They’ve been out a little while now. Any user experiences?

Have a look over at PB for their massive article on them.
Plus a chap on what was southerndownhillforum had a set.

Personally have not tried them but have tried manitou. I would of thought they are excellent for no stiction or very low stiction compared to the rest i.e. RS, Fox even.

They come standard on a £1700 Cube Stereo 2015 model if you agree with the puke green colour scheme then please, be my guest ;-d

I have spent 6 months using a pair of Mattoc Pro 26″ first on a Santa Cruz Blur Trr and then on a Liteville 301. On both bikes I had them set at 140mm travel. After coming off a Revalation I found that they forks felt too soft, but checking the travel I used suggested that they weren’t using anymore than the revs on the same terrain, they were just far plusher and sensitive. The improvement in grip was bloody brilliant. All the adjusters worked to make noticeable differences to the feel of the fork, the one to fiddle with most is the hydraulic bottom out, as that controls the ramp up as you approach full travel. You could set it to get the exact feeling you wanted, firmer for flat blasts where support was most needed in berms/jump faves/compressions, to more linear for slower or slippy conditions.
The only gripe I had was the low speed comp didn’t fully lock the fork out. I’d buy another set.

After coming off a Revalation I found that they forks felt too soft, but checking the travel I used suggested that they weren’t using anymore than the revs on the same terrain, they were just far plusher and sensitive. The improvement in grip was bloody brilliant.

This….and its not just Manitou, i recently took delivery of an X-Fusion fork and struggled with the concept of putting so little pressure in it compared to the Rockshox Revelation i’d been using previously….i was sure the guidelines by X-Fusion were wrong and i would bottom out….but i was wrong, the fork takes far less pressure than the equivalent RS item and is soooo much more plush because of it.

As a lifelong Rockshox fan i’m beginning to think that they arent actually all that brilliant, just the best known.

The fact that most people are having to put tokens in their Pikes to stop them bottoming out while running soft enough for small bump compliance is further food for thought….why cant RS get this right when seemingly newcomers like X-Fusion can do it?

The fact that most people are having to put tokens in their Pikes to stop them bottoming out while running soft enough for small bump compliance is further food for thought….why cant RS get this right when seemingly newcomers like X-Fusion can do it?

Have you got a Pike? They’re great and I can’t fault mine – despite coming to it from a super-plush Marz rc3 ti.

Sounds like you might be reading too much into the internet chatter.

I have a set of Mattoc Comps 27.5 which have been well used for 4 months. Fitted to a Stereo 160, “puke green”. The comps are not anything new regarding damping as they are fitted with a Mars damper. Still nice though, very plush and sit up in their travel. They feel stiff enough for me and track well. I am going to upgrade to a set of experts or pros when more long term results come through. It’s not possible to install a expert/pro damper as the threads are different.
I’ve had them on natural trails, flat through steep, trail centres and dh tested on the Dunkeld classic dh.
I have a few niggles. Specific tools are required to service them, which aren’t cheap considering it’s 3 sockets. They are very easy to service once you have the tools.
Not much room between tyre and fork arch for a mudguard and it’s a pain to fit due to the reverse arch, can be done though.
Not much service info on Hayes group site for the comps, actually none, you’ll have to email Hotlines or Manitou for specific details. I eventually used a combination of the Mattoc guide and the Minute expert guide.
I would recommend a set of Mattocs, they function well, are easy to service and a bit different to the Pike invasion.

Chapaking may want to actually try a set of X-Fusions before slating them!

They are simply the best vfm and are infinitely more reliable than RS offerings every time.

Bought a Mattoc Pro about 3 months ago after deliberating for a while on how much better new forks could be to my old RS Sektors. First thing I’d say is I’ve never owned an air fork before (always looked on them with suspicion), nor have I tried any of the other new wonderforks like the RS Pike. I was expecting them to be less plush than my coil sektors but they are not – after playing with the multitude of dials I upped the low speed compression a bit to keep them from bobbing too much on my hardtail. They don’t blow through their travel though, staying in the top third until it gets rocky. After my first couple of runs on them I was dissapointed. They made my local trail feel too bloody tame 🙁 Had to start hitting more difficult lines to get back a bit of near death experience that was normal with the sektors. Thats not to say the sektors were a bad fork, just that they gave more feedback than the Manitous. So maybe they were a bit shit… They are also lighter 1.9kg vs 2.1 and feel stiffer despite having the abomination that is a 15mm axle. Talking of which – the Manitou version of a thru axle arrangement sometimes gets mentioned as a negative – I have no idea why, anyone with any kind of sense can work it out after a couple of goes.
One of the reasons I bought the Manitous (despite being taunted with all kinds of manipoo references in my LBS when I went to order some) was the adjustable hydraulic bottom out. The Manitous really do feel bottomless, which is the main benefit to me over my Sektors which could at times induce whiplash if not landed on a nice downslope. I spent some time on a reasonable size drop fettling the hydraulic bottom out and have it turned about 3/4 of the way in which works great and doesn’t effect the spring rate of the rest of the available travel. Downside to this was I cracked my rear flow rim…
So to sum up – great fork, I have no idea if its better than I pike but it works for me.

Chapaking may want to actually try a set of X-Fusions before slating them!

I haven’t said or even inferred anything about X Fusion forks.

Back to reading comprehension class for you sunshine.

I’d love to try a current set of Manitous as they’ve historically done some great forks, I just can’t get passed the looks. I know the reasoning behind the reverse arch and the theory is sound but I can’t help thinking they’re using it as something to set them apart rather than as an an actual useful feature and I’m sure it must be effecting sales. It’s been a few years since I’ve ridden any but I remember the only thought looking down on them was that they were long and spindly and just plain wrong. I know that says more about me than it does about the fork but I can’t be the only one to think it.