Manitou’s 37mm-stanchion Mezzer enduro fork has lengthy supplied a singular various for mountain bikers searching for one thing somewhat completely different, with its reverse arch lowers and the distinctive skill to simply change journey to your using fashion, plus surprisingly mild weight. Now in Mezzer 2.0, Manitou has fine-tuned the fork much more, creating two separate platforms. One lighter chassis tuned for racing and one heavy-duty LT lengthy journey chassis for riders trying to push their enduro bikes tougher, and into the bikepark.
Manitou Mezzer G2 is admittedly 2 adjustable 140-190mm forks
The actual headline of the brand new Manitou Mezzer 2.0 fork is solely that it’s really two completely different forks now.
Manitou has all the time stood out for the convenience of adjusting the journey of their air forks – simply pop open the air spring and clip spacers onto the interior shaft in 10mm increments. That makes their forks versatile for mountain bikers who would possibly need to tinker extra with their setup, and even swap the fork from one bike to the following. It’s also nice for bike retailers that don’t must inventory a bunch of various journey choices to fulfill prospects. However the draw back has been that constructing one fork with 40-50mm of journey vary adjustment meant that, on the low finish of the journey settings, you ended up with a comparatively heavy fork. And on the lengthy finish, a fork that most likely wasn’t as stiff because the competitors.
However Manitou had religion of their wide-ranging 37mm stanchion Mezzer. Their reverse arch design makes it as stiff however lighter than 38mm rivals, with the added suppleness bonus of 5% much less seal contact space due to the smaller diameter. So that they created a 2nd-generation household that offers mountain bike riders the choice to prioritize lighter weight and barely diminished journey adjustability or a Longer Journey model with elevated stiffness and much more journey than ever!
What’s new?
On the skin, the brand new Manitou Mezzer 2.0 seems nearly precisely just like the earlier mannequin. Positive, the highest Professional spec forks now get the identical polished silver crowns, like we’ve seen on the newest Mattoc, Mastodon & R8. There was even a restricted version all-silver model of the Mezzer a few years after it first launched with a silver tease seven years in the past.
However actually, Manitou is tremendous low-key with their fork designs – even to the purpose that the mannequin identify is barely written on a small defend brand on the facet of the fork legs, simply above the axle.
What’s new, actually, is going on inside.
Lively Spring Piston
You continue to get the nice Dorado Air spring that makes for straightforward tuning with a separate air chamber and Infinite Charge Tune (IRT) chamber that allows you to successfully change air spring quantity with a shock pump as a substitute of inside quantity spacers. However now, on high of (or really under) the Dorado Air is a brand new Lively Spring Piston (ASP) that provides a small mild coil spring to beat seal stiction, decreasing breakaway power in these important first millimeters of journey. Consider it like RockShox Buttercups, or higher but, like DT Swiss’ Coilpair, since they’re those that truly developed and patented this know-how.
It’s a extremely efficient tech that enormously improves small-bump compliance, so it’s nice to see it added to Manitou forks right here.
MC2 Professional-X & TPC2, plus HBO and an ABB
Gotta love a bunch of foolish acronyms, proper?
Principally, this simply implies that the Mezzer’s top-tier damper cartridge in its proper leg is best than ever. It has a wider damping adjustment vary, and it now provides impartial exterior high-speed and low-speed rebound damping (HSR & LSR) controls. Plus, there’s new hydraulic bottom-out safety.
And the forks get a brand new “air-backed bladder system (ABB) to keep up oil strain and eradicate cavitation” versus a standard IFP (inside floating piston) for quicker damping, extra consistency, elevated sensitivity, and fewer inside friction.
Extra exact manufacturing and an MBA
OK, the acronyms are out of hand. The MBA here’s a new Micromanager Bushing Alignment answer. Easy functioning of bushings is important inside long-travel forks. So first, Manitou elevated bushing overlap on the Mezzer G2 to extend clean motion. However them, in addition they launched extra exact high quality management of their machined lowers castings to ensure the whole lot stays aligned completely.
And to ensure the stanchions, lowers & bushings keep aligned, Manitou added a small new crimson insert on the dropout of the Professional- & Knowledgeable-level forks, so if you tighten down the axle, you don’t pull the legs out of alignment. It’s a small however typically missed subject that small dropout misalignment can introduce friction into your fork and enhance put on. It’s the rationale why many longer-travel forks use a floating axle design – the place you need to first connect the thru-axle, then individually tighten a pinch bolt to safe it, even leaving what looks as if play between the hub endcaps & dropout faces to make sure fork alignment and clean motion.
So, Manitou selects the proper MBA inserts, measured exactly to suit throughout their fork meeting, so your hub will get tightened into place with the Hexlock thru-axle, with out pulling the legs out of excellent alignment.
New Tech Particulars
extra journey adjustment ranges: 140-170mm for Professional & Knowledgeable, 150-190mm for LT Professional & 140-190 for LT Comp (inside journey alter spacers included with all forks)
identical 37mm butted 7000-series alloy stanchions
Dorado Air Lively Spring Piston with IRT
MC2 Professional-X with HBO sealed cartridge compression damping
sealed cartridge TPC2 rebound damping
extra adjustability: air spring strain, IRT strain, new air-backed bladder, HSR & LSR rebound damping, HSC & LSC compression damping
new polished silver crown for Professional fashions
new cast & CNC-machined deep hole bore crown for all light-weight chassis fashions
Hexlock SL2 15x110mm Increase thru-axle now on light-weight chassis fashions, and Hexlock SL for LT fashions
now 29er-only, with only one 44mm offset out there
identical 2.7″ max tire width (69mm)
light-weight chassis now rated ASTM Class 5 (Bikepark & DH) for mixed rider+bike weights as much as 136kg/300lb, or Cat 4 (~enduro) as much as 150kg/350lb. LT forks all rated Cat 5 as much as 150kg/350lb.
First Plush Rides
Altogether, there’s quite a lot of sensible new tech in these two new Mezzer 2.0 fork households, promising general suspension enhancements that we stay up for digging deeper into over the following few months.
We’ve simply now obtained a Mezzer Professional gen2 fork to check (precise weight 2058g, uncut steerer with 10mm spacer added to scale back journey to 160mm). And the primary couple of rides will be described as extremely plush.
Now it’s time to dig a bit extra into fine-tuning the IRT for the optimum mid-stroke help. After which to check out the broader vary of exterior damping controls.
And after that, to pop it again as much as 170mm of journey on a much bigger bike and get to some enduro racing on a lighter fork!
2026 Manitou Mezzer 2.0 forks – Pricing, choices & availability
The brand new gen 2 do-it-all path to enduro to gravity fork is on the market in 4 fashions – two every of the lighter or longer-travel variations.
The merely named Manitou Mezzer (not listed as G2, although it’s) with 140-170mm journey adjustability is available in a top-spec Professional model for $1200 / 1200€ at a claimed 2030g, or a extra reasonably priced $900 / 900€ Knowledgeable spec that’s simply 20g heavier.
The longer journey Mezzer LT G2 comes within the 150-190mm journey $1200 /1200€ Professional mannequin at a claimed 2220g, and in an much more journey adjustable 140-190mm Comp fork for simply $600 / 600€ at a claimed 2330g.
There isn’t any entry-level Comp fork within the lighter chassis, or a mid-spec model of the longer journey chassis. Manitou appears to have rightly surmised that these seeing the lightest weight would go for the extra premium builds, and people searching for most worth could be pleased with more cash of their wallets at the price of only a hundred grams.
All 4 variations of the 2nd-generation Manitou Mezzer fork can be found now within the USA & Europe out of your native supplier store, or immediately from the Hayes group, now.
Manitou.HayesBicycle.com
