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Breaking New Ground:
Some races test riders.
Others test equipment.
The Megavalanche has been doing both for more than three decades.
With over 20 kilometers of descending, more than 2,600 meters of vertical drop, a mass start high on an alpine glacier, and terrain that transitions from snow to rocks, roots, dust, and endless alpine singletrack, it remains one of mountain biking’s most demanding proving grounds.
This year, GMBN’s Rich Payne didn’t simply line up to race it.
He lined up aboard something few thought possible.
A one-of-a-kind Nicolai Mega Mullet prototype equipped with a custom Manitou Dorado, Reynolds prototype 32-inch wheels, and Hayes Dominion brakes: a bike built not to follow trends, but to explore where gravity riding might go next.
Others test equipment.
The Megavalanche has been doing both for more than three decades.
With over 20 kilometers of descending, more than 2,600 meters of vertical drop, a mass start high on an alpine glacier, and terrain that transitions from snow to rocks, roots, dust, and endless alpine singletrack, it remains one of mountain biking’s most demanding proving grounds.
This year, GMBN’s Rich Payne didn’t simply line up to race it.
He lined up aboard something few thought possible.
A one-of-a-kind Nicolai Mega Mullet prototype equipped with a custom Manitou Dorado, Reynolds prototype 32-inch wheels, and Hayes Dominion brakes: a bike built not to follow trends, but to explore where gravity riding might go next.
Built for an Experiment
The Mega Mullet combines a revolutionary 32-inch front wheel with a 29-inch rear, chasing the rollover capability of a larger front wheel while preserving the agility gravity riders demand.
Turning that concept into reality required far more than simply fitting a bigger wheel.
It demanded a suspension platform capable of adapting to an entirely new set of engineering challenges.
That’s where Manitou’s inverted Dorado came into its own.
Unlike a conventional dual-crown fork, the Dorado’s inverted architecture naturally provides the clearance required to accommodate a 32-inch front wheel, making a concept like the Mega Mullet possible without compromising chassis performance.
From there, Manitou’s engineers took the project a step further.
Working alongside Nicolai and GMBN, they developed a custom 170mm Dorado, refining both the fork’s travel and suspension tune to better manage the unique forces, leverage, and ride characteristics generated by the oversized front wheel.
The result wasn’t simply a fork adapted to fit the bike.
It was a fork engineered to help unlock the performance potential of an entirely new gravity platform.
Where Innovation Meets Reality
Ideas only matter when they’re tested.
The Megavalanche is about as unforgiving a proving ground as exists. Massive impacts, sustained high speeds, technical rock gardens, glacier snow, altitude, and nearly an hour of racing leave nowhere for equipment to hide.
For Rich, this wasn’t simply about finishing one of mountain biking’s toughest events.
It was about discovering whether an entirely new bike concept could survive one of gravity racing’s greatest examinations.
The answer?
It not only survived…it qualified an impressive 12th, earned a place in Sunday’s main event, and ultimately crossed the finish line comfortably inside the Top 100, proving both rider and machine belonged on one of gravity racing’s biggest stages.
Innovation Never Stands Still
Perhaps the biggest takeaway wasn’t the result itself.
It was what the project represents.
For decades, mountain biking has evolved because engineers, riders, and brands have been willing to challenge convention.
Longer travel.
Larger wheels.
Mixed-wheel bikes.
Inverted forks.
Every breakthrough began as an experiment.
The Mega Mullet continues that tradition.
Whether 32-inch gravity bikes become commonplace remains to be seen, but pushing those boundaries is exactly how the next generation of mountain bikes is created.
At Manitou, that’s a philosophy we’ve embraced from the very beginning.
The Dorado wasn’t chosen because it was different.
It was chosen because its inverted architecture solved a genuine engineering challenge, and because our engineers were able to evolve its performance to match an entirely new riding platform.
Sometimes the most important innovations aren’t the ones that follow the trail.
They’re the ones that create a new line entirely.
