Mezzer Pro

I have read so many reviews on this fork. All positive, but from heavy riders. Then I found a review from a lighter weight rider and it was great again. I'm 75kg and decided to give it a go. I'm a hardtail rider and it's hard to find a good fork and set it up long and have it so the front doesn't dive to much when it doesn't have to and still keep a soft ride. This fork is nothing like my pike. It's different. Factory settings and I feel more of the bumps but without any of the harshness. So it's firmer but it's softer. Took it to 1 of the rocky trails on the Swedish enduro circuit yesterday, only the 3rd ride of the season for me and the front felt great and gave me a shitload of confidence. Followed a couple of locals down a black trail and told them to take it easy and ride as you would a hardtail. It was to easy so next run I told them to ride as they normally do. This fork ate everything and I confidently keep up with the enduro and dh bikes. If you love to ride fast rough stuff I definitely suggest this fork. It will feel strange first ride, but you will soon love it!

The Mezzer Pro I bought for my long travel enduro bike was so good, I bought a second one for my shorter travel trail bike. One of, if not THE best, enduro/trail forks on the market. This is especially true if you value more mid-stroke support. The three chamber air spring, coupled with a firm damper setting (that doesn't result in spiking), provides mid-stroke control that cannot be replicated on an OE fork (e.g. Fox, Rockshox). Would recommend with a few caveats.

1. Some people like the less supportive beginning and mid-stroke portions of the OE springs. They seem to like the off the top suppleness provided by less pressure and more tokens (which almost always results in very little mid-stroke support, followed by a steep ramp up in end-stroke support). If that is your preferred set up, you may not find the Mezzer Pro to be so much of an upgrade.

2. You can expect that it will take some extra time/effort to develop knowledge of how the three chambers interact to get an optimal set up. The three chamber air spring does not operate like OE forks using standard springs and volume tokens. It is incorrect to see the IRT chamber as either an add-on to what the standard OE offerings have, or as a replacement for the volume token system of standard OE systems. The Mezzer Pro operates in a different way.

3. The rebound tune can run a little slow. It might be too slow for light weight/low air pressure riders. If you fall in that camp, you many need a service re-tune to find an optimal set up.

When I first got the fork and set it up, it didn't ride too well. Then I ended up watching a video on how to set it up and saw I was doing it wrong! After following the right steps in order, these forks (I have 2) came alive! I've been riding Manitou since the '90's and STILL have my EFC! Thanks for the great products from over the years!

Still dialing it in but so far it feels much better than my lyrik, especially the way it resists bottoming out yet stays smooth deep into the travel.

I run this fork with 170mm travel on my enduro bike and 130mm travel on my trail bike. I love that it can provide an immense amount of midstroke support while still being very supple off the top. My only gripe is that the fender is quite flimsy - if Hayes came out with better 2.0 fender I'd buy it immediately. There are a lot more settings to play with than most forks, but Manitou's recommendations seem to do a pretty good job getting the setup in the right ballpark and it's fairly easy to tweak things to your liking from there.