Bike Upgrades - Forks

Since riding the Whistle I have made a few upgrades, In my original review I pointed out that the forks were the bikes weakest link so this was the first thing that needed changing.


My requirements for the replacements were quite specific,
they needed to be cost effective,
light weight - losing weight is never a bad thing,
Air sprung - since my weight is in flux so to speak, I wanted air forks so I could adjust them as I got lighter / fitter.
White - to match the bike
Straight steerer and suitable for QR.
A quick look round and the obvious choices came to light, RockShox XC32 solo air, Fox 32, X Fusion slide. Looking a bit deeper I came across the Manitou Tower Pro at a very good price, But did they meet my requirements?
Price - £189, Air sprung, Weight - 1.63Kg that's almost a kilo lighter than the XCT's fitted as standard. colour - white, steerer and QR - Check.
order placed, and they arrived 2 days later.
Fitting was simple

Remove the hardware from the old forks and bolt
these on, at the same time I took the opportunity to service the headset, I also changed the stem and handle bars (more on that subject later), I deliberately left the steerer long so I could play around with bar height.
The initial observation is of the reverse bridge , the idea behind this is shorter lowers which are stiffer and greater mud clearance, Does look a bit strange to ride at first.
Everything reassembled. time to start the set up

The 120 mm forks are fitted with the MARS spring system.
The Manitou Air Response System is a hybrid air/coil positive spring for an amazingly supple and active overall feel. The system allow all portions of the curve to be individually tuned.
The Damping duties are handled by the absolute plus damper this is again one of the most adjustable systems on the market, the plus damper
Switches between velocity dependent to pressure-dependent based on adjuster position. the adjustment offers an Eight-position dial for compression rate-adjustment from a nice soft ride to full lockout, The lower forkleg has the adjustment for rebound adjustments.

How does it ride?   after setting the air pressure it was time to hit the trails,  the low speed compliance is fantastic when the going gets tougher the forks have a bottomless feel, they track the ground incredibly well, they are very plush the difference between these and the XCT's is day and night. there is a small amount of flex when you rock the bike on the front brake, although this is no worse than the rockshox and fox forks I tried before getting these.
  Any Bad Points? Just the routing of the brake hose is a bit awkward and the comment's like "here mate your forks are on backwards lol "

I would recommend these forks to everyone they offer amazing feel with a low price truly one of hidden gems of the fork world.