What do you reckon is best? and are there any other forks I should consider - with or without a 20mm bolt through axle.

Manitou Sherman Flick 20mm £419.99
Marzocchi Z1 freeride ETA QR20mm £359.99

I want a fork that has about 5" travel, isn't too heavy, has good steering and braking stiffness, and want to know how much difference a 20mm bolt through axle makes before spending £££...

Psylo SL Tullios can be had for £320, XC Tullios for £250. Are they worth considering? They're lighter than Shermans or Z1s, but are they too flexy?

Shermans look good, but the axle looks like its allen bolted in place! is this Puncture fixing hell? The Marzocchi has tiny QR levers.

20mm bolt thru is a real bonus to steering offroad.

Okay, so how does the Sherman compare to the Z1 Freeride?

If you get psylo bolt through they're worth considering. Otherwise they're too flexy.

What about a Vanilla 125?
Not a bolt through but stiffer than pretty much any other non-bolt through.

And buttery smooth to boot.

I'd go for the shermans mate, great fork. The zochi's, great forks, are using a very old design, nothing much has changed in them over the yearsand are still a very basic fork, the shermans on the other hand are brand new from manitou, and from what i've been hearing around bike shop first impressions are good.

Can't speak for the Shermans. I have the Z1 Freeride SL's 2003 model and it is the nuts! Best forks I have ever owned! Plush, long travel, looks the dogs boll@cks!

The Marzocchi has been around for a bit but each year it has had a few tweaks, tried and tested, ask anybody on here who has Marzocchi forks how often they have to have something done to them. This year it got 32mm stanchions and the new q/r setup, a bit like the Rock shox tullio setup. A super smooth low maintanence fork, buy it now!!

I've got the sherman breakouts. Basically the same but bigger!!!!! I'm not going to tell you they are better than Z1's as I've never ridden them but I can tell you:

Shermans are v\good fork. Manitou have really got there sh*t together this year. TPC+ dampening is very effective and the new evil genius seals do not let a bit of dirt in.....Stripped mine down expecting to find loads of crud in them after the winter but found nothing but new looking oil and grease. Not a speck of muck....
Ohh yeah and come on.... they look well'ard and are called "Sherman"...what more do you want!!!!!!!


P.S I suppose they are a bit pricey but hey....If your worried about that you don't deserve them!!!!!!

Ohh yeah.....forgot. Puncturing can be a pain but its not exactly something that should put you off buying them.It realisticlly only means an extra minute on fixing a puncture...
Do like I did and buy some continental DH innertubes....They are as thick as a wetsuit and are ALOT less vunerable to punctures.....It took a very heavy landing on the front to puncture them....

I've got Freeride SL's too, and I'd have to agree with Carl, they are amazing. They don't have QR20+, but I haven't noticed much flex and they're certainly a lot stiffer than my old Z4s. My two pen'orth.

Have to say I've heard lots of good things about hte new manitou forks - previous years have had shocking sealing, but good to hear they've got their act together

personally I own Marz. Marathons and Super T's, and have owned Z1 CR's, all very good forks and needed very little maintanence...

I still keep hearing about RS QC problems since being tken over by SRAM, but thats just what I've read (so dont go slaughtering me for saying it!)

Have to say, that if the new Marzocchi is anything like the QR 20, then a bolt thru wont be anymore hassle!

enjoy the shopping!

Thanks for the advice.

Has anyone done a head-to-head test of the Sherman and the Z1 freeride? Or has anyone seen one in a magazine/website?

Seems like both forks will have easily enough performance to keep me happy!

Another vote for the sherman. I'd always thought that alot of comments about this forks flexy blah blah blah was mostly bollox, first time out on the sherman (firefly bolt thru) and the lack of flex and general feel was "ah thats what sus forks should feel like". It tracks better than any fork I've ridden (various z1's, z3's, dirt jumpers, super-t's, psylo's, dukes) and just generally performs better. Personally I think Marzocchi really need to sit up and pay attention, Manitou have done what RS couldn't and broght out a z1 beater. In the meantime Marzocchi seem to quite happily sit back on their reputation and find no innovation...

The z150 is a perfect example, instead of building light strong 6" sc fork like the breakout, they build one that weighs as much as some dual crown forks with a near solid steerer. That isn't innovation thats sticking your head in the ground and avoiding progress...