Manitou I ....problems problems problems

[Retro Spud]

Your right about the skate board cushions / truck rubbers I’ve got a load as they are almost identical to the elastomer in a Girvin Flexstem and come in three grades

[apart from the above the shallow ones make for great dampers on a basketball ring when screwed to the outside wall of the house]

Back to the forks

Aside from needing about 12 per leg they won’t stack all the well being conical at one end - and finally the diameter of the hole in them is to small and doesn’t allow them to move up and down the rod, you’d end up with a different type of Stiction like I have stopping the fork stroke returning fully

Day off today so surgery is planned

You can get barrel ones as well as conical they’ll stack fine and I’d wager probably work as well as the suspension fork parts ones (which I found far too hard).

https://www.skatebritain.net/suregrip-c ... K4QAvD_BwE

Carl.

I’ve only seen conical shaped truck rubbers .... but Carlos is right and here they are in glorious technicolour

Bigger iron than the cheap sh1t ones on eBay made from god knows what and probably only good for mounting basket ball rings and the odd Girvin Flexstem

 

[Retro Spud]

..... More likely to be a bushing issue as suggested.

Post surgical report

The patient survived surgery and has greatly improved, without the bushing the leg(s) move freely - proving the top bushing(s) were the cause

However they weren’t unduly dirty and even when clean the improvement was un noticeably, with nothing to loose I gently polished the outside section using the ulmost invisible tiny lines running circular around the outdiameter as a guide as to where to stop after five or six test fittings I got to a point I was happy with i.e I could if needs be remove a little more if needed
Quick lub and built back up they now move almost as I’d expect them too - perhaps still just a bit toooo tight. If you have just a leg in top bushing it holds firm and needs just a bit more than very gentle pull get them moving

However - As I’m not the first dude to have a go at tackling this problem someone in the past has removed the lower bushings (probably giving up and throwing the darn things back together minus them)
So whilst they now go up and down the play is noticeable - akin to a loose headset and the chatter under braking will make them un rideable unless replacements can be found

Anyway big thanks to all for keeping me focused - ruling out what it couldn’t be and pointing me in the right direction of likley causes. Suffice to say I’ve no idea how a nylon bushing could grow when it’s been sat in the dry for 3 years and probably twice that elsewhere, but hey it wasn’t hard to fix in the end with the RB team behind me.

Anyone have or know where I can get lower bushings from - any dead or donar forks out there ?

 

[drcarlos]

..... More likely to be a bushing issue as suggested.

Post surgical report

The patient survived surgery and has greatly improved, without the bushing the leg(s) move freely - proving the top bushing(s) were the cause

However they weren’t unduly dirty and even when clean the improvement was un noticeably, with nothing to loose I gently polished the outside section using the ulmost invisible tiny lines running circular around the outdiameter as a guide as to where to stop after five or six test fittings I got to a point I was happy with i.e I could if needs be remove a little more if needed
Quick lub and built back up they now move almost as I’d expect them too - perhaps still just a bit toooo tight. If you have just a leg in top bushing it holds firm and needs just a bit more than very gentle pull get them moving

However - As I’m not the first dude to have a go at tackling this problem someone in the past has removed the lower bushings (probably giving up and throwing the darn things back together minus them)
So whilst they now go up and down the play is noticeable - akin to a loose headset and the chatter under braking will make them un rideable unless replacements can be found

Anyway big thanks to all for keeping me focused - ruling out what it could be and pointing me in the right direction, I’ve no idea how a nylon bushing could grow when it’s been sat in the dry for 3 years and probably twice that elsewhere, but hey it wasn’t hard to fix in the end with the RB team behind me.

Anyone have or know where I can get lower bushings from - any dead or donar forks out there ?

I seem to remember that upper and lower bushings were identical, if you have one set maybe a second set could be made from Nylon stock or maybe 3D printed?

Carl.

 

[Retro Spud]

Sadly they aren’t the same otherwise I’d build one perfect side - but had the exact same thought

one sits at the top inside the fork lower and the leg slides though it

The lower one goes on the leg itself in a cut out and uses the outside as the slider

I post a pic later

 

[regan_ev]

Great efforts Spud!

Dr Carlos - great tip for the skate bumper things. They look so good I'd like to see someone make a transparent fork leg using something like a polycarbonate tube in place of the aluminum lowers!

Anyway... it sounds like those forks have had lots of issues over the years, Spud. Depsit all your pain there aren't many RBers better placed to find out whats wrong, fix them and document it all for evryone's benefit in future.

I need to strip one possibly two sets of M1 I have here to rebuild at least one structurally sound pair, although that won't ever get ridden so maybe I should save my single set of SFP elastomers for the second pair and build one 'show set' using the skateboard bumpers... I haven't got the head for stripping them right now. I still have half a pair of M2 awaiting rebuild that I dismantled two years ago.

 

[jimo746]

Re:

Did someone say M1 and M2 legs were the same diameter? I wonder if the same applies to M3, M4, M Sport etc...?
I wonder if the bushes are the same too?
Could make sourcing spare bushes less of a headache?

 

[regan_ev]

Re: Re:

Did someone say M1 and M2 legs were the same diameter? I wonder if the same applies to M3, M4, M Sport etc...?
I wonder if the bushes are the same too?
Could make sourcing spare bushes less of a headache?

M1, 2 & 3 (I presume, therefore, also 4, Sport, EFC) are the same diameter stanchions but they're different lengths, shapes and fitments. I was going to build a 'Manitou 2.5' last year using M2 outers with M3 inners, like team Yeti did when M3 were under development. Basically an M3 (black Easton stanchions) and inners with top adjusters, sitting inside M2 legs. I've never inspected the internals of 4, Sport, EFC, but they must've had some differences and to a point won't be backwards compatible or using the same parts as older models.

 

[TOMAS]

Just out of interest guys, can someone let me know or point me in direction of info of the size of the elastomers in Manitou 1s please?

So in my stash I have Mani 1s, Mani 3s, Mani Sports and Mani Comps... found some VGC yellow eslastomers in a set of the Sports earlier, there appears 2 in each leg and then a melted red bumper type elastomer the other side (thats totally mashed).

Im wondering if I can use the yellows in my Mani 1s and then try and find some other old short lengths of elastomer to use as the bumper side?

 

[Retro Spud]

Just out of interest guys, can someone let me know or point me in direction of info of the size of the elastomers in Manitou 1s please?

So in my stash I have Mani 1s, Mani 3s, Mani Sports and Mani Comps... found some VGC yellow eslastomers in a set of the Sports earlier, there appears 2 in each leg and then a melted red bumper type elastomer the other side (thats totally mashed).

Im wondering if I can use the yellows in my Mani 1s and then try and find some other old short lengths of elastomer to use as the bumper side?

No problem, I’m going to pull mine apart again tomorrow so will measure them up and let you know

 

[TOMAS]

Cheers Spud, let me know when you get chance. Might give me something to fiddle with this weekend if they'll fit