It might be easy to let the Manitou Mattoc Pro fly under the radar with all the hype surrounding some of the front suspension we’ve tested in this issue. Once you get the Mattoc Pro on the trail though, it quickly becomes clear that this is one fork that shouldn’t be overlooked.
One of the standout
features is the external Hydraulic Bottom Out adjustment. The ability to
control the ramp-up in the last part of the stroke gives the fork a bottomless feel
without having to crank up the high-speed compression. Many forks offer ramp up
control, but it requires internal adjustments. Being able to adjust this externally
made set up a breeze, and it helped strike the perfect balance between a soft
and supple initial and mid-stroke with a big-boy-sized ramp-up to keep me in
control.
If you do love to
tinker internally, fear not, all of the travel adjustments–from 170 millimeters
down to 140 millimeters–are handled internally in 10-millimeter increments via
travel-reducing chips. This can help get you dialed in on a 26- or 27.5-inch
bike, but the Mattoc is not yet available for 29ers.
For a fork that comes
in on the lower end of the price spectrum, the Mattoc Pro delivers top-end
performance that’s able to rival many of its more pricey competitors
PRICE 850$
