Manitou - Minute or Marvel (or Reba)?

Kowalski675

I'm planning on upgrading my 2007 Carrera Kraken hardtail a bit to use for local door to door XC/Trail type rides (mix of bridle paths, towpaths, woodland trails, singletrack etc - nothing hugely gnarly, but plenty of rocky and rooty sections, and some bumpy descents). It's getting the Elixir 3s from my Boardman and so far I've bought a new chain, bars, straight seatpost and 50mm stem (it's a 20" frame, and I wanted to shorten the reach a bit, while switching to 31.8mm bars), which leaves the XCR fork as the weak link.

I want 120mm, 1 1/8 steerer and 9mm QR (if I was going to change the wheels too I'd go for a 15mm, but I don't want to go that far with the expenditure, at least not for now). I was going to buy some new Epicons for £135, but now I'm thinking of spending a little more (the idea's mainly to have a bike for local rides in the mud and filth to save wear on the full susser, but if it rides well then I'll maybe keep using it for local rides during summer too, and maybe the odd trail centre ride until spring comes round).

So, to cut a long story short (too late, i know...), I was looking at 120mm Reba RLs (approx £225 from a French site), but CRC have just dropped some prices and have 120mm Manitou Minute Pro (2013) for £205 or 120mm Marvel Pro (2012) for £225 (but the RRPs are £380 and £480 respectively). The specs look very similar, but the Minute's labelled as an XC/AM fork on MAnitou's site, with the Marvel labelled as XC. They both have the same adjustments and very similar specs. As far as I can tell the differences are the spring (MARS coil & air spring on the Minute, ISO air on the Marvel) and damper (both TPC Technology Absolute+, but "trail tuned" on the Minute and "XC stack" on the Marvel).

http://www.manitoumtb.com/products/forks/minute/

http://www.manitoumtb.com/products/forks/marvel/

So... Any opinions, feedback or experience on/of the two in comparison, and which would be better for me? The £20 difference is small, but the £100 difference in RRP would suggest that the Marvel is higher spec, despite the similarities.

Just to complicate the question further, how do they compare to the Reba RL (which is available in my prefernce of black, unlike the Manitous, which are both white).

Huckfinn

I have no experience with the Manitou, but have a look here http://www.rczbikeshop.com for forks alot cheaper, my friend has used them with no problems. They had some rebas on there for less than £200 last time I checked

poah

main difference between the marvel and the minute is the spring and the compression settings which can be changed anyway. marvel probably lighter as it is just an air fork - the marvel pro's we have are 1515g for the 100mm fork.

mars is an air spring with a small coil helper while ISO is just air

this shows the different shim stacks


http://goo.gl/JaqWO

Kowalski675

Huckfinn wrote:

I have no experience with the Manitou, but have a look here http://www.rczbikeshop.com for forks alot cheaper, my friend has used them with no problems. They had some rebas on there for less than £200 last time I checked

Cheers, but I've already looked on there. They only have 100mm with remote, I want 120mm crown lockout.

Kowalski675

POAH wrote:

this shows the different shim stacks


http://goo.gl/JaqWO

Cheers, I'll have a read of that later. Do you know secifically which of those shim stacks the Marvel Pro and Minute Pro have?

shindig

I had a set of rebas. Bloody good forks. Could not fault them on my rocklobster or cotic soul.

Kowalski675

Aye, they seem to be very well regarded, and apparently reliable and easy to service too. I've had a bounce on a few sets of Rebas in my LBS and they do feel good, even brand new (where most showroom fresh unused Fox forks seem to feel stiction prone). It could be said that it's possibly a bit ar*e about face fitting better forks to my "winter" hardtail than the ones on my full suss trailbike though... :?

BigAl

Kowalski675 wrote:

Aye, they seem to be very well regarded, and apparently reliable and easy to service too. I've had a bounce on a few sets of Rebas in my LBS and they do feel good, even brand new (where most showroom fresh unused Fox forks seem to feel stiction prone). It could be said that it's possibly a bit ar*e about face fitting better forks to my "winter" hardtail than the ones on my full suss trailbike though... :?

More than well regarded. If you buy Rebas you'll be happy. Very happy.

Can't comment on Manitous

Kowalski675

I've heard it said that the Manitous have a good damper, but if I could get the Rebas for the same price from a UK supplier I'd probably stick with them, as they're a known quantity and black.

BigAl

Sent you a pm, Kowalski

Levi_501

I have a set of Minutes for my R8 and have to say they have performed much better than I was expecting.

Due to the spring assist, they have a more linear feel.

Whilst I also like RS Rebas and Sids, I would have no problem in recommending or using Minutes.

poah

Kowalski675 wrote:

POAH wrote:

this shows the different shim stacks


http://goo.gl/JaqWO

Cheers, I'll have a read of that later. Do you know secifically which of those shim stacks the Marvel Pro and Minute Pro have?

minutes have the production trail stack while mavels have the production xc stack. the only difference is the trail stack has a velocity dependant shim while XC stack doesn't.

which seems contradictory at first. Selecting a Trail Series stack allows the use of a lower platform for reduced harshness, increasing the ramp up as velocity climbs for better bottoming control, and the use of an extra click or two in the adjuster for better chassis dive control.

so it would be pretty simple to change the way they operate.

http://forums.mtbr.com/shocks-suspensio ... 87754.html

Kowalski675

Cheers.

downhillbike

i'd go for the minutes

Kowalski675

downhillbike wrote:

i'd go for the minutes

Of the Manitous, or in preference to the Rebas?

poah

Kowalski675 wrote:

downhillbike wrote:

i'd go for the minutes

Of the Manitous, or in preference to the Rebas?

I'd go for the marvels over the minutes for what you want to ride the bike with. I've got 120 minutes on my ghost but prefer the ABS+ settings on the marvel

downhillbike

Kowalski675 wrote:

downhillbike wrote:

i'd go for the minutes

Of the Manitous, or in preference to the Rebas?

in preference to the rebas

supersonic

I have had several Rebas and a Manitou Minute MRD with ABS Plus damping. The latter utilises the travel better as the damping is superior, but the Reba has s smoother start to the travel, especially the Dual Air version.

Kowalski675

supersonic wrote:

I have had several Rebas and a Manitou Minute MRD with ABS Plus damping. The latter utilises the travel better as the damping is superior, but the Reba has s smoother start to the travel, especially the Dual Air version.

So you'd say the Reba has plusher small bump performance, but the Manitou damper works better further into the travel? The Reba would be a 2013 solo air model.

On a minor point, has anyone fitted a Muckynutz Bender Fender to a Manitou, with its back to front brace? If so, did it fit?

Kowalski675

POAH wrote:

Kowalski675 wrote:

downhillbike wrote:

i'd go for the minutes

Of the Manitous, or in preference to the Rebas?

I'd go for the marvels over the minutes for what you want to ride the bike with. I've got 120 minutes on my ghost but prefer the ABS+ settings on the marvel

You prefer the Marvel, but would go for the Minute? What makes you say that? I was erring toward the seemingly more trail biased Minute, of the two.

Kowalski675

downhillbike wrote:

Kowalski675 wrote:

downhillbike wrote:

i'd go for the minutes

Of the Manitous, or in preference to the Rebas?

in preference to the rebas

Why's that?

poah

Kowalski675 wrote:

You prefer the Marvel, but would go for the Minute? What makes you say that? I was erring toward the seemingly more trail biased Minute, of the two.

would rather have the coil/air spring of the minute but with the XC shim stack in the ABS+ I prefer the effect of the production XC stack to the trail stack that's all. when they are fully open there is almost no difference in the feel

Kowalski675

Furry muff. Any idea why there's such a big difference in rrp for what seem like two very similar spec levels?

poah

chassis is a bit different - minute is longer than the marvel plus the differences in springs and platform shims.

Kowalski675

Doesn't really explain a £100 difference in rrp though.

poah

not a clue as to why. from my limited searching the minute has better small bump sensitivity while the marvel has less brake dive

Kowalski675

POAH wrote:

from my limited searching the minute has better small bump sensitivity

Yeah, their site suggests that the MARS coil & air spring gives better small bump compliance (which would presumably also mean more brake dive too as a by-product).