Manitou mattoc expert 26inch fork

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Hoffa02

Likes Bikes
Hi,
I am considering purchasing one of these forks, they seem to have good reviews and also can be converted to fit 27.5 if needed in the future.
Price is pretty good on CRC
Wondering if anyone has had any experiences with these forks?
 
S

schred

Likes Bikes and Dirt
When they work well they are great. When they do something else (bolts loosen, poppet valve misadjusted, oil migrated etc. it can be maddening. Go to the mtbr thread and find the punchlist of things to do before riding them and you'll be fine.
 
H

Hoffa02

Likes Bikes
schred said:
When they work well they are great. When they do something else (bolts loosen, poppet valve misadjusted, oil migrated etc. it can be maddening. Go to the mtbr thread and find the punchlist of things to do before riding them and you'll be fine.
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Great thanks. Will do
Cheers
 
moorey

moorey

call me Mia
I was mm's from buying a set, knowing the issues. I thought better of it. Shame about the issues, everyone raves about the feel.
 
Boom King

Boom King

downloaded a pic of moorey's bruised arse
Great fork. The common issues aren't hard to fix but you should be aware that they may exist on your new fork.

No service in Aus yet but I believe they are close to sorting.

Mine just came back from warranty repair in NZ, Manitou were excellent in regard to their customer service.

In my opinion, there isn't a better value for money fork around.
 
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Ezkaton

Ezkaton

Eats Squid
Mine are awesome, I only seem to have had the travel loss issue due to the valve poppet being pressed on by the stock air cap.
But Boom King gave me some air caps with more depth which lessened the issue.

Removing the o-ring from inside the cap to give it a little more depth seems to have removed the issue completely.

Great fork in my experience.
 
Rhys_

Rhys_

Likes Bikes and Dirt
If you aren't mechanically minded and would not be comfortable taking a fork apart, I suggest you forget it. It's likely you will have to do one or more of the following: adjust protrusion of poppet valve, reassemble air spring with grease/less oil, fix incorrect torques, add/remove damper oil to achieve correct height. They are a nice fork that can perform well, just make sure you go into it educated. Read the mtbr thread.
 
H

Hoffa02

Likes Bikes
Thanks guys, thinking I may give it a miss as it sounds like a good fork but needs a lot of TLC to setup and maintain.

Cheers.
 
T

Timjb

Cannon Fodder
Awesome fork. Have had mine for about 6 months now and they've been great.
Had to adjust the travel down before i fitted them so checked the poppet valve adjustment when they were apart and it was spot on.
the only issue ive had was the hexlock axle had a circlip fall out of the guts of it and jam the axle in the lowers, was sorted out very quickly by crc.
 
S

shiny

Go-go-gadget-wrist-thingy
As Rhys said have a read through the MTBR forum to get an idea of common issues. My Mattoc was actually ok out of the box but I stuffed a bolt when I went to drop the lowers to check over the internals apart from that the fork has been excellent.

The cable routing is bad but I ended up zip tying it to the front of the leg. The fork is very stiff and just begs to be ridden faster. I have set a lot of PRs on my local trails despite average fitness. Definitely recommended.
 
O

ojc

Squid
I have exactly these forks - they are awesome, like the others have said. Reliability seems to be good too. Nearly all the issues on the MTBR thread are related to the initial assembly, not the long term reliability of the forks.

The early batches were the worst, which is what CRC are selling. Whoever Manitou got to do the assembly didn't seem to read the spec sheets! My 26" Experts (built April 2014) had too much damper oil, and were missing a travel spacer so they were 170mm out of the box. Also had too much oil in the air spring. Easy to fix all that though and a super easy fork to work on, so if you're at all mechanically inclined give them a go.
 
Elbo

Elbo

pesky scooter kids git off ma lawn
Bit of a gravedig, but I'm looking at these forks at the moment (Expert 27.5"). Tossing up between getting these and reducing the travel to 140/150mm for a DMR Trailstar build, or going with a smaller Minute fork. How is everyone finding their Mattoc's 1 year on? I've read a few reports of creaking crowns. Is that something people have experienced, and are CRC still selling the early ones or were a lot of the initial build quality issues ironed out in later year models?… http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/au/en/manitou-mattoc-expert-forks-15mm-2016/rp-prod115311
 
moorey

moorey

call me Mia
I recently bought the Pro, the model up, off crc for less than that. Fitted, yet to ride though
 
Elbo

Elbo

pesky scooter kids git off ma lawn
moorey said:
I recently bought the Pro, the model up, off crc for less than that. Fitted, yet to ride though
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I looked at the Pro too, but CRC only have them in stock in 26" and I need 27.5".
Let us know how you find the ride! I've heard great things about how they ride, but seems like it's a bit hit and miss as to whether you get one properly set up from out of the box.
 
moorey

moorey

call me Mia
Elbo said:
I looked at the Pro too, but CRC only have them in stock in 26" and I need 27.5".
Let us know how you find the ride! I've heard great things about how they ride, but seems like it's a bit hit and miss as to whether you get one properly set up from out of the box.
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Same fork. Comes with the spacers to convert to 27.5 (up to 160mm. The 26 can go to 170)
 
Boom King

Boom King

downloaded a pic of moorey's bruised arse
Early models had issues. Would be surprised if 2016 had any problems.

My Mattoc Expert is ace! Had a very unusual warranty issue that was handled superbly by Manitou USA. They also sent me an upgraded piston seal head and rebound assembly free, as they did with numerous people that bought early Experts.

Their customer service has been, without question, the best I have experienced. Ever!
 
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moorey

moorey

call me Mia
Boom King said:
Early models had issues. Would be surprised if 2016 had any problems.

My Mattoc Expert is ace! Had a very unusual warranty issue that was handled superbly by Manitou USA. They also sent me an upgraded piston seal head and rebound assembly free, as they did with numerous people that bought early Experts.

Their customer service has been, without question, the best I have ecoerienced. Ever!
Click to expand...
If a little slow to get turnaround. I have backup pikes incase it comes to that. :woot:
 
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