Manitou Black Elite 100/120
By Jon Sharp

They started out as something shocking and different. After months of seeing them on bikes and in stores, the buzz is starting to wear off. The Black, by Manitou, is a fairly radical new design in suspension forks. The design is stiffer than Manitou's other forks-so stiff, in fact, that they are using the same technology in their new (coming 2003) line of big hit/long travel forks.

What, exactly, is the design, and what is so great about it? Manitou has named their new arch design Reverse Arch (RA). Basically, the brake arch that connects the two lower sliders on the fork now resides at the rear of the fork instead of the front. The reason for this design has to do with a problem that Manitou put to their engineers: Stiffen up the fork without adding weight. It turns out that by moving the arch to the rear of the fork, they could beef it up a bit without getting in the way of cantilever brakes. Also, because the axle of the wheel sits in front of the fork, by moving the arch to the rear, they could lower it without sacrificing tire clearance. I had the opportunity to heft, bend, twist and torque a set of disassembled lowers from a Black and a Mars. The Black was noticeably stiffer—it especially resisted bending the legs independently.

Other features of the Black include externally adjustable rebound and compression damping, preload, and travel. That's one knob for the top and bottom of each leg. The fork we tested, the Black Elite 100/120 had travel adjustable between (Can you guess?) 100 and 120 mm. This knob/switch resides at the bottom of the left fork leg. It was simple to use and worked flawlessly. Just twist the knob, compress the fork, and you're ready to go. Although not technically "on-the-fly", it was quick enough that I could stop at any point and make the change without losing too much ground.

The travel adjust works by keeping the fork compressed just a little, so as to limit the travel. Some people don't like the way this changes the stiffness of the fork. I found, however, that a stiffer front end made climbing that much easier. It's no lockout, but it definitely helps to keep down the bob when hammering up a hill.

On the trail, I found the Black to live up to its design goal. This fork is very stiff. The 120 mm of travel was smooth-soaking up both small and large bumps with aplomb. On one particularly rocky trail, I found that I didn't have to watch out for the large rocks and branches strewn across my path. I merely pointed the bike in the right direction, and it held its course whether the trail was smooth or rough.

Summary: Weight for the Black Elite 100/120 is 4.2 lbs. Though this may not seem light to those of the XC-set, for a coil-sprung 120 mm fork the weight is right on par. Retail price is $399. This fork is a great fork for those seeking a stiffer front-end and more travel.

As a side note, we were able to use the C-Dale adapter by CLC Concepts to add another 50 mm of travel to a Cannondale without a noticeable change in geometry. Even though Cannondale touts a stiff front end with their forks, I felt the Black tracked just as well and seemed to flex just as little as the Fatty that was on this bike previous to this test.

Jon Sharp is a contributing editor for GearReview.com specializing in mountain biking.

For more information, contact:
Answer Products
28209 Avenue Stanford
Valencia, CA 91355
661-257-4411
www.answerproducts.com