I'm sure this has been iterated, but why in god's name do Manitou insist on a USD design?
They have barely perceptable unsprung weight advantages, they can NEVER be as torsionally stiff as a conventional design for the same weight.
As they don't have any supporting structure between the axle and the crown, the moment on the outers is far greater as the lever arm is the axle to crown distance instead of the axle to arch distance.
The axle mounts are also invariably heavier as they are a seperate bolt on item, not integrated into a one piece casting.
The inner stantions are more vulnerable, which is especially a problem when bike company's insist on using a coating to reduce friction without thinking about something a littler more durable like a hard chrome.
All manitou has to do is stick their TPC+ damper into a conventional fork with a normal arch (just because your arch is a bit shorter and stiffer doesn't mean the extra 2" of lower and stantion aren't an issue idiots), some 35mm stantions that are coated in a DLC compound and bring the weight under 7lb with a steel coil and people would flock. We don't need extremely light forks, we need quality of damping and construction with reasonable maintainance periods (think 80ml in each leg instead of 10).
They have barely perceptable unsprung weight advantages, they can NEVER be as torsionally stiff as a conventional design for the same weight.
As they don't have any supporting structure between the axle and the crown, the moment on the outers is far greater as the lever arm is the axle to crown distance instead of the axle to arch distance.
The axle mounts are also invariably heavier as they are a seperate bolt on item, not integrated into a one piece casting.
The inner stantions are more vulnerable, which is especially a problem when bike company's insist on using a coating to reduce friction without thinking about something a littler more durable like a hard chrome.
All manitou has to do is stick their TPC+ damper into a conventional fork with a normal arch (just because your arch is a bit shorter and stiffer doesn't mean the extra 2" of lower and stantion aren't an issue idiots), some 35mm stantions that are coated in a DLC compound and bring the weight under 7lb with a steel coil and people would flock. We don't need extremely light forks, we need quality of damping and construction with reasonable maintainance periods (think 80ml in each leg instead of 10).