Manitou Black

The Manitou Black Supers Photo

They are a good shock for the money; you may want to save your money and shop Jenson USA ...they are cheaper their.😉

I have looked, the Manitou Black Elites are not as cheap their as performance, the Black sports are pretty cheap, but i have heard bad things about them.

Them Rock Shox Psylos on pricepoint are nice, are they any better than the black elite?🙂

Psylo's are roughly the equivalent of the Black. The main difference is all psylo's have a a wider range of travel adjustment from 80 to 125mm while the blacks are generally 80-100mm or 100mm to 120mm. All psylo's are coil sprung while Blacks have either air spung or coil sprung versions. The Air blacks are a bit lighter but the coil versions are roughly equal in weight to a Psyo. Internally all Blacks are pretty much the same. They just add or remove features on certain models.

Look into the Skareb Super or Elite, last black I saw had collapsed. Literally. It had broken to the point where it just sat at the compressed position, never got to take it apart to see what went wrong, presumabl a seal broke and it just went dead. However I have used a Skareb Elite and have yet to have a problem (150 lbs).

The skareb is equally as reliable as the black. It is basically the same fork with skinnier stanchions. Internally they are the same. All manitou forks in the skareb, black, and minute range share almost completely the same componentry. You can literally take the parts out of one and put them in the other.

Quoted post said:

Originally posted by Hecubus
The skareb is equally as reliable as the black. It is basically the same fork with skinnier stanchions. Internally they are the same. All manitou forks in the skareb, black, and minute range share almost completely the same componentry. You can literally take the parts out of one and put them in the other.

What Model of blacks was it (Comp, Super, Elite) amd what year was it made in

Hi M8,

we are all going to have an opinion, but it would help if you told us what type of riding you do, and your home terrain and climate. What bike are you looking at attaching the fork to, ie if full sus what rear shock are you using?

etc, etc, etc

Steve

I have a hardtail and I do mainly XC and All Mountain

My freinds and i are looking into doing some more freeride stuff. Nothin big though

Quoted post said:

Originally posted by bikefreak101
My freinds and i are looking into doing some more freeride stuff. Nothin big though

Just my opinion, but blacks and psylos are decent for general trail duties and some of the rougher stuff, without to much of a weight penalty. One of my riding buddies has been riding a pair of black elites for 18 months, and they are pretty smooth, trouble free and have taken some knocks. I run some marzocchi marathon s coil 100mm, and these are smooth, virtually maintence free, and again take some heavy hits. The fox forks are the cut above, but you got to dig that much deeper to buy them £$£$.#

Scarebs are a bit flexy, and I feel suit xc racer types more. My personnel opinion is stick with coils, and avoid air forks. They may be a bit heavier, but in my experience are generally smoother, better at achieving the claimed travel, and lower maintence (i prefer to ride my bike rather than clean, inflate or repair it). As for the weight issues your body weight will vary a couple of pounds each day, so unless you are being tracked down by world cup xc riders, an extra pound in weight is a good compromise to get a stronger smoother fork.

Good Luck
Steve

My primary choice is the black elite and my sencond is the Duke SL. I almost bottemed out my aging Manitou Magnum on a 2 foot drop.

I was about to say Rockshox Dukes. They are good, and everyone I know has had no troubles.

I am looking at a fork that has lockout (or SPVdamping/propedal) good reviews , and is an all-mountain compadible fork for my 150-pound body. and not to expensive.

I'm also looking at the Black Super SPV. But the review doesn't seem to be good. http://www.mountainbikereview.com/reviews/2003_front_shocks/

My LBS advise me to get the Fox Float. Price isn't a lot of different between them. I'm now considering either 80RLT or 100RLC.