Manitou Mastodon, anyone have one?
- Thread starter mustclime
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FitmanNJ
Well-Known Member
There are quite a few comments online suggesting that even the "standard" Mastodon has quite a bit of clearance. Here's a photo of my Mastodon Pro Standard 120mm travel fork with a Surly Bud on a 65mm wheel (and if I'm not mistaken, the Bud is a little taller/closer to the arch than if it were mounted on a wider rim, as is commonly the case). I don't think your Minions are bigger than a Bud, so you should be fine with a "standard" Mastodon. You'd only need an "extended" if you plan to someday run a Vee Snowshoe 2XL or perhaps the new Terrene Johnny5. I bought the 120mm travel Mastodon because that's what my Fatback Skookum frame is spec'd for:
Hmm, interesting. I think my rims are 90mm, so I figured the 4.8's would be too wide for the fork. If it fits but is close, won't snow/mud clearance be a problem?
Steve Vai
Endurance Guy: Tolerates most of us.
Once you put suspension on your bike it will no longer ride through snow anyway. Stance that shit son.
Riding bikes on snow is dumb.
Steve Vai
Endurance Guy: Tolerates most of us.
That's why I just walk with mine.
FitmanNJ
Well-Known Member
Jim: With 4.8 Minions on 90mm-wide rims you should have a bit more clearance than what you see in my photo (which I feel is more than adequate). If you're not comfortable with that much clearance for snow/mud, then go with the "extended" model. It'll add 20mm to your axle-to-crown distance or roughly make the front end 1 degree more slack than a "standard" model.
Before finding out exactly what Fatback was recommending for my bike (the 120mm "standard" Mastodon with 4.8 Jumbo Jims on 80mm rims) and having read that Manitou "recommends" their "extended" fork for 4.8 tires, I bought an "extended" Mastodon Pro. It turned out that the steering was slower than I'd like, and the tire clearance was huge. It cost me another $200+, IIRC, and about 2.5 weeks of downtime to get the "extended" fork converted to "standard." I'm just trying to save you that same fate, unless you think those two huge tires that I mentioned in my last post are in your future. On the other hand, if you want to noticeably slacken out your bike, the "extended" fork might be a good way to do it.
Much appreciated. Minions 4 Lyfe, so no worries there. So maybe I should get the standard 120mm and get the best of both worlds.
GreenMachine
Well-Known Member
100 mm is recommended for Carbon Fatbikes
The Manitou is considered in its own league - the Pro @ $800 comp @ $600 - the Pro does high speed dampening ands weighs a little less than the comp.
Both come in extended to accommodate 4.8.
According to reviews the fork is near carbon stiff.
I’m having Halters install one this week
The Manitou is considered in its own league - the Pro @ $800 comp @ $600 - the Pro does high speed dampening ands weighs a little less than the comp.
Both come in extended to accommodate 4.8.
According to reviews the fork is near carbon stiff.
I’m having Halters install one this week
FitmanNJ
Well-Known Member
I'm thinking that most fatbikes are currently spec'd for 100mm travel suspension forks (not sure if that includes your '16 carbon Fatboy, but Jim V seems to be leaning that way). My Fatback Skookum is more the exception, where they designed it to match up well with the 120mm Mastodon ("standard"). Is there a Customer Service number at Specialized that could give you their view of which travel length would work best?
In that case I'll do what Jim says. 100mm standard, walk bike in the snow.
FitmanNJ
Well-Known Member
I don't think you'll be disappointed -- the Mastodon is a real nice fork.
i have the same feeling on mine, but then with a rigid fatbike i havent spent much time into looking for one to fit, plus i need an externally routed post for that bike :/ meh its feeling like its a snow only bike so whats the big deal?
I rode my fat bike exclusively, year round for two years and loved it. After a year back on a full suspension bike though, I haven't really been that into it. I spent a lot of time on it this weekend and was really digging it, so I decided it was time for some upgrades. Not sure how I'll feel about having this heavy fork on it, but I think a dropper is mandatory and don't know how I rode it for so long without. Externally routed is easy, buy a Gravity Dropper.
ill have to look into it, for a bike i dont ride a whole lot (maybe 200ish miles this year) idk if i want to spend alot of money on upgrades, but then maybe id ride it more, i have no clue.
pkovo
Well-Known Member
I’m late to this party, but Just an fyi, the clearance difference for the standard vs ext I believe is just for tire height. Width clearance should be the same for both.
When fully compressed, the fork crown will go lower than the arch. On the ext Manitou specs that you only need something like 6mm of clearance between tire and arch, but on the standard they want you to have something like 26mm to prevent the arch from contacting the tire on full bottom out. I suppose you could air diwn the fork and compress it to double check if your running bigger tires than what they call for.
Also with the standard you can move spacers to gain extra tire clearance at the sacrifice of travel (i.e on the 120mm gain 10mm of tire clearance but drop to 110 of travel etc..)
I only know this because I did a lot of research before I bought mine (120mm standard comp) but I have NOT tried any of this myself to test, I just read about it. I did run a 4.8” knard with about 70% tread on it briefly which is supposed to be taller than what they spec it can handle and I never noticed any rubbing, and I ride it like a trailbike and use up the full travel so clearance must be at least somewhat more generous than what manitou advises. However I would be careful if you are pushing tire size too far beyond their specs if your riding hard....you dont need the front to lock up on when you bottom out off a drop or something.
People can Jab about running suspension on a fatty, but for “non-snow” riding, I feel like this fork has really made my bike a hell of a lot more fun, especially with 27.5x3.8 tires on narrower rims. It feels somewhere in between fat and plus setup like this and is really quite capable on the trail.
When fully compressed, the fork crown will go lower than the arch. On the ext Manitou specs that you only need something like 6mm of clearance between tire and arch, but on the standard they want you to have something like 26mm to prevent the arch from contacting the tire on full bottom out. I suppose you could air diwn the fork and compress it to double check if your running bigger tires than what they call for.
Also with the standard you can move spacers to gain extra tire clearance at the sacrifice of travel (i.e on the 120mm gain 10mm of tire clearance but drop to 110 of travel etc..)
I only know this because I did a lot of research before I bought mine (120mm standard comp) but I have NOT tried any of this myself to test, I just read about it. I did run a 4.8” knard with about 70% tread on it briefly which is supposed to be taller than what they spec it can handle and I never noticed any rubbing, and I ride it like a trailbike and use up the full travel so clearance must be at least somewhat more generous than what manitou advises. However I would be careful if you are pushing tire size too far beyond their specs if your riding hard....you dont need the front to lock up on when you bottom out off a drop or something.
People can Jab about running suspension on a fatty, but for “non-snow” riding, I feel like this fork has really made my bike a hell of a lot more fun, especially with 27.5x3.8 tires on narrower rims. It feels somewhere in between fat and plus setup like this and is really quite capable on the trail.
@jimvreeland put my Mastodon on the bike for me yesterday, and I just got back from riding. Here is my review: This fork is awesome, go buy one.
FitmanNJ
Well-Known Member
Jim, are you running the 4.8 Minion on a 90mm rim as you had planned? Does the Standard version of the Mastodon seem to have enough clearance for you to feel confident that you won't strike the tire? I know that I feel good about the clearance on my Mastodon Standard with a Bud on a 65mm rim, and I think I even threw a Bud/90mm rim on the fork, fully deflated it, and it still seemed fine. Manitou's recommendations are much more conservative...
Yeah, I didn't take the air out and push it down all the way to check, but it looks like there is plenty of clearance.