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Home | Product Reviews | 2007 Forks | Magura Wotan | ||||
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Submitted by
les allen
a Weekend Warrior
from ontario
Date Reviewed: 3/14/2008 5:43:42 AM |
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| FavoriteTrail: | the don |
| Duration Product Used: | 1 Year |
| Price Paid: | $900 |
| Purchased At: | lbs |
| Strengths: | stiff and smooth, plus really easy to make adjustments. tracks well and feels safe and stable. |
| Weaknesses: | price, boy i wish it was cheaper, but worth every penny i guess. |
| Similar Products Tried: | fox talas and vanilla. manitou minute and nixon |
| Bike Setup: | ellesworth moment. |
| Bottom Line: | wow! just really good. not sure how to explain it, everything works the way it should and it is easy to use. feels safe, which pushes your ride to new levels. easy to adjust which is nice for climbing. takes large drop (6+ft). Dives a bit but changing the oil weight up to 10W helped this. get one, you won't be dissapointed in performance at all. In fact you will look cooler then all your riding buddies who have foxes :) |
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Submitted by
Petri
a Weekend Warrior
from Vantaa, Finland, Europe
Date Reviewed: 1/17/2008 12:23:34 PM |
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| FavoriteTrail: | anyting goes |
| Duration Product Used: | 3 months |
| Price Paid: | $550 |
| Purchased At: | online@ german.shop |
| Strengths: | Stiff, smooth, sensitive. A perfect fork for point-and-shoot approach. If your legs can do it, this fork will support it, period. |
| Weaknesses: | Poorly trained country support personnel. We have had three cases of frozen forks here in Finland and the worst part of that is that the local importer does not want to listen to us users at all, so far mr Magura has not made no comment. That is a shame as the fork is a magnificient piece of German engineering when adjusted properly - just dismantle it and remove all the assembly grease before use and lube it with 25cc of 5w50 oil on both lower legs and 175cc of 5w Öhlins Oil on rebound unit as the forks we had over here only had 110cc. By the way - this also voids the warranty but if U know what U R doing.... :-) |
| Similar Products Tried: | Fox Vanilla RLC |
| Bike Setup: | Ellsworth Moment with all the ding-a-lings |
| Bottom Line: | This fork does the job unless U ride in temps below freezing. Point the stem and keep pedaling - Wotan takes care of the rest. :-) |
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Submitted by
Josh
a Downhiller
from Ellensburg, WA, USA
Date Reviewed: 12/6/2007 9:34:11 PM |
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| FavoriteTrail: | Milk Creek |
| Duration Product Used: | 3 months |
| Price Paid: | $620 |
| Purchased At: | treefortbikes.com |
| Strengths: | Super stiff! I thought the dual arch was a gimmick but it seems to make a difference. Damping is very smooth and effective, I'd like to see a compression adjust but I'm okay with how it feels out of the box. The Albert Select DOES work extremely well despite some other reviews. It provides an excellent, infinitely adjustable platform to a near lockout when cranked all the way. The Maxle is already proven and works great on this fork. I can't imagine going back to pinch bolt axles after using this system. It's available in a ton of colors if you want to match it to your bike or make a statement. |
| Weaknesses: | It's a bit heavy at 5.5 lbs but I guess there is something of a price to pay for that stiffness. It comes with handlebar remotes as the only option. I don't like handlebar remotes, why do I have to use them? You can swap out the damping cartridge for one w/o the remote but the travel adjust is handlebar remote only. |
| Similar Products Tried: | Fox 36 TALAS R, Marzocchi All Mountain 1, Manitou Nixon Elite |
| Bike Setup: | 05 Giant Reign, nothing left stock. |
| Bottom Line: | This is a sweet buy for the price. While I'd like to see it without the remotes I'm willing to deal with them for the stiffness and value this fork provides. It performs as good or better than the TALAS R I've used and comes in a good bit cheaper. It gets 5 chilis for value, but 4 overall because there are some things I'd like to see a bit different (RC2 cart and no remotes). I'd recommend it for anyone who is shopping for a Lyric, Talas but can't come up with the scratch. It doesn't have a TST system which immediately puts it up on the 55 in my book as well (super unreliable after using one). |
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Submitted by
David
a Weekend Warrior
from Marin County
Date Reviewed: 7/5/2007 8:47:23 AM |
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| FavoriteTrail: | North Burma |
| Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month |
| Price Paid: | $500 |
| Purchased At: | MTBR forum |
| Strengths: | Great stiffness, adjustments work, MAXLE!!, travel adjust works great for climbs |
| Weaknesses: | A bit harsh on small bumps. It is probably user error though. |
| Similar Products Tried: | RS Pike air, FOX vanilla RLC, Zocchi Super T. |
| Bike Setup: | 2005 Heckler, juciy 7s, King hubs, King HS, DHX air, Wotan, Monkeylite DH, and the LOVE seat! |
| Bottom Line: | This is really a great fork. It is doing what I bought it for, to help me with the technical climbs my Pike air wasn't. Once I set it to 160mm travel it is on! I gained an extra 20mm of travel and only a little bit more weight. I am still working on getting the small bump compliance tuned. Overall, I'd say this fork is well worth the price of admission. |
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Submitted by
Craig Kodish
a Weekend Warrior
from Canyon Country,CA,USA
Date Reviewed: 6/12/2007 4:41:53 PM |
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| FavoriteTrail: | 5Trails |
| Duration Product Used: | 6 months |
| Price Paid: | $600 |
| Purchased At: | Adrenalin Bikes |
| Strengths: | VERY VERY STIFF ! I mean this thing is solid. The 20mm through axle is very unique as you don't need tools to take the wheel off. Soaks up bumps very well. |
| Weaknesses: | All the adjustments don't seem to work. It's supposed to have an adjustment to meke the fork almost as if it was a lock out and it doesn't work. Then there is supposed to be a way to get the fork to go from 6in. to 4in. It doesn't work. The levers are crap. Snapped one off fist drop in the dirt !Had to send it back to manufacturer twice. Twice they gave me a new one ! It's not weight, I am only a 175lbs. |
| Similar Products Tried: | FR-3, RockShox Psylo, Marzocchi Jr.T etc... |
| Bike Setup: | Foes Inferno, with Juicy carbons, DT Swiss rims, Sram etc. |
| Bottom Line: | Don't buy this fork. I switched it out after 3 months. If you want adjustability that works look elsewhere. If you want just a plush cushy shock then it is probably OK. |
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Submitted by
Dugo
a Weekend Warrior
from Albuquerque, NM
Date Reviewed: 5/2/2007 8:29:51 PM |
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| FavoriteTrail: | Porcupine Rim |
| Duration Product Used: | 3 months |
| Price Paid: | $700 |
| Purchased At: | BTI |
| Strengths: | Very Stiff and solid. Great adjustability, I run mine at 80psi for a coil like feel, but at around 60psi it is soft as a pillow. I believe they are using Rock Shox technology with Maxtel and perhaps the Mission Control. |
| Weaknesses: | Bar mount controls are not really that great. They should have gotten the Rock Shox Pop Lock for the Lock Out control. I believe you may be able to retrofit one. The travel adjust requires a "Hold it and Push" to engage and a "Hold it and Pull" to release. Why doesn't everyone learn from Zoch and use ETA? It is the best! Mine has a soft clunk at top out. |
| Similar Products Tried: | Zoch Z1, Z150 & Z1 Light. Maverick DUC32. Fox 36RC2 Rock Shox Pike, Reba & SID |
| Bike Setup: | Which one? 2006 Foes FXR with the Wotan. |
| Bottom Line: | I guess I'd say this fork rocks. While the bar mount Lock out (or Compression setting Albert thingy) and travel adjust are not as slick as I'd like to see, the fork flat out gets it. Really stiff fork bridge and smooth dampening with plenty of adjustment range makes this thing a killer ride. The fact that they seem to have a bit of Rock Shox technology in the thing works in my book. The Wotan is probably pretty close to the Lyrik. I gave it 5 flamers for Value because it really is a nice package for around $700 - $800. I nicked it one chili for the handle bar mounted controls. Magura....read this post, use the Pop-Lock control. |
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Submitted by
andrew holt
a Cross Country Rider
from Bridgend UK
Date Reviewed: 4/26/2007 12:46:02 PM |
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| FavoriteTrail: | Lakes uk |
| Duration Product Used: | 1 Year |
| Price Paid: | $1000 |
| Purchased At: | Rushextreme |
| Strengths: | Very very plush, can't tell you how plush - more like a coil fork than air. Super stiff, fit and forget. Never feels out of its depth. Never hard bottoms even landing heavy nose down. Maxle is awesome. Very easy to set up. Reliable as hell. Lock down is brilliant for climbing. |
| Weaknesses: | Manual says service once every year, period. Mine needed sorting after nine months. To be fair I hammer the forks 3-4 times a week and ride in awful winter conditions. This winter has been really bad. Full transmission totally destroyed in 6 months bad. Lock down cable is specific so you have to get from Magura. Travel adjust lever sucks but works when clean and you have to take everything off your bar to remove it. Lever is a bit "sticky outy" and could hurt you if you land on it. Should not be so sharp. 1lb heavier than the Nixons which were very good when they worked but the weight is worth it. |
| Similar Products Tried: | Fox 36 RC2, Manitou Nixon platinum, Marzocchi All mountain SL. |
| Bike Setup: | 2005 Reign 1, M4 monos, Crossmax, carbon bars and post, Thompson stem, XT bits with rock ring, tubeless Michelin XCR extreme and all mountain tyres |
| Bottom Line: | Why have I never seen another pair or met someone who owns these forks? You guys don't know what you're missing. Magura really pulled this one out of the bag. Awesome flawless performance (but they do get a little stickier when they need a service). I hope the first nine month service was due to bedding in. Magura had them back in the post the same day they arrived at the store! Awesome service, well done guys. £36 for a service too. I got a new set of lower stanchions during the service for free as they had been slightly modified and my set were a very early sample. Great bonus and not the first time I have heard Magura customer service always goes above and beyond the expected. Why everyone raves about the Fox air forks when these are in a different league; - marketing hype. Forks never feel flexy and really get me out of some sticky drop situations. Land on the front of the bike, nose down and hard, even from 6-8 feet up and the forks just deal with it. Never come close to going over the bars even doing stupid stuff. Great price, backup, easy to setup and all controls are useful. Lets hope the forks last the recommended 12 months to the next service. Would not even consider another fork if I were given a full refund. Buy if you are a hard all-mountain rider of freerider and can deal with a fork that is 2.6 kilos including steerer and maxle. (Measured weight). Leave it if you don't ride hard or are weight watching. A brilliant alternative to Pike's, the excellent 66's, All mountain forks or Vanilla 36's. Buy the 36 RC2's over the Wotans and you need your head read. Would like to give them a 4.5 due to the short first service but I did nothing whatsoever to them, not even cleaned the seals or turned them upside down so I can't complain and I guess they should have a 5 in light of this. |
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