Out going fork was 650 @42mm. Replacement offers the choice of 37 or 46.
I'm hoping that I'll not notice, or soon adapt to whatever I end up with but it's pretty much an equal jump in either direction.
In another thread I'd read, someone said, no one ever wanted a mountain bike to steer faster. Is that a fair comment do with think? Should I just go 37 and suck it up?
66.6 degree head angle. 160mm travel from end.
37 definitely.
I had a 46 on a 160mm 27.5 fork, and it felt awful. Twitchy and tucky.
The 37 will feel slower to steer, but it'll centre faster, and feel more stable.
37 definitely.
I had a 46 on a 160mm 27.5 fork, and it felt awful. Twitchy and tucky.
The 37 will feel slower to steer, but it'll centre faster, and feel more stable. It'll feel a bit like going to a 66 degree head angle from your 66.6.
Having recently switched from 44mm offset back to 51mm offset (29er) I can confirm that this whole talk is greatly overblown
what will be the effect on an XC bike if I go from a 100mm fork in 51mm to a 46mm?
Will I notice?
After getting a new frame that was 'designed around the new shorter offset trend' I bleeted on here and worried about fitting my 51mm offset fork.
Bike now built with the old forks. Meh, it's fine, doubt I could tell the difference if I went shorter.
Just bought a frame designed around shorter offset 29er forks, no intention at all to change my 51mm offset forks
what will be the effect on an XC bike if I go from a 100mm fork in 51mm to a 46mm?
Will I notice?
I had that issue back in the early days of 29ers with some Marzocchi forks which were the only "short" offset ones available as they basicly stretched a 26" fork rather than scaleing it in both directions like other manufacturers.
It did make it more stable, kinda like plugging a 120mm fork into a 100mm frame, but without raising the BB.
I went from 51 to 46mm on a 29er with 66 deg head angle. Effect was obvious and pronounced (in a good way).
Effects of offset changes are more obvious with slacker head angles and higher speeds or tight corners.
Depends on the head angle surely?
Offset like others found is all pretty much bs!
I have 51 on my new frame where it "should lol" have 42mm
even some racers wouldn't tell diff and let's face it I very much doubt you are a racer.
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The "bike designed around X offset" thing is first class marketing hyperbole. Yes, it has a small effect on the trail value, but not enough to make a bike only compatible with X offset.
Like others mentioned, not only several bike designers treat it as a matter of secondary importance, but you also hear from pro riders on how they don't notice it after 5min
66.6 head angle isn't slack, short offsets are designed for long low slack.
Short offsets aren't designed for long low slack, they're for further increasing a trait also augmented by slacker HAs, which is trail, which increases steering stability
Zezasker has gotit nailed on head for me!
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Get the shorter offset I reckon. It feels more stable, holds a straight line better, less twitchy, possibly a tiny bit more grip. Most noticeably I find I'm making less steering adjustments mid corner.
Longer offsets, along with steeper head angles, were intended to speed up steering to make 29ers feel like 26ers a few years ago. Back then longer stems were more common which sort of kept a lid on things getting to twitchy.
It’s one of those questions that will never be answered. One persons answer will not be yours! Similarly to a ‘what helmet shall I buy’. Some people will tell you they can absolutely feel it but can they only feel it because they Know it has a different offset and they’re just looking for something. I’ve recently had to fit a back up shock with a M/M time rather than the broken L/L tune and I reckoned I could feel it but if an elf had done it over night I’m not so sure! Then you’ll have the varying levels of skill of the rider and then the varying places That person rides all of which will affect whether they can tell the difference or not! I’ve stuck with what the manufacturer recommend and if I were to swap to fox I’d be going for the closest offset to that again simply because I think the designer knows better than me because they get paid for it!
Some people will tell you they can absolutely feel it
If I change a fork with different offset on a bike I am very used to riding I can absolutely feel the change in steering and I think most people could. You adjust to the change within minutes and forget about it after that but it is still different and if you were bothered about such small differences then it would make sense to get the offset you most like the feel of.
Hmmm contradiction in terms
Last year we had 51/42 and no one was struggling to go round corners. This year the bike industry through its ****erteering says we need different offset, yet they offer no explanation, ****erteering at its finest.
Would rather they spend time getting shock tunes right, as that makes more of a difference!!! But that takes time and money, which is something that few companies are willing to do.
The other part of my thinking is I've not ridden this particular bike since before lockdown. I'll probably not remember what it feels like to ride with any sort of fork.
Hmmm contradiction in terms
Not at all. I am saying that the difference is small and when used to either they are both fine but there is a difference and if that very small difference matters to you then pick the offset you like the best. I am personally not bothered and would ride what a bike came with but if I had the choice of two different offsets I would choose what I prefer rather than just spin a coin.
The question is, how do you know what you prefer without riding them back to back, or taking a punt on expensive forks?
If your usual moan about bikes is that they’re too nervy then pick shorter offset. Whilst if you’re always complaining that modern bikes are too slow steering then pick longer offset.
What if you're not complaining but want to avoid taking yourself into territory which then makes you complain?
I had the first Fisher 29er, steered like a lorry, which started Gary on the offsets. I think it had 37.
I also had a Zinn, and a Cannondale with the integrated suspension front fork. They were stable downhill but yawed going up. As I spend far more time going up than down I opted for 51. If I were concerned with downhill optimisation I'd get 44. I've found 51/65 50mm stem stable enough down loose track rubble. 51/69 on my old Inbred 29er was mildly terrifying on the same surface. Whether I could tell the difference between 51 and 44 I have no idea. Lockdown robbed of me of doing any testing.
