(and finally)
...
3) Manitou Mezzer: Performance is excellent and I'm not afraid to take the time to bracket my settings. The bled damper means I can do multiple lower services before I send the fork in for service and a competent shop that handles suspension should have no trouble doing the damper. I think it's the best-looking fork on the market (not that that matters to mountain bikers, we only care about performance) and the chassis stiffness v. weight is excellent. I like being able to tune how high the fork rides in its travel v. total support from the air spring.
I love the hydraulic bottom-out system - on Manitou forks and also on the Avalanche cartridge I owned previously - and that's a big (small) selling feature as well in terms of differentiating from my Du'ron baseline (where I run enough volume tokens that the fork never really bottoms).
We're spoiled in the Shore-To-Sky with a few excellent suspension tuning businesses and unfortunately, none of them service Manitou (with Smithtech being based out of Calgary currently) so that's the one caveat in terms of making a local recommendation. It obviously doesn't apply to anyone living/riding where they'd be shipping their fork in for a high-end service anyways.
The Mezzer is easy enough to travel adjust; however, I felt that the air spring worked best (for me) in the longest travel setting (180mm) so I'd only be buying one for a bike that's compatible with that much travel.
...
4) Ohlins RXF M.2 Air. I know coil forks are all the rage (and I'm all over running coil shocks) but I prefer how air forks ramp up through their stroke, and how widely adjustable that ramp-up is with most forks. The Ohlins is sort of a stretch goal as it's an additional investment over my other picks. The forks are really nice quality throughout and it's another option where creaking CSUs don't seem to be a major issue.
QA/QC is a lot better than on middle generation forks - the RXF 34 I tested was amazing but there were some issues in between then and now for sure - because Ohlins has staff working out of the production facility in Taiwan. Damping is excellent (as you'd expect from Ohlins).
I wouldn't personally spend the extra money over the above forks because I'm min-maxing all my purchases but in the same way I wouldn't buy Cane Creek eeWings Ti cranks with my own money I can understand why those with the means would look at the M.2 as the most premium option on the market.
Hope that's useful!
April 20, 2020, 10:53 a.m. - Andrew Major
(and finally) ... 3) Manitou Mezzer: Performance is excellent and I'm not afraid to take the time to bracket my settings. The bled damper means I can do multiple lower services before I send the fork in for service and a competent shop that handles suspension should have no trouble doing the damper. I think it's the best-looking fork on the market (not that that matters to mountain bikers, we only care about performance) and the chassis stiffness v. weight is excellent. I like being able to tune how high the fork rides in its travel v. total support from the air spring. I love the hydraulic bottom-out system - on Manitou forks and also on the Avalanche cartridge I owned previously - and that's a big (small) selling feature as well in terms of differentiating from my Du'ron baseline (where I run enough volume tokens that the fork never really bottoms). We're spoiled in the Shore-To-Sky with a few excellent suspension tuning businesses and unfortunately, none of them service Manitou (with Smithtech being based out of Calgary currently) so that's the one caveat in terms of making a local recommendation. It obviously doesn't apply to anyone living/riding where they'd be shipping their fork in for a high-end service anyways. The Mezzer is easy enough to travel adjust; however, I felt that the air spring worked best (for me) in the longest travel setting (180mm) so I'd only be buying one for a bike that's compatible with that much travel. ... 4) Ohlins RXF M.2 Air. I know coil forks are all the rage (and I'm all over running coil shocks) but I prefer how air forks ramp up through their stroke, and how widely adjustable that ramp-up is with most forks. The Ohlins is sort of a stretch goal as it's an additional investment over my other picks. The forks are really nice quality throughout and it's another option where creaking CSUs don't seem to be a major issue. QA/QC is a lot better than on middle generation forks - the RXF 34 I tested was amazing but there were some issues in between then and now for sure - because Ohlins has staff working out of the production facility in Taiwan. Damping is excellent (as you'd expect from Ohlins). I wouldn't personally spend the extra money over the above forks because I'm min-maxing all my purchases but in the same way I wouldn't buy Cane Creek eeWings Ti cranks with my own money I can understand why those with the means would look at the M.2 as the most premium option on the market. Hope that's useful!