MRP Bartlett Reviews and Experiences

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MRP Bartlett Reviews and Experiences
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flag Xorrox
O+
Posted: Aug 1, 2019 at 14:55 Quote
I have been able to find zero reviews or write ups of people's personal experiences with the MRP Bartlett dual crown "enduro / freeride' fork on Pinkbike or anywhere else on the internet. Is there anyone on PB who is running one of these and can say what they think about it?

Also, what is involved in mounting these in a normal head tube designed for a standard single crown fork with a tapered steerer? What type of headset would you need?

I'm currently running a 2019 Fox 36 Grip2 29er fork at 170mm travel on my bike and really love the damper and air spring but don't love the amount of flex I get, especially over rough terrain at high speed or when using the front brake on steep downhill sections. (I am a heavy guy and I love to plow through stuff so I'm definitely a fork designers worst nightmare).
flag 907nattylight
Posted: Jan 3, 2022 at 11:27 Quote
Bump, surprised this has not had any attention. Currently have a 2021 Patrol I want to make a freeride bike since the single crown fork is just not cutting it for my style of riding anymore. At 170-190mm, keeping the geometry similar in the front and the 15mm thru axle, I'm about sold. They say it is the same damper and feel of a ribbon but obviously stiffer. My guess was to look at reviews of MRP ribbon forks and then decide if a bomber 58 is too much for my end goal. This will be paired with a cascade link and a coil with a longer stroke to get the 180mm of travel. I have not crunched the numbers of how low my BB will be if I decide on a bomber 58 at 200mm or a Bartlett at 190mm max but in the end I just want a bike that can take the chunk!

What do you think?
flag mtnbikermitch
O+
Posted: Jan 3, 2022 at 13:22 Quote
The loam ranger built a bike with one in 2020, there some initial comments in this video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKcpruXGtuM
flag BJMonk
Posted: Dec 25, 2022 at 1:55 Quote
I bought a new Bartlett fork a couple of years ago from USA. Tried it on my Zerode Taniwha. I’m used to Lyriks and Fox 36, so they were my benchmarks I guess. Here’s my honest review:

Overall: By far the worse forks I’ve ever tried. A complete waste of money.

Initial impression out of box: reverse arch is ugly and makes no sense these days given we all use mud guards. When I installed the forks I noticed the handlebars were not straight, which is weird given double crown forks use a direct mount stem, so can’t adjust. Found out the issue was the fork lowers were twisted slightly. Ie the two lower legs were not quite parallel! Talk about poor build quality! I had to man handle the forks to twist them parallel to get the handlebars to sit straight.

Initial ride impressions: The forks sounded terrible (loud squishy sounds from damper), a bit harsh over small bumps, poor traction and somewhat unpredictable. Despite setting them up exactly for my weight and mucking around with settings endlessly, I just could not get them to feel decent. I emailed MRP to ask if the sounds and feel were normal. Got a vague reply.

Medium term: The noise and feel got much worse over the first few weeks of use, to the point they were unrideable and dangerous. Sent forks to NZ distributor for an assessment. They serviced them and said the damper was full of air and must’ve been bled badly in factory. They sent them back set up to suit my weight etc. They sounded much better, felt a bit better, but still lacked traction and were unpredictable on anything rough and technical. They felt harsh, and it just seemed they couldn’t react fast enough to hits, always feeling sketchy. It was impossible to tell if they were stiffer than any single crown fork because they performed so badly in every other way.

Final impressions: After another month of use the horrible sounds came back and the forks became unrideable again. Sent them back again, for a complete overhaul. They came back sounding better again.
I spent a day doing many back to back shuttle downhill runs, swapping out with my old Lyriks to compare everything. The Lyriks felt great, the Bartletts felt like complete and utter cheap crap by comparison.

So the Bartletts never went back on my bike and I sold them off for a a few bucks, which is all they are worth. I suspect these are no better than the MRP Ribbon Air forks, which Seb Stott (when he was reviewing for Bike Radar) rated as the worst performing enduro fork out of 10 other forks. Wish I’d seen that review before I went near any MRP forks ….
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