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Those that have experimented with different fork travel lengths, what fixed travel do you feel the frame sits best at for riding trails with moderate jumps and drops, black runs, some DH.
Had mine at 150 mm (change of fork looming), wanders a bit on the steepest seated climbs, getting me on to the nose and off the seat earlier than other bikes I've ridden, which obviously isn't the end of the world, but begs the question of whether a slight decrease in travel might be the way to go.
I have adjustable travel 110/150 so best of both worlds would be to do the same. I would prefer more travel on the downs than climbing ability, if its steep I am walking anyway 😳 Folk seem to like 140 as a single travel option.
@ jambalaya yeah cheers, more travel on the downs is more important to me than the slight loss of climbing ability. 140 is looking like the best all-rounder for fixed and seems to be what the frame was optimised for, despite it being capable of housing a 160mm fork, seems that way anyway.
I've noticed the bottom bracket is quite high @ 150mm (jacked up) compared to other bikes in my stable.
I have a dual position Rev, 130/150. It now spends most of the time at 130 which is good for nearly everything I ride. I also have a Fox 34 Talas 140/160 which I have run on the BFe, again I prefer it at the shorter setting. At the longer setting on each fork the bike just doesn't reel quite "right".
I will be buying a Fox 36 for it later in the summer and that will be spaced down to a fixed length of 140mm.
I have some old school Pikes with 95-140mm u-turn. I normally leave them at 140mm for most of my riding including climbs unless they are massive. However when using it for jumps or any sort of pump/bmx track I wind them down to 95mm. For fixed travel I would say 140mm is the sweet spot but on a couple of occasions I have accidentally left them at 95 and carried on riding normally and it still felt pretty good. I wouldnt want to take it down a rocky DH track at 95mm tho.
I found 120 to feel best all roun, tried everything upto 160 which was not good!
150 Pikes on mine. Love the forks, makes descents and hooning about worth the slight extra effort climbing worthwhile. As above, only downside I think that it does make the bottom bracket slightly high.
The new 650b version appears to have a slacker head angle and bottom bracket which looks great.
Smallest size frame you can handle and fit a nice stiff 100mm fork.
Geometry then gives a nice low BB. nice H/A for a 40-50mm stem and at least a 2" riser bar.
Bfe's feel ok up to 120mm. shit after that!
Bit heavy though.. pity they don't come in Aluminium with slightly shorter chainstays.
have a fox talas 110-130-150 / find it behaves best at 130mm.
At 150mm if the bike is not pointed down it becomes a bit of pain.
Had some 130/160 Slants on mine which were great. At 160 found the front end could wonder out a bit on say fast but still tightish corners which lead to a few misjudgements but nothing serious. However at 160 also gave a nice cushioned ride on straight rocky stuff - the 130 option just didn't feel quite right taking into account the reduced travel. What about single position slants set internally at 140?
Started at 130 on mine but it felt a little limited on the rough stuff.
Switched to 160 and it became more than a little vague on the ups.
Settled on 140 revs and it seems happy on pretty much everything.
On a medium frame, btw.
140mm Slant it is then.
@mtbel it's the lightest bike I've ever had 😆 mind you my previous bikes have been pretty brutal things! It's not XC race bike light for sure, but for a steel frame it's strength to weight ratio seems bob on and it's not overly heavy compared to other steel frames I've put my hands on, so no complaints on that front from me 🙂
I'm not convinced the geometry is right for the bigger forks though.
Settled at 130 on mine (XS).
[i]I've noticed the bottom bracket is quite high @ 150mm [/i]
How high? (comparison purposes, my shan is 330mm)
thanks
Smallest size frame you can handle and fit a nice stiff 100mm fork.
Geometry then gives a nice low BB. nice H/A for a 40-50mm stem and at least a 2" riser bar.
Bfe's feel ok up to 120mm. shit after that!
"^This"
I settled on 115mm on mine; I'd say 10mm either side of this would be alrite. 60mm stem and 50mm rise bars, did try a 70mm stem and it wasn't as good.
Unless you're doing really rough downhill, keep the forks short. Mine was good fun a hamsterley downhill track with this setup, although that's not really rough or fast (or not when I ride it anyway!)
Good on smooth jumpy stuff (for an xc bike) with the above setup aswell. Make or Break at inners; Glentress freeride park and red routes; that sort of stuff.
I had pikes wound down to 120 on my medium, couldn't make it stick any other way.