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when the f*@$ is Manatiou going to get their s%*@ together

wood-dog

wood-dog

Turbo Monkey
Jun 20, 2005
1,008
0
the mid-west armpit!
Ok, now for several years now I have been hearing people bag on Manitou left and right but I have still supported the organization and the forks they have come out with.... but FU@*! My minute 2 that I have had for about 6 months & have taken on less then 20 hours of ride time jackedup on me today. Up untill today the fork worked great (which seems to be everyones story). But out on the trail today the rebound was acting really funky and was either returning really fast with an added 'thunk' or it was super, super sluggish. So I decided to stop riding and figuer out WTF was going on with this thing and wouldn't you know it, as soon as I, again tried to adjust the dampining the rebound knob broke off! FU@K!!!!!!! The rebound knob is attached to a PLASTIC arm that adjusts the rebound! Plastic? Plastic? WTF... Plastic?
 
julian_dh

julian_dh

Monkey
Jan 10, 2005
813
0
yea the travis is pretty crap too my buddy whos 150 pounds has blown his repeatedly, got the internals and seals replaced twice at whistler and it feels like garbage alredy.

but when there working it dose feel pretty good you can give them that.
 
OrthoPT

OrthoPT

Monkey
Nov 17, 2004
721
0
Denver
Buy a Marzocchi fork. You'll end up spending more time riding and less time sitting and looking at your broken plastic Manitou.
 
D

dropmachine

Turbo Monkey
Sep 7, 2001
2,922
10
Your face.
Funny, but my Z1 wasn't up to snuff at all, same as the Nixon I have.

Its all about Fox, and beleive it or not, RockShox is kicking all kinds of ass.
 
frznnomad

frznnomad

Turbo Monkey
Jun 20, 2005
2,226
0
a-town biatches
fox for xc
marzocchi for hucks and now race
rock shox for race

thats my motto and ill stick to it. notice that manipoo isnt involved in that list. rock shox has grown by leaps and bounds and has really turned themselves around. im loving the new dh forks there putting out. i mean obviously they have something, or else marzocchi wouldnt be jumping on the air band waggon if it wasnt doing a kick ass job.
 
H

hbfrdh

Chimp
Mar 23, 2004
50
0
Just buy a Marz and you won't have to worry about it for years! The first year or so of the Z150 wasn't all that great; but other than that, they have the best forks:)
 
jonKranked

jonKranked

Detective Dookie
Nov 10, 2005
85,860
24,454
media blackout
I have only used marzocchi, and I have never, ever had a problem ('02 z1 freeride, '03 shiver dc, '04 888r). I beat the bloody hell out of them too.
 
Rip

Rip

Mr. Excitement
Feb 3, 2002
7,327
1
Over there somewhere.
OGRipper said:
Yeah I too am over Manitou, they are the forks I want to like but I've tried and had bad experiences. Although I might try a Manitou rigid fork...
Click to expand...
Even with a Manitou rigid fork, the seals will blow.;)
 
sanjuro

sanjuro

Tube Smuggler
Sep 13, 2004
17,373
0
SF
OGRipper said:
Yeah I too am over Manitou, they are the forks I want to like but I've tried and had bad experiences. Although I might try a Manitou rigid fork...
Click to expand...
Even with their rigid forks, their internals are plastic and the seals leak...
 
Robusto

Robusto

Monkey
May 10, 2006
251
0
Where riding is a taboo, Maryland
Not trying to highjack the thread, but I got my Travis earlier this summer... and I cant tell if I blew it up or not. Last week or so I lost it off a NS ladder, and kinda landed completely on it, it just feels softer than it used to, but theres no leaking or anything... maybe its all in my head :confused: :confused: :confused: Advice???? Other than that I am in love with it... yea Manitou does make some crappy stuff, and yea I did get the travis from Manitou because they didnt want to fix my old fork... but I'm really happy with the Travis, and Im sure that they'll make them better as time goes by... (GET RID OF THE PLASTIC SH!$ MANITOU!)
 
downhillracer

downhillracer

Turbo Monkey
Jan 28, 2005
1,230
0
Sammamish, WA
Ok. Every single rider i know in my riding group has had the worst luck in the world with the manitou swinger rear shock line, they are complete ****. Mine blew its guts out after about a week of having it and then it was a month to get it back from manitou, which is complete BS. No suprise, all of us changed over to fox shocks and haven't had any problems yet, go figure.
 
Peete

Peete

Turbo Monkey
May 5, 2002
1,054
0
just south of the ATL
My minute1 did the same thing. Rebound went kaput, knob wouldn't turn, then I broke it off.
I called warranty the next day. They sent out a new damper to the shop. I installed it and the fork works perfectly now.

My son has an '06 minute2 and that thing feels fantastic. Big improvement over the '05.

Instead of bitching on the boards you need to call the company and tell them what you think. If they don't do you right then come back and bitch.
 
dhkid

dhkid

Turbo Monkey
Mar 10, 2005
3,358
0
Malaysia
pdawg said:
My brand spanking new '07 Fox 36 Talas leaked a bit straight out of the box. My Travis Intrinsic has been problem free. Go figure.
Click to expand...
now thats a funny one, fox forks self lubricate. and there is always residue on the stantions, esp when they are new.
 
pdawg

pdawg

Monkey
Feb 27, 2006
310
0
Espoo, Finland
dhkid said:
now thats a funny one, fox forks self lubricate. and there is always residue on the stantions, esp when they are new.
Click to expand...
Ok... I must be wrong. You probably know more about self-lubricating than I do. Anyway, I just found it a bit odd that some oil somehow was seeping from the Talas cartridge assembly. I have owned two other Talas 32 forks that hadn't seen this happen before. The fork has already been sent back to Fox to be looked at.
 
dhkid

dhkid

Turbo Monkey
Mar 10, 2005
3,358
0
Malaysia
pdawg said:
You probably know more about self-lubricating than I do.
Click to expand...
lol!!! you should have kept the fork for a while and if there was still oil leaking out after say 5 rides then maybe there is a problem.
 
stgil888

stgil888

Monkey
Jun 16, 2004
484
0
Malibu, CA
I have had no good luck with Manitou. Nothing has worked right out of the box, and there service has been terrible. There was some talk a few months ago about a personnel shake-up (hiring/firing?) at Manitou. Maybe that will change things. My guess is as they continue to struggle and lose market share in the aftermarket/high-end arena, they will focus more on price-based/OEM applications. Anyone know anything more?
 
D

davep

Turbo Monkey
Jan 7, 2005
3,276
0
seattle
blue said:
My Dorado's seals are about 5 months old and leaaaaking...
Click to expand...
That is because the dorado does not actually have seals. The black thing (what looks like a seal) is actually a dust wiper. It is designed to keep dust and mud out of the fork.
 
Jm_

Jm_

sled dog's bollocks
Jan 14, 2002
18,975
9,638
AK
stgil888 said:
My guess is as they continue to struggle and lose market share in the aftermarket/high-end arena, they will focus more on price-based/OEM applications. Anyone know anything more?
Click to expand...
I think this is one of the problems. The more manitou gets into the OEM market, the more they keep producing dirt cheap forks that are slapped together with substandard parts and design. In the OEM market price rules everything else, and manitou has been pretty big in the OEM market recently. Why put a boxxer ride, or at least a reliable Jr T on a bike when you can spec a stance kingpin for much less? So lots of companies will buy the OEM manitou products, and their reputation and reliability just keeps spiraling down, because it's a vicious cycle.
 
stgil888

stgil888

Monkey
Jun 16, 2004
484
0
Malibu, CA
Jm_ said:
I think this is one of the problems. The more manitou gets into the OEM market, the more they keep producing dirt cheap forks that are slapped together with substandard parts and design. In the OEM market price rules everything else, and manitou has been pretty big in the OEM market recently. Why put a boxxer ride, or at least a reliable Jr T on a bike when you can spec a stance kingpin for much less? So lots of companies will buy the OEM manitou products, and their reputation and reliability just keeps spiraling down, because it's a vicious cycle.
Click to expand...
I agree completely. Manitou does do something the others don't, which is put out a product with all the "bells and whistles" (through axles, 'core' colors, adjustable damping, comparable travel, whatever the case may be) for a price that makes sense for OEM and non-enthusiast customers. What I mean to say is that Manitou offers something that, on the surface, has all the features of a much more expensive Fox, RS, or Marzocchi fork. The average non-enthusiast customer buying a bike for his/her teenage son doesn't know the difference and just doesn't care. A Stance Kingpin or any number of their other models offer the same amount of travel as forks from Marzocchi, RS and Fox for a greatly reduced price. The fact that the forks barely work and fall apart quickly matters to an enthusiast or a competitor, but the fourteen year old skater who rides his bike around the backyard isn't going to know. As well, compared to their previous department store bike, the Manitou is really great. When I worked in a shop, I had to deal with numerous customers who had bought Manitou-equipped bikes come in broken-hearted. These were usually people just getting into the sport. They didn't understand why their fork or shock had suddenly given up and blown oil everywhere. Worse, they were often offended when I suggested the upgrade to a model from Fox costing hundreds of dollars. That is the inherent advantage/difference that some of these Manitou OEM products have and create. A customer who gets a decent OEM Manitou fork and/or shock on his Giant or Iron Horse comes to expect near-competition level quality but is used to paying department store prices. They aren't used to or prepared to spend prices for aftermarket goods, but they're mad that their relatively (especially compared to what they're used to) expensive bike's Manitou components fail.
 
stgil888

stgil888

Monkey
Jun 16, 2004
484
0
Malibu, CA
The trend I tried to explain above is the result of competitive pricing, not just Manitou. I don't mean to derail the thread, but I am curious if anyone else (industry or not) has seen this trend. I am all for free markets and competitive pricing, as it benefits the consumer, and I am happy that more people are getting on bikes. However, there is a downside to driving prices so low in that casual riders and beginners have come to expect a $500 or $600 bike to perform the way a freshly tuned $5000 bike does. This leads them to get frustrated and put off when something goes wrong. Do manufacturers figure that enough of these beginners will get hooked on the cheap models to keep their higher-end bikes rolling out of dealer's doors?
 
stgil888

stgil888

Monkey
Jun 16, 2004
484
0
Malibu, CA
To get back on track, I think that if Manitou is indeed trying to chase OEM customers and not consumers, they need to revise their products. Successful OEM products are simplified, cheaper versions of the best aftermarket models of the past. Delco and other OEM auto suppliers (although I'm sure they won't say this) take existing designs, knock off a few features and build them in huge numbers, driving the price down. This allows more cars to come with, say, GPS. A full Alpine or Pioneer installation with a DVD head unit and a big touch LCD costs thousands of dollars, but now there are GPS units for cars that work perfectly well for hundreds. To apply this to Manitou, I ask why they still fiddling wth complex valving like SPV instead of putting together a simple shimmed cartridge or a non-adjustable open-bath? Is it because of OEM demand? Are the big manufacturers pressuring them to make something with a sophisticated name because that draws buyers?
 
B

blue

boob hater
Jan 24, 2004
10,160
2
california
davep said:
That is because the dorado does not actually have seals. The black thing (what looks like a seal) is actually a dust wiper. It is designed to keep dust and mud out of the fork.
Click to expand...
So what would one do if one's Dorado was pooping oil out of the spring leg...
 
D

davep

Turbo Monkey
Jan 7, 2005
3,276
0
seattle
blue said:
So what would one do if one's Dorado was pooping oil out of the spring leg...
Click to expand...
I would add a true oil seal to the fork in the same way that Marzocchi does it, oil seal behind the dust wiper. It worked for my X-works dorado until i sent it back to manitou for a refund because they could not make the damping work..

Behind each dust wiper is a foam ring. That foam ring sits in a space (on my fork) that was exactly the correct size for an oil seal to fit. I essentially pulled the dust wiper, removed the faom ring, pressed in an oil seal and replaced the dust wiper. Viola dry caliper and rotor...

Pull the fork completely apart
remove the dust wipers carefully
measure the space where the seal will go (outer diameter and depth as well as inner diameter (stantion diameter))
Go to a hydraulic seal wherehouse (there has to be tons in SLC it is so industrial in parts) and ask the dude ther for an oil seal that fits.
(or bring in your leg and stantion and have them measure)

should look like this http://elastotechnics.kremen-rti.com.ua/images/logo/PRODBL.jpg
 
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