and gone ‘Right, two things: a) there’s a demand for longer travel fat bikes and b) there are still a bunch of folks out there running non-Boost, non-tapered steerer tubed and possibly even non-thru-axle bikes who need a decent air-sprung suspension fork.

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The Manitou Mastodon offers fat bike riders a great compatibility – taking tyres up to 26in x 5.15in or 27.5in x 4.5in. As well as just fitting big tyres, though, the Mastodon has been designed to work well in sub-zero temperatures, with cold weather compatible seals and fluids, so you know that if you run into some chilly weather, everything’s not going to turn into viscous sludge.

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Thru-axles and giant ancient elephant thing name too.

With some companies (Foes and Salsa for example) offering trail-ready full suspension fat bikes, there’s a small demand for longer travel fat forks, so the Mastodon comes with 34mm stanchions and travel available from 80mm all the way up to 140mm (and we heard 150mm, but that might have been the grilled sausages talking…)

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Wide crown and a very hollowed out reverse arch
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A Dorado Air system is ready to take the hits your 5in tyre can’t

Manitou also showed the Markhor fork. This is a fork aimed at folk who have a well-loved bike in the shed, probably even their main or only bike, who are finding it harder and harder to get working parts for. Perhaps you have a non-tapered steerer, or quick release Chris King hubs that have plenty of life left – or you even have a 26in wheel! Well, the Markhor fork has been designed to give you an air sprung alternative and new lease of life.

 

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Numbers…

The forks features an air spring and comes in tons of options – QR or thru-axle, 26in, or 27.5 or 29in, straight steerer or tapered. Weight is 2.4kg, which isn’t light, but hey, it’s a fork that could breathe new life into a loved old machine… Price will be US$250-$300 depending on options.

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Never get an orange EZ-Up…
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An affordable fork upgrade for an old, favourite bike?
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Controls are limited to lockout and that’s about it…

 

 

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Just because it’s not expensive doesn’t mean you don’t get cool reverse arch stuff…
Chipps Chippendale

Singletrackworld's Editor At Large

With 22 years as Editor of Singletrack World Magazine, Chipps is the longest-running mountain bike magazine editor in the world. He started in the bike trade in 1990 and became a full time mountain bike journalist at the start of 1994. Over the last 30 years as a bike writer and photographer, he has seen mountain bike culture flourish, strengthen and diversify and bike technology go from rigid steel frames to fully suspended carbon fibre (and sometimes back to rigid steel as well.)

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Comments (2)

    Good work Manitou,good to see someone is thinking.

    If Manitou really cared then they’d make one $100 dearer that didn’t weigh an enormous 2.4kg! As if anyone with a quality old frame and CK hubs would want to add 700g with that fork.

    Anyway – X-Fusion quietly gets on with servicing that market niche (e.g. 1800g air fork, qr with 1 1/8 alloy steerer for £350).

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