Do you remember in grade 1 when the Circus came to town and you attended it as a field trip? There was always some excitement until the clowns came up into the audience and you freaked out.
Well get your freak on kids, because here comes the Circus!Manitou is releasing a lineup of new Circus jump forks and the likes of Mike Montgomery, Dustin Greenall and the Meyer brothers (Nick and Ryan) will be trick’n the treats. I made that up, kids! All of these riders and a few others have been on the forks for a few months now.
Circus Expert Spec:
Weight: 4.7lbs/2133grams
Travel: 80, 100mm & 130mm
Legs: 32mm Stanchions straight wall 7050 Aluminum
Spring: Firm (extra firm available in Aftermarket) w/Air preload
Damper: ABS+, lockout & rebound adjust
Hub/ Axle: 20mm Hex Lock
Features: Double bottom out bumpers, 4 decal sheets and clown nose
Cost:US MSRP $449
Circus Comp Spec:
Weight: 5.3lbs/2406grams
Travel: 80 & 100mm
Chassis: 32mm Stanchions straight wall 4130 Chrome Moly
Spring: Firm (extra firm available in Aftermarket) w/ mechanical preload
Damper: ABS+ , lockout & rebound adjust
Hub/ Axle: 20mm Hex Lock
Features: Double bottom out bumpers, 4 decal sheets and clown nose
Cost:US MSRP $399
Straight 1-1/8" steer, no taper, 6 inch post mounts.
More to come from the chief clown at
Manitou.
Yeah they had some bad forks like the stance and SPV were not so great in forks.
But manitou has learned and gone back to their roots, increased quality and are building solid reliable, incredibly tunable, and servicable suspension, just too bad no one thinks of the days of the X-Vert carbon!!
My buddy cracked the lowers on his 10' DJ1's and another guy I ride with blew up his Argyle 409's in 6 hours of riding them and I bought some a set of those Atomlab Pimp 60 just to try on my 24" to see it would feel compared to the rigid, in the first 8 hours of riding those forks (Atomlab's) the steer tube ripped right out of the lowers destroying frame as well.
So I think I'm gunna give these a try, cause I don't feel like spending $800 for the 831's.
They come with a 2 year warranty (same as all the RS forks), they weigh like 4oz more than the new Argyle RCT (costs £560!!) and that comes with a mag. axle...sooo there is the weight difference!!! They are distributed by Hotlines still here in the UK...working in a bike shop who deals with them all the time I know the guys in the office quite well...obviously they want to sell you stuff but they are straight talking and even they are impressed this year, the team riders I know are impressed and I really think these could be the next big DJ fork...waiting to be proved wrong haha!
I will sort a review after giving them some abuse!
Sign. Me. Up.
will we be seeing some longer travel single crown forks again soon?????
i will be buying fox float 36 though
although typically the price in GBP will be about 400£ anyway...
Oh WAIT.
Does Manitou still suck as much as they did?
If so, oops...
If not, alright then!!! GET SOME!!!
i just had the crown on my 4x's crack on me
any recomendations for new forks?
light dj/street ones
Sorry Manitou, you have to try harder and introduce a new, stronger chassis and decent 20mm QR system.
Waste of your money guys, get the Argyles or Marzo DJ - they rule!
I had a Nixon and it took pretty much big beating on DH hardtailing, jumping stuff for Dh fullies, bottoming down the fork quite a lot. Well after a year it lost like 1cm of travel but still, can't complain on durability. It is the manitou's low speed compression that sux (maybe because it does not exist) so you could not bottom it from 1m to flat but U could have done it in the berm or under braking on steeps.
My friend who is one of the best polish DH hardtailers had a manitou stance for a very long time and he did not break it, and trust me he rips big time beating many many fullies on races. Off course they can't even stand next to Argyle or MZ Djumper but... the price is good, and still they are better than RSTs Suntours and other cheap stuff.
And one thing you can't take from them is post mount and their hex lock, i wish i had it on my Lyrik instead of this ridiculous Maxle.
whats a good strong fork for dirt/street then?
2. Fox is uber quality but it is not necessarily needed or even good for the DJ fork. I dont think there is any discipline of cycling where the forks get broken more often. Pretty strange to me to spend 850$ for this kind of a fork.
Marzocchi:
DJ & Shiver 2003, Z1s 66s and 888s from 2005&2006,
Manitou Shermans 2004, first Sherman Jumper (2005 was it?)
Dorados 2003,
Rockshox Psylo 2003, all REBAs, Boxxer 07-09.
couple more only
Why would you say that even though its lighter then arguably the most used dirt jump fork on the market no one will buy it? Its also cheaper. I just don't see the logic in your comment.
And to correct you their is not actually a ton of dirt jump specific forks around. This is simply the offering from Manitou, a company that did have a good standing in the dirt jump scene with the Gold Label fork in the past.
Sorry dude, but I am going to argue the complete opposite of your statement. Its lighter, cheaper, and still extremely functional. I could see this catching on like wildfire!
Props to that comment mackdaddy.
though light doesnt always equal strong...
Manitou are one of the companies that sells quality kit at a reasonable price. Dartmoor frames are dirt cheap compared to other companies, £160 odd for theyre dj frame. Itd cost about 400 from ns. I remember when i bought my subby it was 250 for the frame, now theyre clear of 300 and for what extra?