From: truesdel@ics.uci.edu (Scott Truesdell)
Subject: Re: Suspensions/I need some help
Newsgroups: rec.bicycles.tech
Organization: ICS Department, U.C.I.
Distribution: usa
Date: 22 Dec 92 18:32:05 GMT
Followup-To: rec.bicycles.tech

In article <1gt6c0INNq3q@gaia.ucs.orst.edu>, smithm@ava.bcc.orst.edu
(Mitchell Smith) wrote:
>
>
>  I am considering purchasing a suspension fork for my 1989 team stumpjumper.
>  I have narrowed the choices down to three forks: the rock shox mag 20,
>  the rock shox quadra, or the manitou2.

The Mag 20 and the Manitou are definitely the two most used and refined out
there. Both are an excellent choice and will serve you well. I use the
Manitou and am very pleased with everything. I currently have them set up
towards the stiff side and believe they are 'dialed in' for me. I
particularly enjoy the lack of maintenance on the Manitou. I do all the
mechanicing on my bike (heck, I BUILT my bike... everything but weld the
frame...) and probably could do the Rock Shox maint. with not too much
problem. But I like having 'set it and forget it' parts.

I read a very favorable article on the Rock Shox Quadra in 'Mountain
Biking' so I looked forward to my first encounter. It was on a
just-assembled GT RT-2. (The rear suspension of the RT impressed me pretty
favorably in the parking lot.) The Quadra seemed to need some bugs worked
out. Despite Turner's claims leveled directly at Manitou (it would seem),
lateral stiffness, adjustability, and stiction did not feel good to me on a
very limited parking lot test ride. After only one ride it seems to me that
the Quadra is NOT an improvement on the Manitou; it is the Manitou's poorer
cousin.

1st observation was a general mushiness. I asked the guy that built the
bike and he said it was adjusted towards the stiff side and agreed that the
mushiness was the first thing he noticed too (thus the tightening to the
adjusters to a stiff setting).

2nd, lateral stiffness, I had no way of testing this adequately in the
parking lot so I must assume it is adequate.

3rd, stiction. It was awful! It felt like indexed suspension. It would
stick on compression for low amplitude bumps and would stick every time on
rebound. It was downright distracting. Disclaimer: I did not read any Rock
Shox instructions that (probably) come with the fork so I don't know if
they expect the stiction to 'break in' or if something internal needs a
little more grease or what. This could be a bad sample or a transcient
phenomenon. It was, unfortunately, my first impression (we all know how
important those are) but I am honest enough to know that this is an
extremely low sample and look forward to trying more bikes with Quadras to
get a larger sample.

I know in Quadra Turner tackled some specific issues: cost, stiffness, and
maintenance. He realized Manitou was stealing market share on maintenance
alone and wanted to cover that part of the market. I imagine the
performance and stiffness were high on the original target product but that
as development progressed he saw he had a real opportunity for breaking a
cost point. Some refinement of design may have swung towards the cost as
the design finalized. Of course this is all idle speculation, but this is a
way product design  cycles can typically progress. If the problems I
mentioned above are 'for real', I fully expect them to be addressed and
further refined in 'Quadra II'.

Performance: Rock Shox Mag 20 : good to excellent (especially to *fast*)
             Manitou (1) :      good to excellent (especially for medium)
             Rock Shox Quadra : not good (after a sample of only one)

Maintenance: Rock Shox Mag 20 : medium
             Manitou 2 :        none to low
             Rock Shox Quadra : unknown, presumably same as Manitou.

I am interested to hear others experience with Quadra. I *want* the Quadras
to be good. I want a high quality, high performance, low maintenance
suspension fork to retail for under $200.

One last time: my negative review on Quadra is based on ONLY ONE RIDE in a
parking lot. It could have just been bad luck...

  --scott
Newsgroups: rec.bicycles.tech,rec.bicycles.marketplace,rec.bicycles.misc