I received this update/comment from Rich at Manitou today. Here’s his comments:

“First off, I’d like to say hello I’m a 29er type of guy that has a good bit to say about this topic. I’d like to say I bring some level authenticity to this discussion. Forgive the grammar, I’m a bike guy with a degree but not in the language arts.

Product development: Means co-development, its part of leaning forward, in this case we were approached by numerous frame designers including Jeff at Intense. We were able to react quickly with a fork and a DH 29er wheel set. Tires and tubes are catching up but still a limiting factor.

Concept: Think of it as a rough sketch, you don’t have to look at it or judge it, nobody is making you ride it either… This type of dialogue is good, it brings attention to the idea and people start thinking about it.. Trust me, I know there is World Cup downhiller’s looking for an advantage on certain courses and if this concept give them an advantage they’ll be riding it in the up coming WC season.

Tooling/adapting: The Dorado is an inverted fork, there’s no arch so Manitou can use the same fork chassis for 26 and/or 29er. RS of Fox would have to retool the lower casting and/or modified an existing tool. There’s a lot of money and time involved so they won’t be on this till one of the big three tells them it’s getting hot. Manitou is owned by HBG and has the ability to react to demands from the likes of Intense, Lens and Niner… One of the big three is working/testing a 29er DH bike as we speak, with a Dorado Pro 29er so it may be coming to a showroom near you.

Technical: The 29er Dorado has the same ride height as the 26 Dorado, the bottom out spacer length was increased, dropping the over all travel to 175mm. The air spring was retuned to give the same bottom out force as the 26” version, and the hydraulic bottom-out piston was moved to engage earlier to compensate for reduced travel. Internal parts have been changed to accommodate the above listed modifications.

Time=$: The 29er Pro, you pay for the added design and testing of the project and the part changes/modification. Although, the 29er is a production fork with its own graphic package orders for the year will be under 20 so amortization isn’t much of a factor, someone has to pay for time to develop the fork.

Vision: Having an adaptable product makes it easy we at Manitou could have turned away from these frames designer, instead we embraced it, developed it, made it, tested it, and delivered it in less than a few weeks. Also, we rolled a MTX Sun Rim in a 29er, laced it up to Ringle hubs and got Jeff rolling asap.

Soapbox: I’m fortunate to work with a bunch of guys that have the energy, desire, passion and ability to make these types of products happen. I hope you big wheel guys can see that importance of this because this very essential mindset that got big wheel bikes rolling in the first place.

Thanks,”

Rich Travis
Product Manager
Manitou Suspension Products