As I mentioned last week, it wouldn’t be until today – March 1 – that I could speak freely about a few of Manitou’s new-for-2006 products. If you couldn’t guess from my somewhat cryptic comment last week, Manitou is back to taking a serious look at the cross-country segment for 2006. Welcome to the lightweight, high-performance world of the Manitou R-Seven.

While the race-oriented Skareb served its purpose quite nicely for the past three years, Manitou’s Joel Smith recently explained that it’s the company’s goal to “redefine suspension for the XC market.” Considering what Manitou has accomplished in long-travel freeride suspension, that probably isn’t just idle PR chit-chat.

“We felt that the cross-country side has been overlooked the past few years by not only us, but the overall market as well,” Smith explained. “We felt that the time was right to take a look at our current product [Skareb] and see how we could improve on it.”

It makes sense. Take for example the company’s factory-backed superstar Ryder Hesjedal. Throughout the entire 2004 season, I couldn’t help but notice that he was showing up at start lines around the world straddling a Manitou Black, and not the flagship cross-country model, the Skareb.

When I asked Manitou as to why its poster boy wasn’t racing on the high-end XC racing fork, I was told that Hesjedal preferred the added stiffness of the Black over the lighter (and flexier) Skareb.

Smith explained that the Manitou took Hesjedal’s concerns to heart when designing the R-Seven platform. The result? Well, according to Smith the 100mm fork is light and stiff.

“Think of it this way,” Smith explained, “it’s a fork that is lighter than Skareb with stiffness on par with Minute [Manitou’s 130mm trail riding fork].”

The fork features large 30mm stanchion tubes, a parabolic magnesium RA casting (not round but ovalized for maximum rigidity), deep bore hollow crown, new air spring system, black anodized stanchions, butted steerer tube and new Snap Valve SPV damping system. The target weight for the high-end Platinum version is 2.9 pounds.

Here’s a breakdown of individual technology weights between the two forks

	R-Seven	Skareb
Casting	420 grams	440 grams
Crown	215 grams	225 grams
Steerer	170 grams	184 grams
Spring System	95 grams	122 grams
SPV Damper	64 grams	97 grams

After spending two days riding the new fork, I grew to appreciate two noticeable differences. First, is the fork’s impressive stiffness. At 200 pounds, it’s easy for me to flex most cross-country forks (racing a SID World Cup Carbon is out of the question for me). I found the R-Seven to track as accurately as any of the lightweight trail/freeride forks I’ve been riding lately (RockShox Reba, Fox FLOAT RLC 125). Second, while never a huge fan of Manitou’s SPV valving technology (for fork applications), the R-Seven’s redesigned Snap Valve SPV is much more effective in activating under high-frequency stutters (the Achilles ’ heel of standard SPV fork valving). Manitou achieves this “suppleness” through the Snap Valve SPV’s responsive valving. When the Snap Valve is closed, the forces keeping it that way are quite high, but once the valve opens, the forces acting to close it are decreased. Putting numbers to it, a stiff 3-to-1 ratio acts against the valve as the fork sits fully extended. When you encounter a hit and the fork moves through its initial travel, the ratio drops to a softer 1.8-to-1. That really makes the fork almost as responsive as any of its non-SPV competitors.

I warmed to the system right away, especially for cross-country racing. Set the platform right and the fork resists bobbing. Hit the right size bump and the fork becomes almost fully active. And unlike inertia valve systems, Manitou’s Snap Valve doesn’t get “confused” in hyper-active stutter situations.

And while the Snap Valve works quite well, I’m still on the fence as to whether I prefer the 100 percent effectiveness of a handlebar lock-out over “intelligent” valving. In response to us “on the fence with SPV” types, Manitou will thankfully offer the R-Seven in an optional TPC remote lockout model. Whichever version you prefer, the fork’s overall stiffness is phenomenal, a testament to Manitou’s engineering staff.

Manitou will produce the following models
R-Seven Platinum (80 or 100mm travel, Snap Valve SPV damping, 2.9 pounds)
R-Seven Super (80 or 100mm travel, TPC lockout, 3.0 pounds)
R-Seven Elite (80 or 100mm travel, Adjustable Platform Plus damping, 3.0 pounds)
R-Seven Comp (80 or 100mm travel, FFD with rebound damping, 3.1 pounds)

Prices should be about five percent higher than last year’s Skareb line, which ranged from about $380 to $700. Skareb will be discontinued in 2006. Oh, one last thing, you might be wondering where the name comes from? Remember the Manitou Two, the Manitou Three and the Manitou Four of the early-to-middle 90’s fame? Smith explained that this is the “Seventh version of Manitou’s race fork line.” “R-Seven” it is.

S-Type shock
Manitou also showcased its new rear shock line, the S-Type. Both lightweight air shocks are targeted at the 200-ram weight point, with the S-Type SRL featuring Platform Plus damping and lockout, while the S-Type SR SPV features adjustable SPV pressure and rebound damping. Manitou claims the two shocks have been designed to be both lightweight and be durable, a feat still not yet perfected with other sub-200 gram shocks. We’ll see how long these last.

While the S-Type SR SPV shocks we rode at camp performed flawlessly (there’s no argument in my book about the benefits of SPV damping application for rear suspension), only time will tell if the lightweight shocks can handle the long-term rigors of off-road riding.