[buttychunkster]

Ok people..lets hear it...I want to get a new pair of shocks for my titanium GT...currently running a Marzocchi Z2 Atom Bomber which I love to bits....Im a Marzocchi fan love the plushness..but Im now looking at White Bros or Manitou beacuse I have access to non retail prices...Rock Shox dont even come into sorry...I need a disc mount and about 3- 5 inches of travel...any ideas? Anybody have any experience with the white or manitou product?? bring it on!

 

[Merwin5_10]

Check out the Mars. (Manitou) I think you'll like what you see.

 

[RideMonkey]

How about those new Manitou Black forks? Pretty cool lookin.........

 

[buttychunkster]

them black forks look pretty nasty alright!

 

[MtnBikerChk]

I had a Manitou SX - I like the Marzocchi z2 atom much better!

 

[chunk]

I put a Manitou Mars Elite on my new Soulcraft and so far have been really impressed. The Mars use both a coil sping and compressed air to regulate travel. The initial travel uses the coil spring which is nice and plush with little stiction and then transfers to the compressed air which ramps up to prevent bottoming out.

The only negative to the Mars is that you need to buy new springs to dial in the suspension if you weigh plus or minus 140 to 160 lbs.

 

[B-Loco]

I rode a mars elite - like chunk said sweat fork.

I like the new black forks, the reversed arch looks nifty. Wonder how it rides?

Never ridden a white bros...heard great things but they were outta my price range.

good luck and let us know what you end up with! If you get the black fork try and post a full review! would love to hear your thoughts on it

 

[Freak]

I have a manitou black fork and it rides very nice. Don't really have much to say about the durability of it because I've only had it for a few weeks.

 

[Merwin5_10]

The Black is a heavy fork. I mean heavy. Get a friend and pick one up. You'll see what I mean.

 

[chunk]

Originally posted by Freak
I have a manitou black fork and it rides very nice. Don't really have much to say about the durability of it because I've only had it for a few weeks.

Ditto on the durability of the Mars Elite. I've only been using it since the beginning of July.

 

[Freak]

Originally posted by Merwin5_10
The Black is a heavy fork. I mean heavy. Get a friend and pick one up. You'll see what I mean.

I don't really pay much attention to weight. But it's a lot lighter than my 10lbs DH fork...

 

[buttychunkster]

been speaking to poeple who say manitou dont cut it as far as technology goes and they make things way too complex. thinkin bout cashing out for a marzocchi x fly 100 or sumtink..wait and see!

but those white bros shiny things would sure look good on my polished ti frame..oooh so shiny must have shiny (or BLACK)

 

[Freak]

Here is something about White Bros...


"fyi - WHITE BROS."
just got a friendly email from sponsor (white brothers)...looks something like this (incase people out there are looking for service/parts etc...)
"...White Brothers has sold the MTB division, and is no longer in the bicycle fork business. Eko Sports in Grand Junction, CO will be selling the Factory Fork line from now on. No word yet on how sponsorships will be handled. If you need service, please contact them @ (970) 241-3518. As of today, we have no more parts or even tools to work on them, as our entire inventory has been boxed up and shipped to Eko..."

 

[buttychunkster]

does this mean I should get some ASAP?? what do you think about them in relation to Marzocchi forks?

 

[Freak]

I believe you would be better off with the Marzocchi over the white bros.

That e-mail was from one of my friends who is sponsored by them. Myself, personnally I don't like white bros forks because of past experiences with them and their products.

I would go with the Marzocchi or the Manitou.

www.rapiddescentracing.com

 

[buttychunkster]

Yeah I think I knew I was aMArzocchi guy all along but the whites just caught my eye and being able to get them from the importer also makes a difference...but for that price I can still get a nasty zoke!

 

[Merwin5_10]

Marzocchi forks are arguably the stiffest forks out ther, but they add a lot of weight to your ride. I love their stuff. It works well, its built well and its not as pricey as I expected. You just have to overlook the weight.

 

[buttychunkster]

Ive never been particularly weight conscious ( Ive got a GT remember! ) so I think Im going ZOKE..now Im tryin todecide whether to go for Z1 Dropoff or the XFly 100???

 

[Brass Monkey]

I've had a few manitou forks but they just dont cut it I much prefer the big tripple claps.
My mates got a pair of white brothers on his Gaint ATX1 and they are very plush (7.2"travel) I sugest that you definately go for a pair

 

[Freak]

Originally posted by DHdemon
I've had a few manitou forks but they just dont cut it I much prefer the big tripple claps.
My mates got a pair of white brothers on his Gaint ATX1 and they are very plush (7.2"travel) I sugest that you definately go for a pair

I'm a DH racer, but I just don't understand the logic of a big travel fork on a xc bike???

I don't think buttychunkster is looking for something with that much travel... probably more like 3-5" of travel....

www.rapiddescentracing.com

 

[Brass Monkey]

True dat well anouther one of my mates has the white bros AT-4
that only has 95mm travel and it's very plush is well It's Air Sprung so I don't know if that's what buttychunkster wants but again I'll recomend this fork too!!
Cu

 

[buttychunkster]

yeah Im really torn at the mo between the whites and marzocchi..not sure bout air...more like oil coil...and freak youre right 3to 5 would be sweet Ive only got 75 mm at the mo and I feel like I need something more!

 

[Brass Monkey]

Well which is more value for money.and also I'm not to sure if y care about weight but which is lighter.
Also read the reviews on the forks that your interested in to see if it's what you want

 

[Banga]

I just ( an hour ago) had a pair of Manitou black elite 100/120 in my hot little hands and they are not heavy for a 5 inch travel fork,and as for technology,they had rebound and compression dampning ,spring pre load and externally adjustable travel!Thats pretty up with the rest of them isn't it?Reverse arch they just look cool and finally Manitou have gone to a full coil set up!What more could you ask for?and whats more(buttychunkster) if your in Auckland the service centre (BJ) is now moved back there so no worries. Ordered mine today have to wait 2 weeks for it to arrive... sob sob cry cry.Looks like Manitou have got it Dialed for 2002.

 

[Banga]

and they are only $999 retail.And from memory the whole saler for white brothers in NZ is sports pro right?
same as manitou so you can get them cheaper too rite?
If so you wanna get me some too?juts kidding, well not really
get back to me.

 

[Freak]

Here is a picture of my Manitou black forks....Still going strong

 

[buttychunkster]

Originally posted by Banga
and they are only $999 retail.And from memory the whole saler for white brothers in NZ is sports pro right?
same as manitou so you can get them cheaper too rite?
If so you wanna get me some too?juts kidding, well not really
get back to me.

Ill look into it fella...might have hooked up some zokes but waiting to see..the blacks..no air in dem I dont like air really and how much weight we talkin? like psylo weight sorta?

 

[buttychunkster]

Originally posted by Freak
Here is a picture of my Manitou black forks....Still going strong

yep they look nice alright...feel plush? how muchy travel and weigh?

 

[Banga]

hovering around 4 pounds just uder or just over Im pretty sure in the same ball park as phslos.will lose proberbly half a pound when i get rid of my old skool orange bombers and gain an inch of travel.Not too bad.And no air in the elite 100/120 or the elite 80/100 which could be another option for you

 

[Banga]

your bike looks pretty mint freak those don't look like hayes rotors , or is it just my eyes.Ill try to get a picture of my bike up when its done, something we down here in new Zealand like to call an N-Zone Slacker

 

[buttychunkster]

dam so many choices..rode said psylos on sunday and they were pretty sweet...know waht marzocchi feel like so now gotta find out about manitous too

 

[Freak]

Feel very plush. And remember this is after riding a DH bike with 8" of travel front and rear.

Adjustments are great! External rebound, and compression.

And you can change the travel from 80mm to 100mm with a turn of a knob...

Yes, they make the exact same fork with 100mm to 120mm travel, the cost should be the same.

As far as weight???? Anything is lighter than my 10lbs DH fork so I don't really pay much attention to it. But I like them so far...

 

[buttychunkster]

Im gonna check out those mama jamas

 

[Banga]

yeah Ive been through all this already and have FINALLY decided on the Balcks , seeing them today only reinforced my decision.

 

[Freak]

I think you guys will really like the Manitou forks, I know I do so far. But I think I would like to have the 100mm to 120mm forks instead of the 80mm to 100mm.....

I think I will put the ones I have now on my girlfriends bike and then buy the more travel forks and put them on my bike...

Think she would go for that??? hmmmmm........

Oh yea, this is her bike by the way...

 

[M.W.]

Just a note about White Bros. stuff. From what I've seen of them, their stuff tends to be somewhat inconsistant. I've seen some that have lasted a long time and worked really well, and then there have been other forks of the same model that have literally fallen apart (coating coming off the stanchions, LOTS of flex, bending, etc.). Personally, I won't go near their stuff. But if you do get a nice set, they're pretty good. I've only seen their DH stuff, too.

Manitou, I'm a bit iffy on... I had a '97 FS, and it sucked, my friend had a '99 XVert-T and he broke it a bunch of times before eventually ditching it for a boxxer. Another friend got a '00 XVert DC and broke it in a month, BUT it felt absolutely incredible. I've bounced around on a set of Milleniums (granted, these were on the bike that TwentyFourSeven made for Shaun Palmer, so I'm sure they had some mad voodoo done to them by Manitou) and they were probably the best 5" travel fork I've ever ridden. I would sell my soul to get that set of forks. I've also ridden a couple sets of XVert Carbons, and they feel similar to the Milleniums. Pretty sweet, but they're a bit underbuilt for my liking (I'd love them if I were making a race-only bike, but I dunno about them for my everyday riding). I guess where I'm going with this is that I like the way manitou's recent forks feel, and if they were to make the lowers (what broke on all the broken manitous I've seen) more durable, they'd be up there on my list. And it appears that they've done that with the new Black forks. Unfortunately, I no longer spend any money on my hardtail unless I really have to (use it as a street/jump bike, I don't even have a front brake on it.), and I'm real happy with my '99 Z1.

I love marzocchi forks as well, but I think they made a HUGE mistake going to the integrated brake arch. My dream fork would be my '01 JrT that I have on my DH/Shore bike, with a blackspire arch like you could put on the older ones. But for a mostly XC bike, they're probably plenty strong. So really it just comes down to a price/sexyness/personal preferance decision between the Black and a Bomber, at least in my opinion.

Man, that ended up being a lot longer than I originally planned. Sorry if you continued to read my nonsensical ramblings this far, but it's late (1:22am) and I'm tired.

 

[Dougal THUG #1]

I haven't ridden the Black but the internals stack up as similar to the worked Xvert DC I'm currently riding.

Manitou runs rings around all the other suspension makers for damper technology. They've got the only fully tunable shim stack damper around. Fully speed sensitive and TPC+ is position sensitive to boot.
They're the only ones (besides avalanche) currently offering competitive motorcycle technology.

If you get a marzocchi then make sure its a cartridge one with damper controls on the topcaps. The cheaper forks have simple orifice dampers and have a very average ride.

<a href="http://dougal.8m.com">Dougal.8m.com</a>