manitou reliability

Will Snow
Will Snow Posts: 1,154
edited May 2008 in MTB buying advice
watcha, ive heard from a few sources that old manitous can be unreliable, and leaky?? wonder if anyone has any experience of them from 2006ish era, specifically:

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Mode ... elID=26929

cheers, any feedback appreciated.
i ride a hardtail

Comments

  • nicklouse
    nicklouse Posts: 50,675
    for those that cant be arsed clicking the link

    Manitou Stance Kingpin 20mm 2006 tripple clamps at half price.

    I wonder why they still have them.


    would not touch any manitou yet. let hayes sort them out for a few years yet.
    "Do not follow where the path may lead, Go instead where there is no path, and Leave a Trail."
    Parktools :?:SheldonBrown
  • Will Snow
    Will Snow Posts: 1,154
    fair play, thought was the general consensus. thanks
    i ride a hardtail
  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Posts: 79,667
    My experiences with manitou from circa 1996-1999 have made me steer clear of them forever more. horrible, horrible forks, always leaked, flexy, and heavy compared to equivalent RS and Marzocchis of the time.

    So they may have changed over time, but personally I wouldn't touch them with a bargepole.


    holy crap, have you read the review on Chainreaction? You have to worry about people's IQs these days. :roll:
  • ratty2k
    ratty2k Posts: 3,872
    ramp-age from Ireland 11 May 2008 19:30
    these r very good forks my freind has these on a saracen and i really would buy these they handle a 10ft drop with eez he bought these when they were alote more expencive .at the minet im saving up to buy the but he does alout of jumps drops and uther stuff and the never seem to give troubl and also they are the chepest dual crowned forks with a lot of travel 170MM very nice forks (i would say possibly best suited 4 someone who is looking 4 a set of forks 2 throw around and not worry about bottoming or them breaking


    :lol::lol::lol::lol::lol:

    Classy review, tho' I think someone's taking the piss.... please tell me its not real.... please?
    My Pics !


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  • Will Snow
    Will Snow Posts: 1,154
    dont get me started on the crc reviews... half of them are "will dis bit fit on ma bike???" and the other half are people saying "dese ere £20 forks are soo amazing, if you get boxxers your stoopid"
    i ride a hardtail
  • grantway
    grantway Posts: 1,430
    Will Snow you are so bang on, You have made my Friday. :wink:
  • rob cole
    rob cole Posts: 706
    the Stance was the biggest piece of sh*t Manitou ever made...avoid like the plague

    have seen way too many in our workshop with blown damping, cracked lowers or snapped through fork brace....
    check out my riding - www.robcole.co.uk Banshee Factory Team rider, Da Kine UK Team rider, www.freeborn.co.uk www.eshershore.com
  • dave_hill
    dave_hill Posts: 3,877
    My Giant came with a pair of Blacks as standard.

    No complaints at all about them - the only thing that didn't seem to work was the rebound damping, but I swapped the oil from the gnats piss that was in them for some 20 weight and hey presto! it worked.

    What I will say is that the build quality of the internals and the actual design of the forks was really poor - it was patently obvious that they were not designed to be disassembled which is kind of self defeating with a high-maintenance piece of kit like bicycle forks.

    Also, I stripped my Swinger 3-way rear shock the other week - and found why the SPV platform had never worked properly. The seal on the main piston had been put in the wrong way round which was allowing the SPV chamber to leak into the main spring. So I swapped it over and again hey presto! it's worked as it should do ever since...
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  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Posts: 79,667
    i had a nixon for a while and although really heavy, they were really nice feeling forks.

    dave hill, i ran a swinger 3 way on my old reign and thought it was absolutely superb and pedlled really well (although alot of that might be to do with the maestro system)
  • Blundell
    Blundell Posts: 308
    Got a set of R7's on my anthem 2, part of the reason as to why I haven't ridden it any where near as I should have. Got loads of stiction but once the fork is moving it's eaten all the travel in a matter of pico-seconds. Waiting to put my fox 32 80mm travels on the front when my sids finally arrive.
  • supersonic
    supersonic Posts: 82,708
    Consistency is the main problem with some models - some forks work fine for ages, others piss oil everywhere as the damper collapses. My Skareb has been fine.
  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Posts: 79,667
    Dave-hill, you have no complaints, even though the fork and shock were built incorrectly? That, is a pretty large complaint as far as I'm concerned, also the fact that you refer to a suspension fork as
    a high-maintenance piece of kit like bicycle forks.
    made me laugh.
    I've had my marzocchis since 2001, and haven't had to do anything to them. at all.
  • dhxcme
    dhxcme Posts: 1,467
    I've had 2 pairs of manitou splice super. 2 simply because the first set I had went from 70-100mm and wanted some tha went from 100-130mm but couldn't enitially affordthem. They are hard core forks that take no messing and stand up to anything that people are willing to sling in their path. Like with all forks some people take a light weight xc fork and say it won't do DH.

    Simplist answer I can give is fit them, try them and if you don't like them sell them or b*tch like a little girl because you haven't got the inherited jewelery or brain power to select the right kit to handle the terrain you want them for.