Following on the from the Limited Edition Sterling Mezzer Pro, Manitou has announced the Mezzer Expert built on the same burly 37mm chassis.
Manitou has been knocking out some solid performing forks and shocks over the past few years, with riders who choose to ride the reverse arch forks raving over performance and value for money.
Just a few weeks ago, Manitou released a limited Sterling Mezzer Pro fork boasting an enduro ready 37mm chassis, rock chomping travel and a ton of great adjustments that suit racers and fettlers alike. Today the Pro is joined by the new Mezzer Expert, a fork aimed at riders wanting big travel and high-performance without a price or weight penalty.
The new Mezzer Expert runs on the same 37mm chassis as the Pro, meaning that seal and other items are interchangeable for easy servicing, yet the fork is surprisingly lightweight with a 180mm travel 27.5in model weighing in at only 2030g.
Another benefit of the shared chassis is the ability to upgrade. A fork, even a well-priced one isn’t a cheap item so with Manitou using the same chassis between the 2 forks riders can switch from Expert to Pro dampers with ease.
While not as swanky as the Pro, the new Mezzer Expert still has some great features that riders and racers will appreciate. The lightweight chassis features Manitou’s Trail Side Relief (TSR) ports on the back of the lower legs. These ports allow riders to bleed any built-up pressure while on the trail to maintain small bump performance.
Manitou has equipped the Mezzer Expert with the Expert Air Spring, a system derived from the proven Dorado Air system featuring a unique balancing valve that equalizes positive and negative air chambers. Manitou says that the system is activated once a shock pump is attached and ensures a smooth and consistent spring rate on the trail.
The air spring is fully adjustable with the included snap-on adjusters meaning riders can fine-tune the amount of travel their forks have from 140-180mm on both 29er and 27.5in models.
If these air spring adjustments weren’t enough then Manitou also allows turning of the positive air spring via the Incremental Volume Adjuster (IVA) found at the top of the air leg. This adjusts the ramp-up and appears to be similar to volume spacers or Tokens found other brand forks.
On the damper side of the things is Manitou’s new VTT-6P compression damper. The system is adjusted via a single external compression adjustment which affects both high and low-speed compression. As the name suggests the system has 6 settings with 1 and 2 being open, and 3-through 6 bringing the fixed shim stack into contact with the piston to increase platform force.
Riders who fancy giving the new Manitou Mezzer Expert a whirl should be able to pick one up from their local distributor from today. We’ve only been offered European pricing at this time which is 797 Euros.
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An £800 fork is no longer “breaking the bank”….
I will have to show this to the missus so she can adjust her expectations on how much my next bike will cost
It’s around £500 less than a 38 😉 but remember this is RRP, I’ve seen Manitou forks with hefty discounts making them crazy VFM!
I was really interested in a Mezzer but bought a Lyrik instead, main reasons were I didn’t think I had the time/know-how to get it properly dialled in and also they don’t have any service centres in UK – is there anywhere that services them?
Home servicing is really straightforward but I agree the lack of support in the UK was enough of a concern that I also went with a Lyrik.
I’ve got a set of Mattoc’s and now new Mezzer’s and never had an issue with servicing in the UK. TF tuned as well as others service Manitou.
@Andy Sykes that’s true but that rather highlights the high price of the 38,s more than making the manitou seem like a bargain.
Although give it another 6 months you’ll be able to pick up a pr of 38,s for even less than the the manitou rrp when they launch the new version where they try to convince us all it’s better in every conceivable way …….happens every year …it’s like the soap powder adverts of the 90,s where they held up what old daz did after you washed it compared to the new one ,old daz left you shirt looking like you’d cleaned the entire streets cars with according to them.
Fix the creaky CSU manufacturers and you can empty mhnhank account Tomorrow
P.s merry Christmas
@Andy Sykes that’s true but that rather highlights the high price of the 38,s more than making the manitou seem like a bargain.
Although give it another 6 months you’ll be able to pick up a pr of 38,s for even less than the the manitou rrp when they launch the new version where they try to convince us all it’s better in every conceivable way …….happens every year …it’s like the soap powder adverts of the 90,s where they held up what old daz did after you washed it compared to the new one ,old daz left you shirt looking like you’d cleaned the entire streets cars with according to them.
Fix the creaky CSU manufacturers and you can empty my bank account Tomorrow
@Knott4me – I haven’t had forks from the main 2 brands for 2 or 3 years now, but I haven’t had any creaks with DVO or MRP. Didn’t have any noise with the last Fox 36 either. Everything else, 1 year minimum before the creaking started!