The Session Gets a New Toy…

Ever since I got my Trek Session77, I have always cursed the way that my Manitou Breakout Plus fork has felt. I thought it was just the way Manitou makes their forks. At first, I thought it was because it needed an overhaul because I got the bike used. I sent it back to the pros at the warranty depot, and when it came back, it worked BETTER, but it still felt like crap to me. I tried to live with it.

Then earlier this month when I went to Sun Peaks, the fork exploded as Brice was trying to figure out why it felt like crap compared to his fork. We got face full of oil for our efforts. Back to the shop it went. This was like the 10th ride after an overhaul, and I hadn’t even started to ride it hard yet.

Finally, after some thinking, and some major searching, I found out that I had no choice but to go back to Manitou because my headset was the monsterous beer can 1.5″ size. Well, I really didn’t want to wait 2 weeks for my fork to come back, and not ride my bike in the meantime so I bucked up and bought a shiny new Manitou Travis TPC+ 180mm Fork.

My track record with Manitou has been spotty at best. My first Manitou fork, the Manitou 4, was a bit of a nightmare. It felt great when it was warm out. When the mercury started to drop, it had a tendency to seize up and not move. The first gen forks used elastomer bumpers, and had no damping mechanisms, relying on the natural damping of the elastomers. I added a damper, and was about to add springs to it when I had an opportunity to sell it off. I rode the rest of that year (my first year of University) on a rigid fork and developed extremely wicked bike handling skills because I paid for the mistakes my fork covered up.

I hope the Manitou Travis stands up to the test of time. So far, I really like the added stiffness off the larger stanchions, and the travel seems to be nearly bottomless. If this fork performs for me, I might come back to Manitou in the future. If not, I’m never buying another Manitou fork again. Since next year, Marzocchi will be releasing 1.5″ forks, that will almost be guaranteed. I’ve owned a couple of Marzocchi’s, and even when abused, they still feel good.