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Gone are the days of Fox Talas and RS Travel Adjust etc...
Why?
Cos Enduro.
Earl - Member
Gone are the days of Fox Talas and RS Travel Adjust etc...Why?
Fox still make Talas. Rock Shox make Dual Position.
They are a bit pointless.
Whilst adjusting them mid ride isn't that useful unless you have a death-defying plummet to face up to and need all the slackness you can get, it is quite handy to be able to find the sweet spot for your frame and leave it there.
Especially if you also have an adjustable shock mount - then you can raise and lower the height of the whole bike and hence the CoG.
I have Talas (2006) and RS Sektors (2012), the two position RS are much more useful and Fox a bit of a waste of time frankly. TBH forks with changeable springs would suit me as well.
Dropper posts and better damping. Better damping improves climbing, droppers change things for descents. the extra travel was never needed and just messed with geometry didn't it?
As I (by choice) ride a bike that's teeny & can't take a front mech, I can do with all the help I can get for trundling up mountains - being able to wind the forks down for the climbs helps.
A bit.
It's also nice to have a little extra safety-net should I chose to ride down something steeper than the norm or ride off something more droppy.
Basically Rockshox made the only really good adjustable fork, uturn, but abandoned it because turning a dial a couple of times was too much like hard work.
TALAS still exists as does Rockshox dual position. Neither's a truly adjustable length fork though, they're just impaired climbing modes- with uturn you got a fork that genuinely worked properly at all settings.
The other thing is, they tend to have drawbacks. I've not used the latest TALAS but it used to be noticably worse than the equivalent float, especially the old 3-position. Dual position's only recently gained the ability to use air spacers (which IMO is pretty essential on the Pike). And there's frequently reliability and cost issues too.
U turns worked a treat.
I've got travel adjust Pikes, and apart from using the feature a few times when they were new I quickly determined "What's the point"? The bike rides great at full travel, so why faff around lowering the front, then forgetting to extend again and only remembering when you're halfway down a descent. So I just leave it in max travel. Wish I'd bought the Solo's now. They would have been slightly cheaper at the time and apparently the Solo's ride better too, so it seems you are making compromises in having the adjustability.
DT Swiss launch control did solve quite a few of the problems stated above.
Not really travel adjust but locked the forks down for climbing then released on the first big hit to go back to full travel.
I've got old U-turn Pikes on my Blue Pig, for just bimbling around or rides with the kids i have them set at 120mm, and then change them to 140mm for proper rides.
I also have dual position Lyriks on my Meta AM. I usually leave them at 160mm but if I know theres a long fire road climb or section of road I drop them to 120mm and it does seem to make a difference, could just be in my head though.
I don't think i'm someone who'd notice the difference between most forks out there though. Bouncy - good, too bouncy - more air.........
Although I always left my Talas and other adjustable forks in the long setting for the entire ride, it was useful to wind them down to get the bike into the back of the car. It's even harder now with longer travel forks that don't lock down.
Have got some 100-140 U-turn Pikes on the Ramones they make perfect sense
120 feels good most of the time but 100 is sweet for the climbs and 140 equally so for the descents. 140 is too slack everyhwere else it feels like a chopper. Only takes a few turns to go from one end to the other.
Would buy a new version without hesitation.
I've got Reba U-Turns on my Inbred. They hardly ever get adjusted as the frame suits the long setting fine - I think it's 85-110mm adjustable.
The Fox 140 on my FSR is 3-position TALAS and I do occasionally use it on steep climbs to stop the front wandering; especially if it's a bit loose & gravelly; the Clif Climb at this years Twentyfour12 being a prime example. Much easier to keep the bike on line & the front end down with the fork dropped.
As someone said above - it also helps get the bike in the car when they are dropped...!
Latest TALAS (TALAS 5) is a completely different beast to old TALAS
Works hydraulically instead of pneumatically (its actually very clever)
It has the same number of dynamic seals as a float and so is just as plush....I cant distinguish a difference in performance.
You can also easily adjust both long and short travel settings with spacers...and is cartridge based so the whole thing drops in and out of the fork easily - can you tell I think its a very nice thing 😀
Whether its necessary or not is a different question and depends on the bike I think.
I think they are still relevant for hard tails....especially my Cotic Soda which has always had a tendency to wheelie on the steeps.
My old PACE RC40s were proper travel adjust and had the launch control system too. They were coil forks though and as I recall you just wound the spring down to whatever length you wanted to ride at so you could adjust it to any length.
I guess DT didn't see the point in coil forks and so its no longer an option.
Having said that, like most above, it's perhaps a novelty at first but soon it becomes a chore so is left in the optimum position.