Submitted by
Tom
a Weekend Warrior
from N.C. Concord
Date Reviewed: November 10, 2008
Strengths: very light, sturdy, durable, can take almost anything, low matenice, light, light, airspring
Weaknesses: the No BOB adjuster doesn't work on mine, creaks alot, the oil was being displaced unevenly,
Bottom Line:
This is a very good fork and would be exspecially good if you were a cross country rider can be adjusted many different ways, can be super stiff when you want and loose when you want it to it is extremely light probally the lightest suspension fork I have ever touched, and is very durable
But I got the Manitou minute because I wanted a little more suspension in the front
but if your a rider who doesn't do the 3' 4' foot drops then I would highley recommened this
Strengths: Works great for me. Reliable. Smooth. Light
Bottom Line:
I love this fork with my singlespeed! It tracks well and handles great. I weigh 120 lbs and I have no problem setting it up for me. The oil level should be monitored to make sure that the no-bob lockout works as it is supposed to but that's about all I have to do for it. Oh yes, I have Enduro seals on it too.
Strengths: Lightweight. Stiffer than a Sid. Easy to tune and maintain. Lock-out
Weaknesses: None for me
Bottom Line:
Two seasons of races and no problems at all. The Mars is easy to maintain and I strip it down couple times of year. I've had Zokes, RockShox, and Manitous and I've had good luck with all of them. It helps knowing how to wrench.
Submitted by
Franc Diaz
a Cross Country Rider
from Barcelona , Catalunya, SPAIN
Date Reviewed: March 12, 2003
Strengths: Light, super adjustable, lockout feature.
Weaknesses: You must take care of it or you'll loose it. You must carry a High pressure pump.
Bottom Line:
Firts trails I rode (6 months ago) I thought this fork was amazing, you can fine setup rebound-compression-preload. But last track I rode with a buddy of mine I tried a 2002 Black. Then I realized that someting was wrong with my fork. The Black one it was very sensible on small bumps and my Mars not. I loose the rebound control one turn and everything changed. Now I have a new behaviour in my Mars, very sensible and now it uses all travel. As I have learned, the more set up possibilities your fork has the more difficult set up has. So take time to adjust your fork and you'll appreciate it.
Value: 5 for the performance Rating: 4 because it is not perfect (stickers, knobs,...)
Similar Products Used: SX 97, Spyder R, Black Comp '02
Bike Setup: Gary Fisher Sugar3 '01 with full XT, XT front disk brake
Overall Rating:
Value Rating:
Submitted by
Steve
a Cross Country Rider
from Louisville,KY
Date Reviewed: January 22, 2003
Strengths: Lots of adjustments. All of which are external. Kinda plush but not super plush. Can trust it to pick a line and stay there. No "pogo sticking" down the trail.
Weaknesses: LEAKS. LEAKS.LEAKS. After only a few months of riding it started to leak. It ALWAYS leaked a few pounds off between rides, but after a month or so it started to leak.BAD. I would pump it up till it was about to blow o-riings and it would be totally sagging in 4 miles.Had bike two years and shock has been sent back to Manitou twice and shop fixed it once.
Bottom Line:
I am a 200 pound rider so this may have been a little much for this shock. I would not reccomend this shock to anyone. I had that cheap Judy xc for years and NEVER had even one problem. Had the mars super 2 years and sent it to manitou twice. And for the retail they are asking on this thing, they shoud be arrested. On Manitou's behalf they did fix it both times for free. And one of those times was way after a year of riding.
Submitted by
Mark Stewart
a Cross Country Rider
from Baltimore, MD
Date Reviewed: January 9, 2003
Strengths: It simply works
Weaknesses: Still quite squishy even if you pump it up a lot... it's probably just because the spring it comes with is too light for me and Im too cheap/lazy to replace it.
Bottom Line:
I have blown up every fork I have owned. How you might ask. I really dont know. At 180lbs im not the lightest rider out there but Im not too hard on my equipment. The Mars Super has really impressed me though. Despite my misfortune with blowing seals followed me to this fork, in two years the only problem it had was that the lockout stopped working (ironic since I hardly ever use it). I sent it to Manitou and they replaced the device as well as switching out other inner parts. And it didnt take too long to boot!
The fork does an excellent job with absorbing small bumps due to its coil spring and handles big bumps in style with its air spring. For the weight the rigidity is good but im picky and wish it were a little stiffer. All in all, a great fork.
Bike Setup: Giant NRS1, mix of pretty nice stuff, sweet Dave's Speed Dream wheels
Overall Rating:
Value Rating:
Submitted by
Augie
a Cross Country Rider
from Minneapolis
Date Reviewed: November 29, 2002
Strengths: Excellent damping and adjustment.
Weaknesses: None
Bottom Line:
The Mars is easy to set-up and has been a great fork to use on a single speed. I keep the boots on since I hit mud quite a bit. Light enough at 3lbs and I'm happy as long as it keeps on going.
Strengths: I've been riding coil spring forks and I like the action of the air spring for the hilly singletrack I ride in. Dependable for me so far. Rigid for a XC fork.
Bottom Line:
With 6 months of riding and the end of the season I'll change the oil and go for another season. It's a good dependable, lightweight XC fork with an excellent spring feel to it.
Strengths: Reasonably lightweight. Easy to adjust. Easy to tear down. Easy to work on. Lock out is great
Weaknesses: None so far
Bottom Line:
i was also considering the SID but didn't like the flex. After upgrading the seals to Enduro's I can now run the forks without boots, I managed to get on the podium three times this season and the fork never let me down
I am not denying that problems can occur, but I have had absolutely no problems with this fork after a year of racing and riding this fork every day ~20+ miles here in the west (185lb rider).
Strengths: Adjustability is a big factor. The lock-out is a plus. I race about 15 races a year and this fork has not let me down racing or training. TPC damping sinply works. The fork is easy to tear down and work on.
Weaknesses: 2oz. heavier than advertised. I don't really care - that's about the weight of a powerbar
Bottom Line:
I work on my own bikes and I don't wait until something breaks before I start wrenching. Some of the complaints sound like they come from people who abuse their equipment and expect it to last forever without taking care of it. I have old Manitou's and Zoke's which just keep on working - why someone can't keep a bike running for more than a week or two, who knows.
Anyway, my Mars Super has performed consistently for me this past season. I'll probably upgrade to the evil genius wiper seals and try those for next year.
Strengths: micro lube ports, no noticable flex light enough for an xc fork, the lock out works great 9when it works)
Weaknesses: rebound doesn't work all that well, didn't notice much change when truned up all the way or all the way down. the shock boots hold water and crud around the seals.
Bottom Line:
The fork works good when it does work, nothing to write home about though regarding performance. Piece of CRAP, no kidding around. If it wasn't for the service that Manitou provides I'd ditch this fork and take a loss. I've had two Mars forks, the first one is on my Klein Mantra (no choice,steer tube issue) that fork went back once; a bushing shifted inside causing the fork to lock, it was only 1 week old. I bought the second fork 'cause I got it and the frame for cost, from a shop I've delt with for 15yrs. This fork has been back three times now, first time the lock out didn't work when we had it on the wall, then I bought it with the frame and started building up the bike, checked the lockout, didn't work again, sent it back Manitou repaired it and had the fork back within one week. This last time, I was at a 12 hr race and half way through the race the fork loaded up, ( the race was during a huge down pour) I only had about 1" of travel for the rest of the race. When the shop contacted Manitou they agreed to picked up the cost of shipping and replace all the internals. I get the fork back this weekend and will post again later in the season, or maybe next week (when it stops working again)which ever comes first.
Similar Products Used: '98 SID, 2000 Mars C, 2002 SID SL
Bike Setup: Santa Cruz Super Light, Bontrager Race Lite wheels, Icon Cranks, XTR Derailiers/BB.
Overall Rating:
Value Rating:
Submitted by
spinjunkie
a Racer
from the mountains
Date Reviewed: May 18, 2002
Strengths: none
Weaknesses: broken more than it worked
Bottom Line:
This fork, like all mantiou stuff, is a piece of crap! I swear to God these guys are the Kmart of forks. Once it was new, it took an afternoon of fiddling to get the correct oil levels because they were too high from the factory. The fork had constant bushing slop that could never be fully allieveated. Manitou's answer: pump in more grease through the Microlube ports. That's confidence inspiring. You think I'm making this up? Get this -- While at Sea Otter, the SRAM and Avid techs both worked on my bike to adjust it for the race. Without mentioning I was having problems with the fork, BOTH techs noticed the copious amounts of play in the fork and said that I had better let Mantiou look at it. Here's the kicker -- I had been to the Manitou tent before I went to Avid and SRAM and they had supposedly fixed the fork! Plus to add insult to injury, they wanted to charge me for it!
I finally gave up went I went to my LBS and they declared the fork unsafe. This fork is the biggest peice of crap I have ever owned. I figured I'd give Manitou another try after owning an equally dissappointing carbon sx that both me and a teammate had (two seprate forks both from two diferent shops both hunks of junk). But no more. I have bought my last Manitou ever. Why Mountain Bike magazine pushes these buys forks is beyond me. I think ZAP must be on their payroll or in love with the CEO of the company...
Weaknesses: Way too springy, needs heavier duty springs. No-bob sucks, had to change the weight of the oil in the shock to get to work even remotely properly. Oil needed changed anyway, cause this shock is more like a pogo stick. Even if the no-bob worked that well, it makes adjusting the thing next to impossible. Super-flexy, even for a racing fork. WEAK, WEAK, WEAK.
Bottom Line:
My second day on this shock, I blew the hell out of it. Literally, I blew the bushing clear out of its housing. I wasn't doing anything out of the ordinary, certainly nothing a shock at this price shouldn't have been able to handle. Amazingly enough, this same bike was on the floor of a local bike shop a month before I bought it. I pulled it off the rack, pushed down on the front, and the shock just gave out...blew it in the shop. They sent the shock back to be "replaced." So, when Manitou insisted that we send the shock to them a second time to be "replaced", I refused, insisting they send me a brand new shock. They did so, sending me a model without the no-bob. I was unhappy at first, but was pleasantly surprised at the adjustability of this shock. I could crank up the damping enough to reduce its tendency to pogo. So, when the no-bob thingy arrived a week later, I chose to ditch it for the more conventional adjustment.
Anyway, 2 weeks later the new shock blew again, this time it lost its ability to dampen, and just bottomed out all the time. It was fixed once again. Within the next month I brought the bike in at least 4 times because the monday after each race I was in, the shock would be completely seized up. Apparently it was ingesting water, which was shown to me after each repair. This was a minor inconvenience to me, but I finally gave up when I blew this shock for a....ummm....4th time. To be honest, I have no clue what happened this time, cause I didn't care. I called that same day and ordered a Marzocchi x fly 100 (which is not one of their best shocks by any means). I have had no problems since, and have ridden 3 times as much on this one as I did the Manitou, and just as hard. I raced this bike all last year, therefore my main goal was weight reduction. However, I got so fed up with these light weight race forks, I accepted the pound and change penalty that came with upgrading to a marzocchi that can handle the day to day abuse that a mountain biker is entitled to put on his/her bike.
