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TPE17: New Manitou Mastadon fat bike fork masters the cold, Mattoc goes pro & more

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2018 Manitou Mastadon fat bike suspension fork

Come winter, there’ll be a new beast ready to help you roam the back country. The upcoming Manitou Mastadon will be a master of cold, using seals, fluids and materials optimized for performance at the lowest temperatures any of us are likely to ride in. At least that’s what their reps were saying at the Taipei Cycle Show, but full details won’t be unveiled until Sea Otter in late April.

Until then, we did notice a couple of details that give some clues to this mysterious mammoth, along with an upgraded Mattoc enduro/trail fork and more new models from Manitou…

2018 Manitou Mastadon fat bike suspension fork

The lowers add the word “PRO” to the name, suggesting this is a top level offering. The top cap shows it gets their volume adjust feature, which is handled internally by moving spacers from the under the main air piston to above it, effectively pushing it down a don reducing the main air chanmber’s volume. Manitou’ spacers are hollow and open, so when they’re inside the main air chamber, they don’t really take up volume. This allows them to keep all of the parts on the fork so you don’t lose them.

2018 Manitou Mastadon fat bike suspension fork

2018 Manitou Mastadon fat bike suspension fork

A bolt-on thru axle, external rebound adjust and pressure release valve on the bottom are all the rest of the obvious details. More to come soon.

2018 Manitou Mattoc Pro enduro trail mountain bike suspension fork

The Manitou Mattoc was unveiled a few years back as their showcase fork. It introduced a number of new technologies for the brand, and gave riders a massive amount of adjustability. This includes external high- and low-speed compression adjustment, rebound adjustment, bottom out adjustment, and an upgrade option to add their Infinite Rate Tune (IRT).

2018 Manitou Mattoc Pro enduro trail mountain bike suspension fork

Infinite Rate Tune replaced the IVA (volume adjust) with a dual positive air chamber system that let you set up one chamber for the top of the stroke and the other for the rest of the stroke. The technical details are explained here, but basically it lets you have a very supple initial stroke without fear of an overly soft fork.

They weren’t giving up all the details, but word is the PRO versions of these (and possible other) forks will get that IRT hop up kit as standard equipment going forward.

2018 Manitou Mattoc Pro enduro trail mountain bike suspension fork

2018 Manitou Mattoc Pro enduro trail mountain bike suspension fork

2018 Manitou Mattoc Pro enduro trail mountain bike suspension fork

The last bit of news on Mattoc (and from the looks of it, all their other forks, too) is that it’ll have a Boost axle option.

The Markhor looks to be an entirely new model. It was shown in a 100mm travel, boost spaced, 27.5 option. The control dials are plastic and offer basic compression and rebound adjustments, so maybe it’s an entry level model, or maybe this is just the base option for a new XC fork.

A lot of the forks on display had a bolt-thru axle rather than their HexLoc QR thru axle.

More info coming soon on all of these forks. Other models. The Dorado and Circus were also on display, but absent was the Magnum and Minute. Hmmm…

ManitouMTB.com

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Frank
Frank
6 years ago

Around here (southern Wisconsin), everyone just sells the Bluto’s that come with their fat bikes since they are useless in the cold. CraigsList is littered with them every fall. Though I still doubt the value of a suspension fork on a fat bike (particularly in the snow), Manitou is clearly paying attention and developed a product that will actually work for its intended purpose!

Andrew
Andrew
6 years ago
Reply to  Frank

Agreed- Same here in Calgary, where people are having issues riding when it gets reeeeeaaally cold. (like -15C or colder)

Tim
Tim
6 years ago

I hope they all keep HexLoc, which is one of the best features Manitou has developed.

Ole Blokhus
Ole Blokhus
6 years ago

Just put a Mastdon on my bike yesterday, and took it out today. It has the Hexlock axle, quite ingenious. But the fork is coming back off, I prefer my fatbike rigid and lightweight. 26 pounds with Bud and Lou set up tubeless. 3 pounds extra weight up front can really be noticed, and the unsprung weight is huge compared to the sprung weight, taking away most of the benefits of the suspension.

mat gag
6 years ago
Reply to  Ole Blokhus

Yeah right!

Lars
Lars
6 years ago
Reply to  Ole Blokhus

what are you talking about, “the unsprung weight is huge vs the sprung weight taking away most of the benefits of the suspension”
You have no concept of sprung and unsprung weight, the only part of the fork that is unsprung are the lowers which are magnesium and super light. The whole rest of the fork is sprung weight, and adding a suspension fork makes most of the weight of the bike sprung weight. Also how are you comparing a bike with suspension to a fully rigid, are you aware that your entire rigid is unsprung, therefore having much more unsprung weight than the bike with a fork. Lol

Liar Liar Pants On Fire
Liar Liar Pants On Fire
6 years ago

You rode it a whole day? Wow, you really gave it a chance.

I’ll take it off your hands.

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