Submitted by
Laefer
a Cross Country Rider
from Orillia, Ontario, Canada
Date Reviewed: November 19, 2004
Strengths: Great fork, very rigid, not bad for wieght 3.51lbs
Weaknesses: like many have said it lacks the ease to adjust. all adjustments you need a hex key (alan key)
Bottom Line:
I like MANITOU in general although I have not had this fork for lond i have had a few of Manitou's similiar products and i love them all, my last for work out the dampening nut on the bottom stripped. I ride light XC although I ride 15km every weeak minimum. Great fork great for people who are lighter (150 and under) although you can get a heavy ride spring kit for 25 usd. I would buy it again.
Submitted by
chris knaffle
a Cross Country Rider
from hillsdale, mi
Date Reviewed: June 8, 2004
Strengths: Awesome fork. Soaks up the small and the big. Nearly zero maintenance.
Weaknesses: The boots don't stay in place - big deal.
Bottom Line:
Can't beat this shock for the money. Hands down the best elastomer shock I or any of my friends have ever ridden. I wish they still made it so I could buy one for my wife's bike.
Weaknesses: Boots like to make a cup at the top making it easier for water to get in. I'v tried pulling them down but they just go back. Bottoms out if you drop more than 4 feet(I weigh 160#).
Bottom Line:
Awsome fork for the begginer/medium crosscountry biker.I think it is a great deal for a good fork. Like I said before you bottom out if you get more than 4 ft of air.I have bottomed it out more times than I can remember but, it still works great.
Bike Setup: Steel frame,Kore stem,Manitou SX fork,LX levers/Nashbar L brakes,Sun fat mammoth rims,WTB speed V sport saddle (love it),Nashbar seat post,Sram shifter/derailleur,Sram chain,Sram cassette,XT hubs.
Overall Rating:
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Submitted by
Dave
a Cross Country Rider
from New England
Date Reviewed: July 18, 2003
Strengths: easy to overhaul - i've done it about 4 times since i've owned it; lube ports make it easy to relube between overhauls too. seems to absorb the bumps very well and i've had no problems with it. has disc brake mounts. i weigh ~185 lbs and i have never bottomed out with it.
Weaknesses: not adjustable
Bottom Line:
i'm sure it would be a bunch cheaper if you can get it now - i'd say go for it if anyone is still selling it!
Bike Setup: 98 cannondale m400 frame with xt and raceface components...
Overall Rating:
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Submitted by
Marsman
a Weekend Warrior
from Veracruz, Mexico
Date Reviewed: November 20, 2002
Strengths: Predictable, reliable, good trail-aggro XC fork. Manitou guys give a good tech support thru MRD tuning manual
Weaknesses: No rebound adjustment
Bottom Line:
Good Fork. I weight 135 pounds and find stock set-up close to perfect for me. For my weight, it works great and sucks up mostly all bumps either on pavement or dirt. Very nice on muddy. Not so good on downhills with stair-steps (it may bottoms quick and throw you out)... would work with some comp/rebound adjustment.
Strengths: plush when it bottoms its not hard or all that noticable
Weaknesses: rebound assembly blows 3 times for me last in a month after having it rebuilt also stiffens over use because oil makes pressure in fork somehow this causes seals to blow and increased maitainance
Bottom Line:
this fork is ok for light xc riding but needs the pressure let out of the rebound(right side) every few rides otherwise seals blow and you get to wait for a new rebound assembly manitou has great warranty and has taken care of me 3 times on this fork but they just sold me a mars comp coil because i was sick of blowing my sx every few months pretty much this fork is way to soft even for 150 lb xc racer until the fork builds the pressure and blows then its to stiff its good for weekend warriors that ride light and maintain the fork but otherwise skip it because its a pain
Bike Setup: "00" fisher big sur rhyno lite/lx wheels and bontrager fs 2000 saddle
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Submitted by
Mad Dog
a Cross Country Rider
from B-More Maryland U.S.A.
Date Reviewed: March 28, 2002
Strengths: Fantastic begginer/weekend-warrior fork. Travel matched to spring rate to provide good performance. Weight to price ratio is fantastic. Minimal adjustments (pre-load only) but the stock set-up is dead-on (for riders 160-180). This fork saved me from myself on numerous occasions. Break-down and rebuild on this fork is easy. Micro-lub grease ports almost make rebuilding unnecessary.
Weaknesses: It is ugly. Limited adjustment. Not much travel. When temperature is below 45 this fork freezes up. On winter riders it often felt like I had a stiffy up front.
Bottom Line:
Perfect for general use. I took this fork into all conditions (Extreme heat of Arizona, extreme mud of east cost forest, extreme cold of NY winter) and it held up admirably (except in the cold as noted above). If you don't have a suspension fork and a thinking of trying one out, this is a great fork to start with.
Strengths: everything! this is a wicked fork!! i love the TCP Dampening system! this fork is a beast. ridden for 9 months and have had no problems except for scratches and keeping it greased up. very tight fork
Weaknesses: steel steerer tube, looks ugly
Bottom Line:
good fork for the money. not real specific for anything, great value, great performance, ugly look.
Similar Products Used: rockshox judy, TT, C, Z4, Sid, Jr T., psylo, SX-R
Bike Setup: 2000 trek 7000, superstock wheels, XT/LX/deore drivetrain
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Submitted by
Rob Weiss
a Cross Country Rider
from Clinton Township, MI
Date Reviewed: October 25, 2001
Strengths: Easy to change springs and elastomers, pretty light for the price point, no stiction issues when new or when it's cold, good linear response, very good online documentation for Owner, Service, and Tuning manuals. Nice appearance.
Weaknesses: As previously mentioned, stock setup is for 150-170 lb riders, and I'm 195. I had to pay $26.50 in parts to have the firm spring kit and 7.5w fork oil put in, so in reality, that's adding to the purchase cost of the bike. At least I have two springs sets for tuning now. With the heavier spring kit, I don't need any preload to get proper sag. Rebound and compression adjustment would be nice, but I don't see myself messing with the setup much now anyhow (unless I lose a bunch of weight).
Bottom Line:
I'm pretty impressed with this fork so far, and the Answer/Manitou online documentation is excellent. The RockShox tuning tips section is incomplete, especially for setting up sag. As a new rider, I went on a 4 hour trail ride recently and the best thing I can say is I didn't even think about the fork, i.e. it was doing it's job, and my wrists and hands felt fine afterward, with no cycling gloves. Now that I have the firmer spring kit, I want to hit some of those same hills again, but overall I think this fork is very well matched to the bike. Plus it's distinctive. I see so many black Judy Cs out there, it's nice to be a little different. Finally, it seems some of the complaints I've read are due to folks using this fork beyond its capabilities, e.g. big vert drops onto concrete, and/or without putting in the proper spring kit. These folks need a Mars or Black fork. For the XC riding I do, this fork is just about perfect. 5 chilis overall, knock one chili off of the value rating for the expensive upgrades.
Weaknesses: Very cushy if you weigh more than 5 pounds.
Bottom Line:
This fork can't handle moderate jumps and drops without crapping on itself. The oil leaks out and the cheap plastic adjuster knobs broke off after my first moderate to hard ride. I weigh 195 lbs. and this fork can't handle anything more than easy going stuff unless you make major adjustments to accomodate for extra weight.
It seems to be great for XC riding, but more technical stuff requires a more "bombproof" fork.
2 burning chili crappers. One for each leg of the fork.
Similar Products Used: multiple rock shox, other manitou shocks
Bike Setup: Mid range priced stuff all over lx, xt, etc...
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Submitted by
Gookie P
a Cross Country Rider
from RICE lake
Date Reviewed: August 9, 2001
Strengths: it absorbs bumps for a while
Weaknesses: POGO heavy cheesy top caps
Bottom Line:
This fork busted on me after 3 weeks of normal use. It cant handle rough riding like it should. Its so ugly too. I have a '01 Judy SL that blows this thing away. Now that is preformance. The SX-Rs are a bit better. But my Judy is king over this.
Submitted by
Mike Chartier
a Cross Country Rider
from Saskatoon
Date Reviewed: July 26, 2001
Weaknesses: durability, adjustability
Bottom Line:
my biggest disappointed with this fork is that could not withstand a low speed front impact, this fork folded going less than 10km/hr into the side of a hill, after less than 3 months us. No warranty coverage, but a nice bill. But i guess you get what you pay for.
Strengths: Takes big hits very well, reliable, predictable, and a great overall fork.
Weaknesses: Some leaking, plastic adjustment knobs.
Bottom Line:
This fork came stock on both my GF Sugar 3 and GF Big Sur. I've watched both forks as they get equal riding time and after 10 months of riding and several races I am very pleased with the performance of this fork. I was riding recently on a new trail and came up on a huge 4-foot drop-off unexpectedly. I just hit it hard and wow, the fork just sucked it up. I have zero complaints with the fork except for the weight, which is 3.9lbs, but with the weight comes excellent damping and rigidity. If you are a XC rider looking for a high quality, competitively priced fork, this is the best I've seen for the money. If you like a plush feel over small stuff you can lighten the pre-load, if you like a more rigid feel over the small stuff, you can pre-load this shock fairly tight and get a good solid rigid feel on the small stuff. When pre-loaded, there is very little bob in the up-hill sprint. Great fork!!
Submitted by
Henry
a Cross Country Rider
from Toronto, Canada
Date Reviewed: July 15, 2001
Strengths: Damn cheap! Easily serviceable That is all.
Weaknesses: Way too bouncy. Only suck up big hits. Decals and paint peel off. No rebound adjuster knob (99's had it!)
Bottom Line:
Well, for the 2000's, Manitou went really cheap. The shox bounce a lot, they don't help u out all the time because they only suck up big hits ( but they suck up large hits fairly well), and finally there is no rebound adjustment (Why not, the 99's had it!!!).
My Manitou SX '00 has very fast (much more than normal) rebound. I tried releasing some preload to see if that was affecting the rebound but it doesn't. It still rebounds very fast Read More »
I'm dusting off my old stumpjumper FSR XC and building it out with better parts for this summer, now that my kids are older and I can finally get away again on weekends... I've u Read More »
