My 160mm/155mm Enduro bike has a fairly conservative (by the latest trends) head angle of 65.8 degrees. I’m very tempted to try slackening it out with a combination of a 170mm fork airshaft and -1.0 degree Works EC44-ZS56 Angle headset. This should, according to the Bike Geo Calc, slacken the HA by 1.43 degrees to 64.37 and increase the wheelbase by 15mm, while only slackening the SA by 0.2 and changing the Reach, Stack and BB height by 2mm or less, which all sound pretty good to me. Big question is am I missing something? Will the steering develop a high level of flop? If so, can I mitigate this with a longer stem (currently 32mm)?
Any advice from those with experience of doing something similar would be much appreciated.
I should add, this bike is mainly used for alpine enduro style riding holidays, bike park duties and enduro racing (slowly).
Will the steering develop a high level of flop? If so, can I mitigate this with a longer stem (currently 32mm)?
Not likely. Friends dont let friends put longer than a 45mm stem on slack bikes
I would just use angle adjust headset.
I have a LLS bike (Starling with 35mm more reach than any other bike I've owned) and I couldn't get on with a 35mm stem. Settled on a 50mm and it felt much better, remember bar roll has a huge affect on overall reach so you have to take that into account...
The geometry makes it sound like a Carbine.....i thought it used a drop in bearing type headset, not removable cups. Am i wrong here?
Yeah it's a Pivot Mach 6, uses ZS44/56 headset as standard.
It'll be great I'm sure, done a few bikes and it's never been worse.
Just using offset bushings on my current main bike though, maybe give that a go first for £20?
Might have to shunt seat forward a bit to get virtual seat angle better.
Thanks for the replies.
I've just seen the new Ibis Mojo HD5 specs. It's a 6" travel DW link bike just like mine. The geo on it is almost identical to what I have planned, so I can't be far wrong.
Angle Headset ordered, 36 Forks go for 170mm Airshaft, Vorsprung Luftkappe and Fractive damper upgrade tomorrow.
