Manitou's 'Magic Toothpick' is awesome. I was drawn to it by their marketing claims that it's a top-level, lightweight, XC-race fork that you can also do whatever you want with (dirt jump?!).
I'm running it with something around a 63-63.5° head tube angle and there's no notable binding through compression, which is an issue with some forks due to stanchion flex. It's smooth, proper-supportive, and it hasn't creaked.
My review's not done - I still haven't taken it apart and I'm still not moving at full speed (full Andrew speed that is... whatever that means) - but I think anyone looking for a 120mm fork would be very happy with this one (if they can get over the 32mm stanchions).
Oh, and I know I'm the only person on the planet who cares... but without a fender installed it clears a 29x2.8" WTB Vigilante with 'enough' extra space.
One issue I'll note is that if you're used to the wide stance of a modern Enduro fork it's not super confidence-inspiring when you look down. Coming off my 120mm SR Durolux EQ the R7 is firmer and more business-like off the top (which is neither better nor worse actually) but the big thing I notice is it looks so spindly. This is the only top-down shot I have right now but I'm sure you get the idea even if it's a bit blurry.
Aug. 22, 2022, 6:18 p.m. - Andrew Major
Manitou's 'Magic Toothpick' is awesome. I was drawn to it by their marketing claims that it's a top-level, lightweight, XC-race fork that you can also do whatever you want with (dirt jump?!). I'm running it with something around a 63-63.5° head tube angle and there's no notable binding through compression, which is an issue with some forks due to stanchion flex. It's smooth, proper-supportive, and it hasn't creaked. My review's not done - I still haven't taken it apart and I'm still not moving at full speed (full Andrew speed that is... whatever that means) - but I think anyone looking for a 120mm fork would be very happy with this one (if they can get over the 32mm stanchions). Oh, and I know I'm the only person on the planet who cares... but without a fender installed it clears a 29x2.8" WTB Vigilante with 'enough' extra space.  One issue I'll note is that if you're used to the wide stance of a modern Enduro fork it's not super confidence-inspiring when you look down. Coming off my 120mm SR Durolux EQ the R7 is firmer and more business-like off the top (which is neither better nor worse actually) but the big thing I notice is it looks so spindly. This is the only top-down shot I have right now but I'm sure you get the idea even if it's a bit blurry. 