You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
Just bought a 160mm airshaft for my Poke Ultimates (currently 140mm). Running a Deluxe Ultimate out back (standard 120mm).
I know some guys at Transition ran theirs with 160mm (mine is the last generation carbon version). The question is, do I need to run an angleset too? This would presumably restore the seat tube angle?
The Pikes have a RC2.1 damper in them which I think sits down into its travel perhaps a little more than other forks, so I guess in comparable terms 160mm will be like 150mm?
I just want to set the bike up better for smashing round some trail centres.
Cheers
Well I've got my MK1 115mm smuggler set up with 160 pikes. Prefer it to 140. No Angleset. Slack enough already!
I had a smuggler 2018 sbg with 150mm 36s. I contacted transition about it and they said they wouldnt go anymore than 150mm. Not sure if that advice has changed, but 120mm rear 160mm front seems a little unbalanced . A2c will be longer, BB too low, seat angle too slack.
My mate is running his alloy Smuggler at 140mm with a -2 deg angleset, that's probably the better way to go to keep the balance.
If you want to put a 160mm fork on a Smuggler, you have the wrong bike really. I wouldn't want to overfork it longer than 150mm, or even 140mm really, why not just stick an angleset in if you want it slacker? Will keep the BB height and seat angle reasonable.
150mm Pike Ultimate on mine (B1 airshaft, so sits at 145mm), -1.5degree angle set.
I wouldn't go any higher on travel IMO, front end feels a bit tall and going any slacker on angleset needs a longer back end to keep the balance.
I had the mk1 with a 140mm fork and an angleset. It rode very well but the biggest improvement was when I fitted a Cane Creek DBair shock and offset bushings as well.
My feeling is your plan might be counter productive, as the Pike will feel more confident and sturdy at 140mm than 160mm (it gets a little bit flexy at that length IME). And 20mm differential in travel works quite well and won't upset the BB height so much.
140/120 travel will be spot-on for most trail centres, won't it? Especially if you've slacked the bike right out.