29er fork on old Ca...
 

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29er fork on old Calibre hardtail - will my mate die?

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My friend bought a second hand Calibre Line 10 and the 120mm Rock Shox fork is totally knackered.

I have a spare Suntour Zeron 29er fork lying around which I was thinking of giving him.  It weighs about as much as a planet, but it's actually not too bad.

If we fit it it'll mean changing from a fork with axle-to-crown of 506mm to one of 560mm (it's quite long even for its travel)

The bike has a BB drop of 40mm according to Geometry Geeks.

I'm guessing the longer fork would lift the BB a bit less than half of the fork length difference???  Would this make the bike handle and climb like an absolute dog?  Or would it probably be kind of OK?

Ta in advance for your thoughts!


 
Posted : 23/11/2024 4:16 pm
thols2, Scienceofficer, thols2 and 1 people reacted
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I would have thought he’d be fine.


 
Posted : 23/11/2024 5:43 pm
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Are you going from 26" wheel to 29 at the same time?


 
Posted : 24/11/2024 1:27 pm
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It'll slacken the angles by about 3 degrees so the seat tube will be much slacker and the saddle will be a lot further back. You might be able to move the saddle forward in the rails and/or get a seatpost with less offset to move the saddle forward, but the reach will also be reduced. You might need a longer stem flipped upside down or flat bars to get the bars low enough for climbing. It'll all just depend on how the bike is set up now. It might work fine, it might be horrible. If you already have the fork, just try it and see how it works.


 
Posted : 24/11/2024 1:46 pm
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Also, you might be able to reduce the travel on the Suntour fork to lower the front end if you need to.


 
Posted : 24/11/2024 1:50 pm
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thanks all

in reply to questions original bike was 27.5 and we'd keep the 27.5 wheels on.

he's a bit tall for the bike and it has quite low stack, so I think bar height will be fine...but yeah as above seat angle will be super slack and BB will be a bit high

might give it a pop...lowering fork isn't a bad shout...(it's a coil, tempting to just chop a bit off! I know it's probably not that simple!)


 
Posted : 24/11/2024 2:45 pm

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