Manitou Full suspension

[development_cycle]

Ok, so I may have the chance to get my mits on one of these.

I want to know:

- How to check it is genuine (not a Marin)
- What to look for (cracks etc)
- What different models were there (presumably different fork options front and rear?)
- What components are unique/hard to come by as I believe it to be frame only
- Any other info I should be equiped with before haggling if it is genuine and a rider, although I might consider it still if it is a Marin just at a lower price.

 

[velomaniac]

MacRetro's Jimi Hendrix knows a bit about them and used to own one. Very interesting to look at but they pogo something rotten in use. It was remarked that as much energy is used just causing it to go up and down as is used to propell it forward

Strangest thing was the seatpost which is way fatter than any on the market and thus if you bust it finding another will be difficult :?

Have fun

 

[JeRkY]

I was tempted to take a drive out to High Wycombe too

Good luck with it, it looks sweet!

 

[pete_mcc]

Seat post and front mech are the oddities, seat post is enormous but the mech is the hardest part to get as it is 1.5" diameter and was a specially made part.

The easiest may to tell a Manitou is by the serial number as Answer stamped all of theirs with the Answer logo and a 'born on' date. The only other genuine ones are the bradbury ones but they are very rare and have 100mm bb shells and 145mm rear dropout spacing.

the cracks almost always appear in the headtube but can form in the bits around the pivots and in the bolt holes on the rear crown where the CNCing has been a little extreme and also in the BB shell.

Eastcoaststeve posted up a pic today of some spares he got with his, including a spare seatpost! It's in general discussions somewhere

 

[Inigo Montoya]

- How to check it is genuine (not a Marin)

thats pretty easy. all marin fs frames with the manitou design had 1 1/8" headtubes. answer manitou FS frames all had 1 1/4" headtubes. in addition the rear triangle was different. the answer manitou frames had lots of CNC work done on the rear fork crown and were the chainstays joined.
manitou FS frames were available with aluminium, cromo and ti front triangle. answer manitou FS frames were only available in alimumium.

- What to look for (cracks etc)

everywhere...
had a manitou FS frame myself. it had ~10 crack at the headtube, pivots, rear fork crown, top tube and chain stays. :roll:

- What different models were there (presumably different fork options front and rear?)

for the answer manitou frames with "rearfork design" there were answer manitou FS with manitou 2 rear triangle (1993?), answer manitou FS with manitou 3 rear triangle (1994?), answer manitou FS with manitou 4 rear triangle (1995?) and answer manitou FS DH with manitou EFC rear triangle.

- What components are unique/hard to come by as I believe it to be frame only

1.) custom ringle/answer seatpost (grey) 31,8mm
2.) shim reducing to 31,8mm inner diameter.
3.) custom seatclamp
4.) special front derailleur clamp

 

[elite504]

The CNC will knock you out on the genuine article.
Avoid heavy chainsucked examples. . . :shock:

 

[development_cycle]

Wow lots of great advice cheers folks.

Jerky, I'm not sure of your comment, do you know of the frame that I am talking about somehow?

 

[andrewl]

Don't Marins have different cable routing too??

 

[development_cycle]

Looks like this was on ebay and I didn't know it and it has sold, so thanks for your efforts but it looks like it was all in vain.

 

[Jimzano]

still go down there,but just punch the mutha out of him for mucking you about! thats just cruel.