Anyone have any real world experience of the new Manitou forks? As in 09 onwards. I like the look of bolt through Minute 29ers but a little worried they might not be able to stand up to British weather. They will be going on the bike I ride the most in all weathers. Have Rebas at the moment which are fine but I fancy bolt though and the new RS are very expensive.

The last time I took a risk on some forks was with a set of Pace RC39s – what a mistake that turned out to be. Absolutely awful forks with the worst reliability I have ever experienced.

Got an 08 Minute Elite that is awesome and I can not recommend it enough. So much so I've put in a pre-order for a 2010 Minute with Absolute + damping and bolt thru axle.

Prefer the Absolute damping to Fox and Rockshox, and the Abolute+ is even better 🙂

Had a set of 2008 bolt-thru 100mm Minute Comps – coil sprung and a little too hard for me so swapped them after a couple of weeks for air sprung 120mm Minute Elite Absolutes – lovely forks and wish I'd never sold them. I've been running Marz 55Rs (140s) since then and although they feel waay stiffer than the Manitous they are also waaaay heavier. Just had delivery of a 2009 pair of Minute Super Absolutes though from JensonUSA – won't be fitted until after Father Christmas has been but I can't wait to go back 😀

Interesting. Any reports of scratched stanchions, crap seals etc? That is what I am most concerned about I suppose. I don't want them to wear out when being ridden in British muck!

Only ran mine for 4 months from April to August this year (trust me they saw plenty of mud) and they were fine (I wipe and lube the seals after each muddy ride).

Any other opinions?

I've read that the damping isn't quite up to snuff compared with the best from RS – any thoughts on that based on personal experience?

I'm thinking of the 2010 versions which are allegedly improved. I have read a few complaints about them bottoming out too easily on the 09 ones. I think that has been addressed with the 2010 verion..

more than happy with my 09 minute 29s, beautiful forks. the absolute daming lockout thing (the red dial on the top of the right hand leg, which operates the lockout etc) essentially locks the fork out after 1 click (not 5), but i'm not really interested in having a platform damping anyway, so i'm not fussed. also i;ve got the click on rebound, which is a common thing.

if i could afford a set of 130mm minuted for my 26" i'd have some in a flash… love 'em

I've read that the damping isn't quite up to snuff compared with the best from RS – any thoughts on that based on personal experience?

As mentioned above I so much prefer the damping of the Minute Elite over the Revelation I had on the Heckler before. I had issues with the motion control being overcome on fast rocky descents(fork felt out of zink with the trail) and also brake dive on steep corners. But, I have heard this is remedied by having them Push'd. I also found them more linear in feel than the minutes.

I'm not sure what it is about the damping in Manitou forks, but it just makes me smile and want to ride faster and faster and faster…………

Any more?

First ride on some drake 29ers last night, obviously too soon to say anything about their reliability but they performed very well.

I've got some of the 09 Minute 29er's, 100mm travel with bolt through. Paid £260 from CRC back in April this year and for the money they are fine.

Pro's –
Cheap to buy when compared to other 29er forks.
Look nice IMO.
Work fine so far (did have an internal cartridge explode but this was sorted under warranty quickly).
Variable degrees of lock out.
Feel nice and stiff.

Con's –
Yes they do bottom out easily for me but I'm a very heavy bloke so had to play around with pressures and damping lockout to get them set up right but now they are fine.
The bolt through can be a bit of a faff as its 5 allen key bolts to get the front wheel out.

For the price i paid for them I'm well happy with them but would quite like a set of the Fox F29's if i had a spare £500 floating around 🙄