The Sea Otter Classic is one of the premier events to officially release your new products to the cycling public. But depending on where you look, you might also spot some products that haven’t been officially released – like what appears to be new Manitou Suspension and Sun Ringle Wheels and hubs.
Two bikes hanging on a rack had what looked to be new suspension parts from Manitou aimed towards the big-hit end of the spectrum. We weren’t able to get any details out of Manitou, but from the label the new rear shock has a massive piggy back reservoir and may be called the Mara Pro.
Look closely at the red lever, and you’ll see the words ‘work’ and ‘party’. Sounds about right for a free ride bike. Clearly an air shock with at least three external adjustments, the shock looked right at home on the Pivot Firebird 29.
As did this beefy looking single crown fork.
Judging by the decal, this one might be called the Mezzer or M3ZZER.
There were two similar looking forks, one black, one almost in a polished raw finish.
It looks like the forks will get Manitou’s IRT Infinite Rate Tuning air spring, and possibly a ‘Multi Control” compression damper.
One of the forks had what looked to be an integrated fender option and different red seals. Both the forks and the shock looked pretty close to production so hopefully we can get more details on these soon.
New Sun Ringle Products?
Old school mountain bikers will probably be happy to see this one – it would appear that the Sun Ringle Super Bubba might be making a comeback. It was hard to miss the and purple hubs, but on closer inspection the ‘Super Bubba’ logo became apparent.
The rear certainly has a different look than current Sun Ringle hubs with a larger drive side flange for the freehub mechanism.
The other bike had them in black, which is quite interesting – since they were on a Firebird 29. That means that they will probably have a Super Boost + compatible option for the growing number of long travel 29ers using the standard.
Each wheel was built to rims labeled Duroc SD37 Pro. We’d assume that means they’re 37mm externally, or possibly internally, and are aluminum with eyeleted spoke holes.
Will we see the Super Bubba take flight with new long travel suspension soon? It sure seems that way, but for now we’ll have to wait and see.
