Stance is Manitou's burly but budget fork range and the Kingpin is their cost-effective triple-clamp model. It has a very smooth 170mm stroke and the soft single-coil spring rate can be stiffened with the supplementary air chamber. This means you can fine tune the fork for whatever you're riding with just a shock pump. Slightly heavier/harder riders don't have to change springs immediately either. Don't pump it too hard though because we've seen sets blowing seal heads if you overload the air spring.
Manitou's proven TPC damping also keeps the fork well controlled through the stroke, without any obvious stickiness or spiking on either small or big hits. There's loads of rebound adjustment via the metal knob on the base of the right leg too.
The legs drop past the axle to keep the overall height of the fork low, so it will fit 150mm (6in) travel bikes fine, and post mounts make brake fitting easy. Slanted BMX dropouts reduce the chance of the wheel spitting out too, and a 20mm bolt through-axle version is available for £380. The legs are very close together (15mm closer than most triples), which leaves the fork relatively flexy in steering. More significantly, steering lock is limited, especially on frames with big box-section front ends, which restricts handling in tight trails.
Guy Kesteven
