[92SE-R]

How do you guys have your dorados setup and how much do you weigh? It feels almost perfect right now but I feel it could be a hair better. I'm still getting a little feedback on the braking bumps. What do you guys recommend? I'm running 4 clicks in of rebound. 6 clicks in of high speed and 4 clicks in of tpc. Im 145 lbs and 55psi. Any thoughts?

 

[Kanye West]

You could probably afford to remove some of the highspeed rebound valving and run the adjuster a little further in at your weight/springrate. That's about the best place to start with valving on any air-sprung fork because of the wide range of spring forces available.

 

[92SE-R]

Sorry. 4 clicks in from fully counterclockwise for rebound.

 

[Kanye West]

Right, that's on the faster side since you have a lighter spring. A little bit lighter highspeed valving would bring the adjuster range back towards the middle.

 

[92SE-R]

Remove high speed rebound valving? I'm confused.

 

[Metal Dude]

Don't forget to queef that biotch!

 

[daisycutter]

Lower your psi by 5 psi and run 4 clicks hsr.

 

[mtg]

I would definitely decrease the air pressure (although I've found that number is difficult to compare when using different pressure gauges, since those things typically have terrible accuracy). How much sag are you running? I run 25% on the fork, which is a little bit on the high end, but it works well with the tall axle-crown length on the Dorado...good traction without the front riding too low.

Other than that, Manitou's tuning guide in the owner's manual is actually quite good. But, try lower air pressure and more HSC would be my recommendation. Below is my baseline setup, and I weigh 175 lbs.

Click to make big

 

[92SE-R]

Oh wow. You can get away with that little air pressure? I will have to try that. Thanks!

 

[mtg]

On my gauge, yes. I use one of the Cane Creek "high precision shock pumps", fwiw. The 25% sag number is more comparable- I had tried down to 16% sag last year and had a similar complaint that you have.

 

[Ithnu]

Other than that, Manitou's tuning guide in the owner's manual is actually quite good. But, try lower air pressure and more HSC would be my recommendation. Below is my baseline setup, and I weigh 175 lbs.

I agree, the Manitou guide is pretty good. I run far more HSC than TPC. From fulling engaged "in" I run HSC 1/4 out and TPC 2/3 out.

Oh and DON"T store it upside down. I store my bikes by hanging them from the front wheel. Turns out that wrecks the seals. I didn't realize that until after my seals blew; which I then read the manual and found that out...oops.

 

[BMCarter]

50 psi for a 170lb rider? Damn, my settings are way different.

I'm 170 and have been running 82psi in mine. Compared to the setting posted I run about the same TPC but less HSC. Seems to work ok for me. For me, lower air pressures made it feel like it would wallow mid-stroke.

 

[Kanye West]

I've always bounced back and forth between running 75+ psi with the compression in the more open 1/3 of its range for both adjusters, and running 65 or so psi with heavier compression, and I weigh about 185-190.

 

[Kanye West]

That 50psi for a 170# rider suggestion must be for trails with NO steep pitch to them at all. You'd be riding more than 50% into the travel that way.

 

[RedOne]

I run it at 80-85psi for my 200lbs.

Rebound around 1/3 of the range in from fully open, TPC 1/2 - 2/3, HSC only three to five clicks.
Like the Freeride setup in the Manitou guide. Felt good for allday shuttled park riding.

some pics of the Dorado internals: http://fotos.mtb-news.de/s/45831
Had some problem with bushing play, leaking air spring, broken TPC+ coil spring...

 

[mattmatt86]

Anyone know where to get replacement guards? A dorado has just come into my possession and one of the guards has seen better days.

 

[daisycutter]

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=44550

 

[eater]

http://www.manitoumtb.com/assets/Owners Manuals/2010 Dorado Pro Set-up Service.pdf

the standard setup works for me.
i feel that the rebound on track isn't to fast.

 

[mattmatt86]

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=44550

I tried CRC already, If you click on "Buy" it says the item is discontinued.

 

[daisycutter]

Call Price point

 

[Ithnu]

Anyone know where to get replacement guards? A dorado has just come into my possession and one of the guards has seen better days.

Just call Manitou (Hayes). They have great support and will call you back if you a leave voice message. http://www.hayescomponents.com/contact-us/

I ordered my Dorado guards through them. *Make a note that "1" means set. I ended up with extras.

 

[mattmatt86]

Quick question: When there is no wheel and axle in the fork, is it normal for the right leg to have about 1/2 inch of vertical movement? I seem to remember Boxxers having a similar amount of play when they are unweighted but I'm new to Dorados so just want to make sure it's normal before I go out and break it...

 

[ianjenn]

One of the legs moves up and down freely....

I think its the non air leg. It can be a bit tricky to line the axle up sometimes through the hub because of it.

 

[time-bomb]

One of the legs moves up and down freely....

I think its the non air leg. It can be a bit tricky to line the axle up sometimes through the hub because of it.

Yes, I noticed this too. But mine seems to have gotten easier to line up after a bit of use however. Maybe it's less noticeable after some break-in or maybe it's less noticeable after you get used to working on it that way

 

[DMdh]

Dont you guys feel that the dh race setting that manitou gives you in the tunning guide its a little soft??
with the tpc opened 12 clicks I feel that It doesnt have much mid stroke support. Anyone feels this?

Im 69 kg with all the gear on and my settings right now are:

rebound: 12 from closed
hsc: 4 from closed
tpc+: 9 from closed
psi: 55 aprox.
20% sag

 

[Ithnu]

I've been playing around with my settings. I was in Whistler and discovered their steep tech didn't always do well with soft TPC. I've added more TPC which helps keep the fork higher in its travel in steep sections when I hit the front brake; but it can get "hooked" in rock gardens on those same steep sections. I got around this by going faster in the steep rock gardens...sometimes resulting in crashing, but the fork felt great up to that point.

As of now I'm not sure on my settings anymore. I used to think the compression settings were terrain and personal preference. But after Whistler I saw how much different my fork rode at higher/lower speeds in steep techy sections.

The faster you go, the easier it is. And the harder the crashes.

 

[gemini2k]

Dont you guys feel that the dh race setting that manitou gives you in the tunning guide its a little soft??

Yes. I'm about 99 kg, runnin ~92psi and 4 out from full in on TPC, and about halfway on HSC (not sure exactly). I'm still plowing through the travel on medium/big hits. Not hard bottoming, but getting to within 1.0-0.5 inches of bottom out. Turning in the HSC doesn't seem to help that much for the big hits (as expected).

Manitou's tuner guys suggested I rebuild the damper side with 7.5wt oil to improve the mid stroke support. I'll see if that helps. I might try going to higher psi too. Maybe 95-97?

Overall though the fork feels amazing. So good at speed in rough chatter.

 

[Matt 891]

Don't forget to queef that biotch!

Care to elaborate on your queefing procedure?

I have only heard it mentioned in passing.. First ride on my dorado was saturday

 

[konastab01]

Been looking at new Dorados, can only really see that the cheaper ones are a little heavier but are nearly the same spec wise. Is there much diffrence going for the Pro ones over the expert in real world tests?

 

[ianjenn]

Been looking at new Dorados, can only really see that the cheaper ones are a little heavier but are nearly the same spec wise. Is there much diffrence going for the Pro ones over the expert in real world tests?

No, it feels almost identical on the hill. In theory the leg tubing may not be as stiff. The Norco we tested had the EXPERT on it and it did feel very nice! I didn't notice it being more flexy maybe a faster rider has a different thought on it....

 

[blindboxx2334]

In theory the leg tubing may not be as stiff.

please elaborate why the leg tubing would be different between the two? from what ive read the only differences are machining on the crown(s) and this: "as well as a different aluminum specification used to save some money during production." (im assuming they're talking about crown mat'l)

 

[ianjenn]

6000 vs 7000 series aluminum in the legs as well as the crown differences.....

"The Pro will be stiffer and a little bit lighter than the Expert. They both use the same internals however the expert uses an 6061 fork legs vs 7000 series alloy. The crown is also machined less than the Pro. "

 

[DMdh]

It comes from factory in the 203 mm mode or 180mm mode??

 

[ianjenn]

203mm you have to ask for the shorter version people running 29 need that and maybe 27.5 as well.

 

[mtg]

Back to tuning info....

Similar to Ithnu, I've been experimenting with my setup lately. Trying to follow our hot shoe Trevor at Keystone got me to go up in spring rate, and down in damping ratio. (I still can't keep up with him, despite using the long chainstay setting).
I'm up to 60 psi (on my pressure guage), which is around 20% sag, iirc and running pretty close to Manitou's recommended "DH race" baseline.

I've also experimented with different pressure gauges and come to the conclusion you need to pick one, paint it gold and never use a different one. The pumps that Manitou sends with the forks (I've tried a number of them) seem to all read significantly higher than both the Cane Creek high precision pumps and the X Fusion pumps. So, once again, go by sag.

 

[daisycutter]

http://www.downhillnews.com/reviews/2013/7/14/manitou-dorado-pro-review.html

(There was a Q and A with Manitou at the end of this article but I had to delete it to fit it in this post.)

Manitou has been in the suspension game since the early 1990's. Gone are the days of their rubber elastomer springs. Throughout the late 1990s and early 2000's Manitou had a strong showing in the downhill segment. The used TPC in both their XVERT fork which was a Carbon Fibre standard triple clamp fork and then in their venture into the inverted market with the original Dorado around 2001-2003 with 30mm stantions and generation 2 came out from 2004-2006 with 32mm stantions. That fork worked well then manitou decided they needed the use the SPV vavling they were licensing from Turner and along came the MRD Dorado X-Works. It turns out downhill was not the appropriate venue for SPV. Its price was high for the time and people were expecting everything from it. That was in 2004 and 9 years ago. But some people seem to never forget things.Their new fork is using TPC + but now has a Dual Air chamber.

Today they are using a Dual Chamber Air design inside their new Dorado. In 2010 Manitou announced the Dorado Pro after extensive testing of the carbon fibre MRD version. This was good because that CF Dorado was approaching the $3,000 mark so very few people had them. The new design is somewhat light at 6.5 LBS and as plush as a fork can get. Out of the box it feels very supple and it feels better than most forks do after their required break in periods!

The new Dorado Pro is an engineering masterpiece. 7050 legs, inverted construction, dual-chamber air spring, TPC+ damping (with independent high- and low-speed compression), hydraulic bottom-out and top-out, and Manitou’s patented HexLock 20mm thru-axle add up to the most advanced downhill fork ever.

Features
Weight Lb / grams 6.55 / 2973.7
Travel 180, 203 Internally Adj. (29'er 175mm)
Spring Air
Spring Rate n/a
Bottom Out Hydraulic and Rubber Bumper
Steerer 1 1/8" Aluminum
Crown Forged Hollow-Oval Bore
Crown Finish Black Ano Polished
Offset 49.55
Compression Damping TPC+
Rebound Damping Adjustable TPC
Adjustments Air
Compression (High Speed and TPC+)
Rebound
Leg Diameter 36mm
Leg Material 7050 Aluminum
Wheel Size 26 / 29
Brake Post Mount
Brake 20mm Hex TA
Crown to Axle 567 / 591
Colors Black Ano


Hex-lock Thru Axle

Our patented hex axle locks the lower legs in place, eliminating rotation around the axle. This provides unsurpassed stiffness in a burly, no-gimmick 20mm axle system. US Patent #6, 412, 803.
Semi-bath with Evil Genius Seals

Semi-bath lubrication and Evil Genius seals have proven to dramatically increase the durability and service life of our forks. High quality Evil Genius seals, originally developed for motorcycle suspension, decrease stiction and keep fluids inside the legs where they belong.
Dorado TPC+ 4-dimensional Compression Damping

Velocity dependant circuit responds to the terrain
Pressure dependant circuit flattens the bumps
Energy dependant circuit activates on big hits while providing unmatched small bump sensitivity
Position dependant circuit creates a bottomless feel

System Advantages:

Durability
Traction
Comfort
Control

Original 2010 Press Release

"The Hayes Bicycle Group is pleased to announce the official release of the 2010 Manitou Dorado Pro.
The Dorado Pro features 7050 aluminum legs and utilizes the same premium internals as the Dorado MRD carbon version. With premium durability, the Dorado Pro maintains its World Cup DH race pedigree. However, it’s not a typical DH race fork anymore. With the added strength of the 7050 aluminum legs, it becomes a very capable park, free-ride and big mountain fork. Along with proven TPC+ damping, the fork has plush top-out coupled with a unique hydraulic bottoming ramp-up that makes the fork feel bottomless.
Updates for 2010 include an improved two-chamber, large-volume, low-pressure air spring which simplifies set-up and optimizes fork performance. The air spring pressure is now tuned by using a single valve at the top of the fork eliminating the second valve at the bottom of the leg. The pressure in the two chambers auto-equalizes when a shock pump is connected offering ease of set up by adding and/or bleeding off air from the top. Also, all mount hardware features high grade bolts with deep hex broaches offering an improved tool inter-face, and the brake line guide has been improved for optimum routing.
Spec:

Weight: 6.55lbs
Travel: 180mm/203mm for 26”
175mm for 29”
Chassis: Alloy Legs & Crown
Spring: Dual Air Chamber
Damper: TPC+
Hub: 20mm Hex Lock

The 2010 Dorado Pro was designed and tested in California and North Vancouver and is handmade in our Milwaukee, Wisconsin, facility. The Hayes Bicycle Group will continue to offer a one-year service program which allows riders to return their fork for factory service and inspection at no charge (specific rules apply to factory service). All race support at the HBG race truck will remain free of charge as we continue to support race teams, free riders and privateers. MSRP for the Dorado Pro in 26” is $1,749 and $1,799 for the 29er version."

We have gone through 4 or 5 Dorado forks now. The first one we had went on two different test bikes. Since then I have bought 4 others to build personal bikes with and demo bikes. I am known as a maintenance hack. My time is more valuable to me than spending a few hours rebuilding a fork every 4 weeks. Thats not gonna happen especially if I pay $1700 for the thing!

Our first test bike we built up with the Dorado Pro was the Canfield Jedi. Over the course of our 6 months of testing the fork preformed flawlessly. It mounted easily, has respectable weight, and you dont need suspesnion analysis software to dial the thing in. The Jedi got alot of vertical feet put on it and fast. In its first day out on the hill it had almost 25,000 feet ridden.

The Dorado felt perfect out of the box. Smooth as can be, the only other fork I can compare it to is a Shiver or old Monster T. There was no detectable stiction and the whole way through the fork just eats up chunky terrain like it is not even there. This is one of the areas it leaves other forks looking feable. Not only is it very small bump compliant but the air spring has a natural ramping effect making a bottom out on the Dorado a rare occurance and if it does happen the rubber and hydraulic bottom out control makes it a non issue.

As stated earlier maintenance is something I despise and having a fork blow a seal every month or needing a major overhaul is just way to much. That first Dorado we had was on 2 test bikes and easily eclipsed 300,000 vertical feet of hard decending on it. Never once in that time was the fork serviced! They suggest doing a service at regular intervals, it sort of slipped my mind and the fork ran great the whole time.

Towards the end of year two it was sent in for a complete rebuild and service. It was still under the service period so that was free. We have tested other complete bikes, one had a Boxxer WC and the other had a Fox 40 coil. Both of these developed seal leakage with 3 months of riding. The durability of the Dorado is simply amazing.

Setting up the Dorado was really very simple. In fact with the suggested set-up instructions Manitou includes it is pretty straight forward. We ended up using the DH Race tuning as a start point and then sped up Rebound and increased TPC + a few clicks. I weigh 209 and ran 90 PSI almost the entire time. Sometimes a little less depending on the trail.

Clicking the adjusters just one click is noticeable in the way the fork reacts on the trail. The fork has a fair bit of adjustment range to suite most users. Having the ability to fine tune the preload with the addition or removal of air in such small increments gives the Manitou Dorado Pro a distinct tuning advantage over a coil fork.

We rode the Dorado on rough chunky rock filled trails, down loose steep brake bump filled shoots and over smooth hero dirt up in Santa Cruz. The fork excelled everywhere it went. It provided traction over rough trails and as the speeds increased it had no problem keeping up and making the trail feel more like a sidwalk. The Dorado has the ability to keep low speed and high speed hits well in control without sacraficing one to make the other better. This is another area the fork excels at having a High and Low speed compression that truely seems independant of one another.

Also of note is the Norco Aurum 1 we tested came with the Manitou Dorado Expert. This is a lower dollar fork that is a bit heavier than the Pro version but internally it is identical. Manitou gained some weight and lowered cost by using a 6000 series aluminum, and forged triple clamps on the Expert. But riding the fork it feels just as plush and responsive. You can get the Expert brand new for about $1100 which is a pretty killer price!

We found a few negatives worth noting. The older Manitou Dorado came with two different top crowns one was flat and the other was a drop crown. They have since done away with the drop crown and now it comes with just the flat crown. That takes away some adjustment which may be a concern for some. Another issue that some of us noticed if paying attention you might notice that the fork is a little more flexible than a conventional fork. It is more noticeable going from a Fox 40 to the Dorado. I would say the Dorado has about the same amount of flex in it as a Boxxer WC does. Some people think this may be a benefit in its ability to track over rough terrain. Not sure but the fork really does shine on rougher trails.

Conclusion

Overall the Manitou Dorado Pro has proven to be an awesome fork. Its realibity, tuneability, responsiveness and dampening characteristic are something that none of us have experienced in any other fork. A fork is a very important piece of kit it controls the front wheel, where it goes how well it tracks the ground and how much traction the rider can get. There was never once while riding the Dorado over the last 3 years that I thought it could be mcuh better. In fact most of the time it worked and I forgot all about it being up there. I just knew it was doing its job up front. Point the bike where you want to go and the Dorado Pro will see that the front wheel gets up and over any obstacle in your way without much fuss. The hard part will be finding a rear suspension that can keep up with the fork! We would for sure reccomend the Manitou Dorado Pro or Expert to any of our friends with the new Manitou Dorado line effectivly becoming the downhill fork to beat.

 

[DMdh]

Yes. I'm about 99 kg, runnin ~92psi and 4 out from full in on TPC, and about halfway on HSC (not sure exactly). I'm still plowing through the travel on medium/big hits. Not hard bottoming, but getting to within 1.0-0.5 inches of bottom out. Turning in the HSC doesn't seem to help that much for the big hits (as expected).

Manitou's tuner guys suggested I rebuild the damper side with 7.5wt oil to improve the mid stroke support. I'll see if that helps. I might try going to higher psi too. Maybe 95-97?

Overall though the fork feels amazing. So good at speed in rough chatter.

if you rebuild it with 7,5wt oil please tell me how it goes
I just want a little more support on the midstroke when going through a steep section with bumps
And yes, overall the fork feels amazing, and perfect at speed in rough chatter!

 

[ianjenn]

http://www.downhillnews.com/reviews/2013/7/14/manitou-dorado-pro-review.html

(There was a Q and A with Manitou at the end of this article but I had to delete it to fit it in this post.)

That felt longer when I wrote it......weird.

In fact I have a Dorado on the Zee build Zerode I am building now a solid fork.

 

[Matt 891]

Care to elaborate on your queefing procedure?

I have only heard it mentioned in passing.. First ride on my dorado was saturday

Bump. My own post.. Sad.

I really really wanna know though!

 

[N2fire]

You can crack the right side of your fork with a 36 mm wrench after approximate 5-7 hrs use. It just releases the built up air.