[Closed] 160mm or 180mm fork for a mini downhill bike?

Marzocchi 55 RC3 Ti 170mm?

Too expensive, needs to be 2nd hand.

160.

I found 180mm Totems just weird. I had a stiff set of handlebars coupled to a Thomson 50mm stem and the stem/bars flexed around the steerer more than any other setup I've ever had.

I don't know...could have been increased forces being transferred to the steerer because of the increased axle-to-crown....or something.....

Dunno, probably the Totems. If budget is an issue, I always liked them 2006/7 66 rc2x forks with 170mm of travel. Probably pick some up for £150 or so I'd guess (I imagine Totems are about £350+?)

Although "uqality" of travel is perhaps more important than the amount? Dont know which are best out of those two you listed.

My 36 vans would be fine for most DH tracks (if I wasn't such a pussy).

Depends what YOU prefer.

Personally I dislike 8" forks even on my DH bike and run one rate higher spring in my boxxer so it performs like a 7" fork. Ie. Sits higher in it's stroke, less sag/dive, more stable and better pop.

Also, beware sticking a monster single crown fork on your newly lowered slacker bike, you may well be taking the geometry back close to where you started.

The vans seem to get a lot of praise, but I can't help thinking the totem would take more abuse and be more fun down a gnarly hill.

I've heard good things about the older marzocchis, but am being a bit of a tart and want something a bit newer.

Depends what YOU prefer.

I have only ridden DH rigs at mellow DH tracks so I don't have a lot to go on. Rode my enduro at some spots that are a bit rougher and it was pretty good, but got out of it's depth blasting through rock gardens.

Also, beware sticking a monster single crown fork on your newly lowered slacker bike, you may well be taking the geometry back close to where you started.

The frame is designed around a 160mm fork so with a 180mm and offset bushings the bb is still likely to be lower.

It's just going to slacken your bike out by another degree. I really would stay away from 180mm single crowns though, they are entirely pointless except for huckers who do tricks when dual crowns with their integrated stems have better stiffness and usually have very similar axle to crown heights.

.....but that's just me. You should ride a set before you decide.

Does not understand why you're looking at Vans and Totems but not coil Lyriks- adjustable up to 170mm with a little effort, good damping, very durable... Better used proposition than the Vans IMO.

Anyway- answer is It Depends but there's options that can be lengthened (or reduced), so get one of them to keep the options open.

Does not understand why you're looking at Vans and Totems but not coil Lyriks- adjustable up to 170mm with a little effort, good damping, very durable... Better used proposition than the Vans IMO.

Because the don't tend to come up cheap.

What I really want is a set of lightweight (maywbe some 2010 boxxer WC) dual crowns lowered to 180mm, to give them practically the same axle to crown as my Lyrik U-turns.

I would be in heaven.

Because the don't tend to come up cheap

Yeah they do. Even new you can find them for 400 quid. Abused second hand Lyriks tends to perform better than abused fox forks as well.

Cant you space the Solo airs down with internal spacers anyway? So you could run them at 170 or 160

You find me a set bwaarp and I'll consider it.

Yes you can space them down, another reason why I am tempted.

A-C on a 180mm single crown should be around the same as a 200mm boxxer at it's shortest position in the crowns.

Oh.. and your frame probably won't be DH low even wih the OS reducers.

kudos100 - Member

Because the don't tend to come up cheap.

I got mine for £250, sold another set for £250. Here's a good looking set.

http://www.pinkbike.com/buysell/1053751/

Usual Pinkbike disclaimers apply though. Personally I'd be incredibly suspicious of a 36 going for less than that.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p3872.m570.l1313&_nkw=rock+shox+lyrik&_sacat=See-All-Categories

I got mine for £250, sold another set for £250. Here's a good looking set.

http://www.pinkbike.com/buysell/1053751/

Usual Pinkbike disclaimers apply though. Personally I'd be incredibly suspicious of a 36 going for less than that

I don't need travel adjust, which is why I'm looking at vans and solo air totems. Haven't seen many 170 coils about.

Go 160, I've got a set of Domains going cheap :p I'd probably stick to shorter and u-turn if you want to pedal it, though saying that i managed to ride up snowdon on my Bullit with 180 boxxers on so its not the end of the world!

though saying that i managed to ride up snowdon on my Bullit with 180 boxxers on so its not the end of the world!

That's the thing, I'm not overly fussed about climbing performance as long as it gets me there.

kudos100 - Member

I don't need travel adjust, which is why I'm looking at vans and solo air totems. Haven't seen many 170 coils about.

Don't walk past a good fork just because it's got uturn, it doesn't add much weight and it's reliable, and it works just as well as a fixed length spring.

All lyrik coils can be extended to 170mm, you just need a wee machined spacer (not commercially available as far as I know, but it's a simple part) And how many cheap Vans will go past 160?

180 Domains on my Iron Horse 6.4 (came with 160 Marzocchi 55R) never made that much of a difference to how it went uphill and made it a lot more fun coming back down. Mind you air to coil was a big part of how much better it felt I think.

Oh ffs, now I am considering bloody lyrik and totem coils.

Have you hammered the hell out of set of coil lyriks Northwind?

I spaced my coil totems down to 160 to run on my miniDH

All lyrik coils can be extended to 170mm, you just need a wee machined spacer (not commercially available as far as I know, but it's a simple part)

Hmmm, tell us more...

Credit to accu, here:

http://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/rs-lyriks-160-u-turns-to-170#post-3368602

Keep meaning to make myself one but I'm the worst machinist in christendom so it's not hard to make excuses Wonder if there's enough demand to get a wee run made up...

My Lyriks U turns have been great Kudos. They are more buttery than my old mans older non fit/non kashima Fox 36's. The ramp up is a little more linear and the compression adjustment appears to have a finer but more tunable range. The lyriks need less regular servicing. The downside is that the U-turns are not adjustable for preoload, you can only change the springs so you may end up a little "between" the spring rates. However you can send the to TFtuned to have them modded into regular 170mm coils.

The fox's feel as though the ramp up a little more which is good and the build quality feels a little nicer. Compared to the Lyrik U-turn they also have preload adjust. Downside is that they need more regular maintenance.

What kind of riding have you used them for? I need something that will stand up to a decent level of abuse (10 foot drops, big jumps, rock gardens)

I gave my air lyriks a bit of stick, but I'm not sure how long they would last long term. I don't want to worry about the bike when jumping off stuff.

They'll take as much stick as a set of 36's. But generally I steer clear of large drops like those these days.

If you are into massive hucks I'd go with dual crowns, the only places I've seen Lyriks/Totems or 36's snap is at the steerer and with a 180mm fork you are putting more forces through the steerer.

Someone feel free to enlighten me.

since when was a 10ft drop a "massive huck"? 😕

It's a pretty small huck, but I'd like to know that if I give the fork a bit of a beating on a regular basis that it will stand up to it.

I'm sure they are up to the job in the short term, but over the longer term I have no idea as I have never owned a set for long enough.

The 'all mountain' tag puts me off a bit.

of course it will, a Reba will stand up to it as long as it's not to flat!

"all-mountain" is a bullshit "made up" marketing term to sell XC bikes to folk who think they are too gnar to ride XC.

10 ft drops are not "massive" but the general impression he was giving me was that of a freerider. But 10 foot is nothing to sniff at depending on the landing.

Generally the slopestyle guys do much larger on smaller 100mm forks. If you want it to last a lifetime doing 10ft+ drops several times each weekend, by all means get a bigger fork.

I cannot say whether they will last as long as you want, they should last as long as a 36 and that's all I know. I won't do anything more than 5 foot because I don't feel like ****ing bones up (time out of work etc).

Would've thought Lyriks would be more than enough, I've hammered my air Pikes and they're still going strong after a service. Would think the Lyriks are built at least as well as the Pikes.

Well maybe not flat, but occasionally to less than ideal transition.

"all-mountain" is a bullshit "made up" marketing term to sell XC bikes to folk who think they are too gnar to ride XC

Preaching to the choir GW.

My OPINION is that they would be more than enough in terms of strength. Don't hold me to it as you may be really hard on components and weigh 230lb. In terms of stiffness they seem to track just as well as my totems did.

My ADVICE would be do some research, try some other forums like Southern Downhill, Socal forums, Pinkbike, Rotorburn etc and get a general consensus, then try some forks for yourself. If you break them, well if you've bought them new they should have a warranty.

If all you don't care about weight just get some 66's or Totems. I personally, don't see the point and would rather have a pair of dual crowns even on a 170mm Dh-light bike because I don't care what people think.

Lots of people love the Totem though so by all means go for it, if it's second hand the value should not depreciate much if you hate it and want to sell it on.

36 and Lyrik are pretty comparable so if you're happy with one, should be happy with the other tbh. You don't see many broken Lyriks, then again, probably 9/10ths of them are on mincing chariots like mine 😉

New isn't an option.

I've done research, the vast majority are riding lyriks and 36's round trail centres, which is no help to me all all.

You didn't strike me as a mincer Northwind 😉

Edit: quite tempted with a coil lyrik if I can convert it to 170mm.

Speak to tf tuned (google) on the 170mm conversion and go and post in southern downhill. Lots of racers there who have abused a lot of different kit.

I was running 150mm Talas on a old freedownminihill commencal supreme 6 but just finished swapping over to 180mm Domains (cheers Jonk). They're nice and chunky but don't feel as stiff as the Foxs, especially under braking. Nice boing to them though (matches the back - something I could never get the talas to do), and the bike [i]sits [/i] with more purpose. Proper test soon(ish).

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I have 160 coil lyriks (1.5 steerer) - great forks.

Mission Control DH cartidge and the would be superb...

I went from 170mm coil lyriks to Totems on my SX Trail as I was looking for extra stiffness - they deliver in spades. The lyriks just felt flexy and squinty, putting totems on the bike transformed it from a big hitting trail bike to a mini dh bike, if that makes sense. I did consider boxxers but having tried a few sx trails with that type of setup I went for single crowns. Damping felt better on the totems too.

I can't explain why, but dual crowns, even set to the same a2c height as totems just felt wrong for the bike. It might have been something I could have ironed out with some experimentation but I never went down that route.

Last weekend I was thrashing a 150mm 'trail bike' repeatedly down Glencoe mountain (MacAvalanche).

A different world to riding a 222 (DH specific, 170 each end).

freeridenick - Member

Mission Control DH cartidge and the would be superb...

Slight derail, but have you tried the lockout-eliminator mod? Worth trying if not, closes the gap between the 2 dampers.

Totems are my first choice at the moment, as I think they will be more fun when plowing through stuff 🙂

I can only take 2 bikes with me to Oz and in the process of splitting up my big bike. I have some Totem coils 1 1/8 for sale if you are interested.

Could be. I'll send you an email.