Thoughts on Manitou Marvel or the Manitou TPC damper
jairaj
Posts: 3,009
Looking to get a new short travel fork 100 - 120mm travel.
Seen the Manitou Marvels discounted and at a reasonable price but I'm struggling to find out any reviews on these or anything recent on Manitou forks in general.
The spec list seems to tick all the boxes, light weight, lots of damping adjustment. But has anyone got any real life experience of these forks? or even a similar fork with the TPC damper?
They will be used on a XC bike but I occasionally ride it a bit harder than intended so don't want anything too flexy a bit of give is expected but nothing too noddley.
Also any views on durability? Are Manitou forks built well or do they fall apart after a few rides. My mate ran some R7 years ago and said they were fine but its been a few years since then so things could have changed.
Seen the Manitou Marvels discounted and at a reasonable price but I'm struggling to find out any reviews on these or anything recent on Manitou forks in general.
The spec list seems to tick all the boxes, light weight, lots of damping adjustment. But has anyone got any real life experience of these forks? or even a similar fork with the TPC damper?
They will be used on a XC bike but I occasionally ride it a bit harder than intended so don't want anything too flexy a bit of give is expected but nothing too noddley.
Also any views on durability? Are Manitou forks built well or do they fall apart after a few rides. My mate ran some R7 years ago and said they were fine but its been a few years since then so things could have changed.
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Comments
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People currently do not think well of the make, hence no one rides them. be amazed even with the number of people on the forum somone who rides with a manitou fork.0
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I use a Minute MRD on the Zaskar Carbon - perhaps the best damper I have used. However - some older, cheaper versions can spike a bit. But this is the absolute plus damper.0
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From the info on the Manitou website the TPC is supposed to be an upgrade to the Absolute+ damper so I think the damping will be fine on the Marvel.
What about stiffness of the Minute is it on par with other forks? I've heard some older forks were a bit wobbly is this still the case and should I possibly think about going for the slightly stronger Minute instead? I've used an RS SID before and found it was OK only wished it was very slightly stiffer but no deal breaker at all.
Also how about build quality and reliability? Are you able to give any info that?
thanks for the info so far.0 -
Know nothing about manitou but have a 2012 sid with 15mm maxle , apparently newer sid has a lot less flex. Rate mine very highly.....how long ago did you run a sid?0
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I think the SID I had was a 2010/2011.
As said some times I ride it a bit harder than its designed to. It is a XC race fork after all and I weight a bit more than your average racer.
But I only found it slightly lacking. Most the time the fork was fine.0 -
Absolute + is the top end damper. Stiffness is generally ok across, but the minute is a lightweight, mid travl fork - mine has 130mm of travel and is 3.3lbs, so is not the stiffest.0
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which Manitou marvels are you looking at?
Brother in law has a set of marvel pro 100mm. This has the ABS+ compression damper ( I have Manitou minute elite with a retro fitted ABS+ unit) and they are pretty dam good forks. light, stiff and well damped and reliable. The ABS+ cart is very very good and the adjustable platform setting over 8 clicks is shim adjustable too. TBH I don't know why they are not more popular since you can get good prices for them particularly from CRC.
They used to market two dampers TPC or ABS. both can be shim tuned but the ABS had more lockout but was a bit iffy. The ABS+ is a newer design and works significantly better and incorporated both TPC and ABS effectively.0 -
I'm looking at the Manitou Marvel Pro. The CRC description is a bit miss leading. From reading the Manitou webiste looks like the Pros have ABS damping and the TPC is a part of the damper.
I think I'm going to go ahead and click buy!0 -
it has ABS+ compression damping and TPC rebound damping. The ABS+ is based on the original TPC compression damping. both CRC and the Manitou site say the same thing
compression damping: TPC Technology Absolute XC Stack.0 -
one more question guys. Whats the difference between the Expert and the Pro?
From Manitou's website the Expert has Adjustable Detented TPC rebound damping while the Pro has Cartridge TPC rebound damping.
But what does this actually mean? Had a look in the technology section of the website but couldn't see anything relevant.0 -
I'll be honest, I am not sure with the newest models - the Manitou website is atrocious now.0
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jairaj wrote:one more question guys. Whats the difference between the Expert and the Pro?
From Manitou's website the Expert has Adjustable Detented TPC rebound damping while the Pro has Cartridge TPC rebound damping.
But what does this actually mean? Had a look in the technology section of the website but couldn't see anything relevant.
probably just difference in weight and maybe levels of adjustment. why not phone hotlines and ask them0
