Manitou Mastodon Pro Ext Fork [Rider Review]

Our "Rider Review" article series features the honest reviews from verified purchasers of Worldwide Cyclery. They contain the photos, thoughts, feedback & overall review you are looking for. 

Needing a new upgrade for your fat bike? Take a look at the Manitou Mastodon, a perfect fork to keep those fat tires on the ground. Our friend, Jared, has been running the Mastodon, see what they think! 

Overview

Good morning ladies and gents. I say good morning due to the difference in performance and ability of the Mastodon to do it's intended job when comparing it to the main competitors fork, the Bluto. The greatest compliment I can give this fork is the ability to set it up, ride, and forget about it; it simply did what I expect. I was able to relax instead of stressing out about how the fork will handle obstacles and/or tiring out my upper body trying to pump, pull, or adjust my weight to allow the bluto to handle the terrain.

I'm riding a hardtail fat bike with a 100mm travel Rockshox Bluto and the newly upgraded Trek Farley Ex 8 with the Manitou Mastodon Pro. The fork is slightly heavier; yet, once the pedaling begins, the weight dissolves into grins and yelps due to the forks ability to deal with chatter, soak up medium sized hits and drops (nothing over 2 feet yet) and still not go through all the travel or turn into a noodle. I'm from Gunnison, Colorado and ride at Hartman Rocks recreational area. There are plenty of rocks, drops, high speed transitions, and this girl handles all of them.

Set up: I adjusted the compression settings and the rebound but did not have to adjust the air pressure. It was perfect out of the box for my weight of 175lbs. I am planning on adjusting the travel to 130-140mm within the next month to allow the Farley ex to enjoy all of Moab. 

Note: the fork comes with all the spacers needed to adjust the internal volume and the travel, as well as neutral gray stickers to cover up the Manitou red stickers, which I did.

Final Thoughts

I highly recommend this fork if you like to ride trails that are not smooth, enjoy putting air between your tires and the ground (and not just in them), enjoy exploring and riding without stressing out about how your fork will handle the rocks and roots (Bluto is mainly a xc/smooth trail fork), and have a fat bike.