Manitou forks – anyone else find them magnificent?

After years of the usual suspects, including a Fox 32s, 36s, Revs, Pikes, Lyriks… Goodness me, manitou forks are frickin lovely.

I suspected as much when we got my son a Granite Chief from Rose a few years ago that had Mattocs – even he could tell at 12yrs old that they were infinitely better than the revs on his old bike that got nicked. They were wonderful.

I’m on my second pair of mastodons now on my lush chi-ti, just extended them to 140mm, but at any height they just do the things that I’ve chased for years on upper end forks from RS/Fox- (cliche warning!)

Stiff? Big check
Buttery smooth? – amazing
Supportive mid stroke? you betcha, and even for a fat bloke
Get full travel? – yessir
Simple to service and adjust? – once the right tools bought, piece of piss
Dials that actually alter characteristics? – yes!
Easy to speak and get actual help from Hayes? – instantly
Cheap? – well, not cheap, but given that they perform better than the rest I’d say very good value.

This has probably jinxed them now, and the damper and airshaft will come shooting out of the top caps on the next ride. But let me say again, my, what lovely lovely forks they are. Idly speccing an AM9 frame, Mezzer Pros top of my list.

PS – not without their foibles: the old QR axle was horrific, the current 6mm hexlock not great. Weird issue with steerer not set properly in crown, so after a few big hits it feels like your headset is wobbly. but these are all temporary.

Ah, everything has a caveat!

I had 3 sets of 29er Towers on different bikes just after Manitou’s sort-of resurgence. All very good forks, even the budget versions, might try and find a pair of 140s to replace the Recon on my Eccentric when I feel like upgrading.

Do Manitou do a trail fork (similar to a Pike) in a 29er 120mm at around 5-600 quid?

Quite fancy giving them a go as I’ve got some Circus Expert on my DJ bike.

I got some Mattoc Pro’s a few years ago when they were only recently released, I can’t compare with all forks but have found them better than Pikes, Lyriks, 34’s, Deville. I really rate them and were far cheaper than any other premium fork.

I wanted a set for when I built up a 29er but unfortunately couldn’t come across a pair so ended up with some 34’s, they’re ok.

I’ve had no issues apart from finding the QR hexlock a pain, it’s either brilliant and takes seconds to remove a wheel or somehow gets stuck and has me throwing my toys out the pram

I’ve got a pair of Tower Pros on my bike. They’re a great fork and I agree, the bolt through is a pain in the arse. Who is good for getting them serviced?

Aye, Mattoc Pro3 in 100 or 120mm sizes. Boom!

Nice one, I’ll have a look a them 🙂

Funny you should mention this, Been using my hard tail for what seems like forever with 2015 pikes.
Took my full suss out the other day and the Mattoc felt so much better. Felt odd at first with the extra support, led me to mess around the Pike a lot for not much improvement.

I was all geared up to order a Pike Select from one of the German sites, but I think I might go for the Mattoc instead.

It will be going on a hardtail 🙂

i swear i was going to write this exact same post earlier
i bought a set of mattoc pro for my aeris 145 for super chepar at under £350 from crc
i’ve had multiple flavours on my hardtail and settled on pike dual pos.. which are just ok, better after some tokens
but the mattocs? wow.. set them up as recommended.. havent messed with them…thought they were too soft, but no.. still haven’t got past 2/3rds travel, the IVA? is a genius solution, have had the hexlock come loose once.. and the LSC knob from the factory was missing the actual bit you grab.. but i don’t mess with it anyway
they are so good i’ve had to sit on my hands not to buy another set for my hardtail

I know of a couple of suspension tuners on MTBR who rate them very highly. I’ve not used them since a set of Mach 5 that would actually worked better as a water pump.

Might have to give them a try. I’ve often though that a great fork would be one that could be tuned inside by the owner rather than adjusted from the outside. From what I hear, manitou are one of the closest to that.

I think you need to be careful which ones you get. I’ve not tried one of the recent ones with the top level damping but did own a set of Magnums with the Comp damper and it wasn’t a good fork. It dived through travel far too easily, there was no support at all. I’m not great at telling the difference between good forks, I’m perfectly happy with Motion Control damped Rockshox forks, but the damper used in Manitou’s lower end forks was noticably poor.

Also, the through axle is terrible, a real faff to used compared to rival systems.

Yes the Pike Maxle is better also getting a mudguard to fit the Mattoc 2 is a pain. I ended up making one from Kydex thermoplastic stuff.
I believe the 3 has its own bolt on fender.
Parts supply seems less available than SRAM, you used to be able to buy almost every part on CRC, however once you’ve made or bought the tools, all you really need is oil and grease to keep them smooth.
Can’t comment on the lower end dampers, I’ve only used the Pro with the Dorado damper and IRT.

I absolutely love my Mattoc pro 2’s on my Chromag hardtail, far better than the 34’s that they replaced. Planning on getting the new Mezzer Pro’s for the big bike in a few weeks.

Minute Pro on my old 26er.
Very much a no nonsense, do it nicely, reliable and trusty set of boingy bits.

I have not tried other manitou but love my Mezzer Pro I bought for the Smuggler & now moved onto my Ripley V4. It’s a very adjustable & very stiff fork that performs better than any other fork I have owned, only fork that comes close is my Deville, but not as stiff

The Manitou Nixon Elite, which was coil spring with TPC+ damping, was my favourite fork ever.

Its a shame Manitou lost their way with a bazillion different forks and pushed their damping into ‘platform’ territory.

Had a mattoc and now got a mezzer pro. amazing fork – tracks wonderfully, best air spring and damping out there and the 37mm stanchions looks sexy as. Had a minute elite years ago as well that used a coil and air spring plus decent damping. Travel change is piss easy in the current forks too.

SPAFF!!

lovely example ^

Hurrah! Man(itou) love!

But, Shhh, don’t tell anyone else 🙂

Hayes seem to be on a bit of upswing these last few years, good on them!

Those Mezzers look the biz, here’s my Mastodons in glorious monochrome magnificence

Tower pro 100mm fork on my 29er for about 8 years.
Never missed a beat.

I don’t think it’s just manitous that are decent, I needed some 160mm forks for the wife’s bike, but didn’t want to spend a load on fox or rockshox, but still wanted something decent, so went with suntour auron rc2 (did buy some manitou mattoc second hand from ebay but they turned up broken), and they’re remarkably good for the money (265quid brand new).

It’s got me questioning the wisdom of spending loads more for fox stuff.

Those look great Poah – was looking at the Bomber Z1 for a hardtail build later this year but an option would be a set of Mezzer Pro’s, swap the Fox 36 grip2 from my jeffsy to the hardtail build (option for a proper size bolt on mudguard is essential as it’ll get used through winter) and put the mezzer pro on the jeffsy 29er, I’ll have probably gone rear coil by then on the jeffsy too…

i meant to say that as well, the fact they encourage rebuilding your own shim stacks to suit? and offer guides.. epic..

i also picked up a set of r7’s for my lads bike.. ridiculously light.. swapped out the remote lockout for a different damper to simplify matters..

Re mudguards. All you do is cut a couple of holes further down to match up with the arch. No issues with my Mattocs and a mudhugger.

I’ve got the RRP proguard bolt on version on my fox 36, never going back to a zip-tied mudguard.

I have some 4 or 5 year old 160mm Mattoc Experts on my 456C. I’ve been very impressed with them.

The best Manitou forks go at the back 🙂

I bought some old Manitou Skareb for a budget build, sold as faulty for parts all they needed was a bit of air. They were super plush and no issues despite never servicing them, much better than Fox forks of similar age. After that I bought a couple of pairs of R7s again great reliable forks.

There was a time when both of my bikes were running Manitou forks. A 170mm Sherman Breakout+ on the Yeti ASX, and a 145mm Nixon Elite on the DB Prince Albert. Both were excellent, although the Sherman needed a lot of love and attention to keep it running properly. I’ve not given Manitou much though over the past few years but the Mezzer is tempting.

Well after the advice on here, I went for a Mattoc Pro 3 in 120mm for my DV9. Fitted it and went to the woods behind my house to set it up.

I followed the initial set up guide as a start point and did a bit of tweaking etc.

This is easily the best fork I’ve ever had! Really supple, easy to tune and is very supportive mid-travel. I was pleasantly surprised by the newer Debonair Yari on my Slash (used to have an older one), but this is in a different league!

I’ve had all sorts from Rockshox and Fox (including a factory 34), but the Manitou is head and shoulders above them all.

The only minor negative is the fender wasn’t in the box despite the product description saying it was included. I’ve emailed R2 Bike to see what they’ll do. I had a quick look around to see if I could buy one, but had no luck.

Does anyone know if the new Mezzer allows the user to change shim stacks like you can with the non bladder forks?

yes you can adjust the shim stacks

Manitou need better PR or some big names on their forks to make people forget about the crap they made in the past. I cant think of any pro on manitou, I’m sure there are but I cant name one. Their products are definitely under the radar.

Well, let’s hope we’re right. Just pulled the trigger on a set of Mezzer forks.

I’m happy with the budget Machete’s I’ve recently fitted to my Tarn. They do not feel like their price point or only a 32mm fork. Very smooth. Also love the fact they can be upgraded easily to a better damper if I wanted. Just need a decent set of graphics now to match the colour scheme (the indiprint / indibike ones are not even close to the right shape and size).

Bought a set off here (Magnum Pro) few weeks ago, gave them a service with some homemade tools and WOW proper good.

Was always wary (second hand) but had heard some good reports on Manitou so wanted to try!!!

They are real plush love them

Just sold my Enduro bike that had mattoc pro 2’s, absolutely loved them, best forks id ever tried. Problem is trying to sell a bike with them won’t get you the same money if say you had a pike, lyric, or 36

I can just never get past the look of the reverse arch, just looks wrong to me.

can just never get past the look of the reverse arch

Do you look at your forks much when riding your bike?