Manitou Dorado Pro Test

Manitou has been in the suspension game since the early 1990's. Gone are the days of their rubber elastomer springs. Throughout the late 1990s and early 2000's Manitou had a strong showing in the downhill segment. The used TPC in both their XVERT fork which was a Carbon Fibre standard triple clamp fork and then in their venture into the inverted market with the original Dorado around 2001-2003 with 30mm stantions and generation 2 came out from 2004-2006 with 32mm stantions. That fork worked well then manitou decided they needed the use the SPV vavling they were licensing from Turner and along came the MRD Dorado X-Works. It turns out downhill was not the appropriate venue for SPV. Its price was high for the time and people were expecting everything from it. That was in 2004 and 9 years ago. But some people seem to never forget things.Their new fork is using TPC + but now has a Dual Air chamber.

Today they are using a Dual Chamber Air design inside their new Dorado. In 2010 Manitou announced the Dorado Pro after extensive testing of the carbon fibre MRD version. This was good because that CF Dorado was approaching the $3,000 mark so very few people had them. The new design is somewhat light at 6.5 LBS and as plush as a fork can get. Out of the box it feels very supple and it feels better than most forks do after their required break in periods!


Manitou Dorado Review

Profile Elite MTB Hub Test

Profile Racing has been around since the late 1960's! Their stuff is made here in the USA and they are damn proud of it as they should be. Their tolerances are insane, colors perfect, switches can be made on short notice and some of the tighest quality control this side of Rolex.

Grownig up in the 1980's and riding BMX in the time there were 2 companies people went to for cranks. Profile was one of them and I always wanted a set. In my youth I was never able to afford a set but when I built my first DH bike in around 1999 it had Profile cranks. I had used them on two other builds since and have always admired their products. Profile builds stuff that works and only tweaks it if it can be improved upon.

Three or four years ago at Interbike we went by Profile and they had a MTB sample of their Elite hubs mounted on a stand. We were estatic just twisting it about 90 degrees sounded close to what a King does at full rotation. After that we knew it was a hub that would one day be mounted on one of our bikes.

Fast forward a few years later and finally I get a set of the Profile Elite's to lace a custom wheelset up with. I went fairly light with DT Revolution, Alloy nipple and STANS Flow EX hoops. The hubs weighed as claimed on Profile's site and my complete front and rear wheels came in at 1820 grams.

Profile Elite Hub Review