Experiences with Romic&Manitou shocks?

[95M3Racer]

Just wondering what teams have used Romic or Manitou shocks (Romic only has one, but in specific the Manitou Swinger and metel model line), how were they, just a little review if you can, maybe problems experienced, or if they worked great.

Thanks

[95M3Racer]

Just wondering what teams have used Romic or Manitou shocks (Romic only has one, but in specific the Manitou Swinger and metel model line), how were they, just a little review if you can, maybe problems experienced, or if they worked great.

Thanks

[Cement Legs]

If you want reliability information on the shocks try mtbreview.com and search out your product. Every mountain bike product available is usually reviewed at that site. Hopefully if nobody has used the swinger on fsae cars you can at least get some idea as to their durability and how well they function. Hope that helps.

Cheers

[95M3Racer]

Thanks I already knew about that site though.

Not the best feedback for Romics, but Manitou seems to be a very high end company.

[RacingManiac]

From our experience with Romic in 2003, we found that they are more adjustable than Risse, however, reliability was poor as in the end we had 3 blown shock(one blewup basically right out of the box, when our guy was playing around with it in his hand...). We can't adjust their shim stack ourselves as we don't have a kit for it(we can with Risse).

It'd be nice if they were more reliable....

[Kevin Hayward]

We tested a Manitou shock on a dyno. Don't know the specs but it was 5 or 6 way adjustable.

Only thing was that all but one of the adjustments did almost nothing. Furthermore there was a whole heap of hysteresis.

The adjustments may have had more of an effect outside the speed range of our dyno. However our dyno handles the shaft speeds we see on our car. Don't know how fast the shaft moves on a mountain bike.

The hysteresis is more of a MB mountain bike damper issue. The way it is built into the shocks helps pedalling efficiency.

So we sort of concluded that the Manitou we had was probably a great MB shock but should not be installed on a FSAE car.

Kev

[95M3Racer]

So what did you end up using after you decided not to go with the Manitous?

Anyone find a oval track or midget shock under 8"?

[Kevin Hayward]

The testing of the Manitous was a part of a plan from a while ago. We ended up staying with the fox ... at least for Oz '03 and US '04. That may or may not have changed for this year.

During this time we got a hold of a dry 1/4 midget Penske shock that was doing the rounds in Australia. It looked like a pretty good unit. Not adjustable but you would be able to change shim stacks etc during rebuilds.

It was a very tempting option for us to change to for our next comp. If size is a big issue then you are probably better off sticking with the MB shocks and modifying them. I think that the comprimises in fluid flow etc is not worth the small weight savings.

Its probably worth contacting Penske just to see if you can get a look at a shock. Being dry you get a chance to check out all the internals etc without worrying about the whole "You break it you brought it thing". If you haven't already you should also tear down one of your MB dampers to check it out as well.

You can learn a lot without even having to go onto a damper dyno.

Cheers,

Kev

[Big D]

Having raced mountain bikes for some time, and worked in a bike shop, I can tell you a bit about these shocks. You are correct, the new style shocks have special valving to help with pedal induced bob on the mountain bike. Manitou calls it S.P.V. (stable platform valve), and Fox calls it 'Pro Pedal'. Anyways, what it comes down to, is that the damping is more or less locked out, by means of an inertia valve. I believe on some models, the spring that holds this valve on its seat has adjustable preload, thereby adjusting the breakaway threshold. If you want to get a feel for what this is like, find a Specialized mountain bike dealer, and take an Epic (the model of bike) for a test ride.
Our team has not tried these shocks on a car, but I would think that they would be detrimental to a car's performance. The shock will not move at all until it hits the first small, abrupt bump. If you are driving over a bit of rolling contour in the track, the breakaway threshold may not be reached, and you have what amounts to a rigid vehicle, and perhaps you might begin to lift one wheel off the tarmac. Like I say though, this is just speculation, based on what I have seen from the seat of a bike.