Answer Manitou 1 Fork Rebuild/Overhaul 

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Thanks for bringing back the memories of mountain biking in the late 80s and the early 90s. I worked at a bike shop as a teenager, and I was lucky enough to have the first ever production Rock-shock, and Manitou Fork……🤘

A true enthisiast and a true pro. Not many people would do this kind of work and save these bikes!

I took a shot every time RJ said "elastomer", and now I am dead from alcohol poisoning. ;). Thanks for posting this vid, I sure don't miss those old forks. I am about to try and rebuild a 96 Cannondale Headshock, it's going to be a nightmare!!

So excited you did this one. I remember when you bought them and have been waiting to see it. I have the same fork, now I have the confidence to do this myself. Thanks RJ!

Long time no see. Glad you are back

I bet Doddy from GMBN would love this video!

Good to see your channel is doing so well, love ya RJ. You're the best bike guy!

Today you made my day. Happy thanksgiving. Someday I wish you would visit my shop. We specialize in refurbishing bicycles. Highland NY.

Still a great looking fork after all these years.

Your people obviously love you and are loyal to you man. Must be nice. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving friend. ❤️🤟

Super helpful for very old suspension forks. Thanks again fella.

Thanks for the tip on the parts supplier. Also, good to see your work again, and that a pizza box is still your most used tool.

He's back. Good to see another video. Happy Thanksgiving 😀

I am glad you restored that cool looking fork. One of my first builds ever used a Manitou fork, though much more recent than that...post 2000ish. I really like the Marin frame too. Good stuff!

Great to see you backa at work!

I glad you comeback RJ!.

Dude, that elastomer goo was nasty. What a cool old fork, though. Great video as always.

thanks; for giving us the pleasure of your presence again!

Damn that was satisfying. Saving this video when I work on my clapped-out Manitou Magnum fork. Thanks RJ!

Thanks for sharing. I now have the confidence to give it a try. Firstly though, I need to find out which forks I have, mine have a grey screw cap instead of the pry off type on your set. Thanks again.

Excellent content as always from RJ . Many thanks chum - Hope your well and life is spoiling you. 👍

Nice work! I rebuilt one of these about 4-5 years ago and I certainly remember how difficult it was to completely remove the old melted elastomers. I thought it would have been a cool mod for my 80’s bike to replace the rigid fork but unfortunately it wasn’t compatible. I was surprised to see how desirable these are on the second-hand market. I found the fork in a thrift shop and got it for like $10. And even after the hefty cost of the rebuild kit I made a lot of money reselling it.

That is a cool bike. I don't even own a Bike with a fork but I still watched

One year ago i was refurbishing the same fork, but i upgrade whit springs from a SR SUNTOUR XCR and never more elastomers... Now whit springs are more confortable than elastomers

Eww, that old elastomer goo is nasty! I've rebuilt a number of old springer suspension forks, and they tend to be filled with rust and rainwater, but I've never done elastomer forks. I like the look of those long forceps, I might try to get a pair of those. Thanks for the tutorial.

Kinda funny (in "amusing" sense) to see someone at the end of 2022 rebuilding stuff from early '90s... : ) I happened to own PM Marin as my first "proper" mountain bike (back in '93, Pine Mountain '92 model, still with stiff fork), and before that there was a Hawk Hill... That PM rode like a dream, felt like bespoke frame - it was just perfect! (Unfortunately, some years latter someone "borrowed" it.) In fact I'm a big fan of Marin till today, and who knows - maybe one day (oh, glorious day!) I may actually get round (re)building a nice "retro" bike for myself, on a Team Marin frame (with matching Manitou fork) I bought some... twelve years ago, and I even build wheels for it but... somehow I never actually managed to get the whole thing finished. Oh well, maybe one day... ;-)

well done, you make it look easier than it is :)

Finally a decent rebuild vid gorgeous manitous.. now will do mine. Great stuff.

about time for som RJ the bike guy vid. Been so long

Excellent video! Glad to see you back on RU-vid.

That fork is legendary. Sometimes, elastomers melt to goo, sometimes they crumble into sand-like stuff. Weird. Thats why dont use them nowadays.

Manitouuuuuus for the win, bringing back lots of old memories. I need to overhaul my 99 Mars forks but no to use them. Kepp up the great videos.

Happy Holidays, RJ.

Great video nice to see you back have a great holiday and take care .

Welcome back RJ. Hope you are well.

I got an older bike from my father-in-law, took it for a ride and noticed that the front forks were rubbing the wheel. Unfortunately, I took the front forks off WITHOUT videoing the sequence, so I could put it back together later... big mistake. I also took the forks apart before discovering your video...wish I had found it sooner!!. Anyway, I was wondering if you knew what the torque was on the bracket screws holding the tubes where the caps are located, hope this makes sense. When I bought the Elastomer refresh kit they recommended new dust seals, which did NOT work. The new dust seals were just a little too big and would not allow me to put the tubes back together, so I used the old dust seals, which worked. The only advice I have, it would really be handy if you quickly laid out the tools need for the job, or put it in the comments below and quickly said where the tool list could be found. THANKS!

Very fancy fork 🚴

Man that's a lot of work

Nothing's like watching RJ first thing in the morning

Great video. Just got an old bike in with these forks, thanks!

🦃🦃🦚👁️😎🙋🚴🚴💕👍🦃🦃🦚 merry thanks giving Rj I think of you every time I look at my bike 🚲🚲🚴🚴👁️ thank you big guy 🙏

Bout time RJ. Missed you brother. 🤠🙋

This is what I am looking for!! Thank you! I have the same fork and need to rebuild it. Would you know where to buy the dust seals and what size they are? Mine's broken. Thanks!

welcome back RJ ! I take it that replacement set cost a pretty penny ?

Awesome video!

Nice job, not sure though if the couple mm travel will offer a significant improvement

Thanks

@rj the bike guy good to see you again making more videos,btw was the hair dryer borrowed from mrs tbg? 😜 Keep up the good work & best wishes from melbourne australia 🇦🇺👍

That was awesome!

Sangat menginpirasi saya. Nice

Thanks for the video, very informative 🤗

At 1:05 , are you using and endoscope? Cool tool 🤓

yes

New video, baby BTW, @RJ The Bike Guy, is there any way to convert these forks from elastomer sprung to coil sprung if ever there are no rebuild kits available?

Revlon "heat gun", but it works.

For the algo! RJ rules

Too funny, I just did a full rebuild on a Answer/Manitou Pro C

Where can I buy the elastomers? I have the Manitou Answer as well I different model that has screws at the top of each fork.

Hi RJ your tools are really complete, did you made those or they just sell it all in your country?

So to melt the goo why did you not use boiling water on the inside ? Would it have damaged anything?

nice,make more videos!! :)

Whats the benefit of having the elastomers sectioned like that instead of one solid piece?

Long time no vid ah?

Are forks able to lock out?

Elasomer goo?

why didn't you boil everything out with water??

12:53 speech loading haha

👍

FACT: The tool is an Allen key. Not a hex something. Aside from heat a liberal application of CRC or WD-40 is very helpful. fyi.

How many times,did you say Elastomer?🤣😅😂

Looks like a colonoscopy 😂

Red covered parts sitting in a stainless stainless steel tray. Almost like you were acting like a surgeon.

Thanks for bringing back the memories of mountain biking in the late 80s and the early 90s. I worked at a bike shop as a teenager, and I was lucky enough to have the first ever production Rock-shock, and Manitou Fork……🤘