Alan McClure said...

Alright, my bike currently has a 70mm head tube angle with 63 mm travel on
the fork. I mentioned in another thread that I was thinking about getting a
new fork like this one:

http://makeashorterlink.com/?J2BC12E05

or another 80mm travel fork (any suggestions for a nice price--marzocchi
maybe). Anyway, someone mentioned that most people find 71 degrees to be
about right for the head tube angle. Of course, mine is already off that
mark by 1 degree. Does anyone know how much the above fork would throw off
the angle even more? Is there any way at all to counteract that effect
without having a frame builder replace the head tube. If not, then does
anyone have any other suggestions?

Thanks again,

Alan McClure

I just went from 80mm travel to 125mm travel when I installed my Fox
Vanilla fork and I love the geometry change. One reason I bought the Fox
was that it converts between 80, 100, and 125mm travel. I figured that I
would have to knock it down to 80 to get good handling, but now I see no
reason to bother with it. When I was having problems with my stock 80mm
fork, I talked with the guy who designed the bike and he said that they
run them at 105mm all the time and they feel great. This conversation
came up when I arranged to trade up my defective 80mm fork for a Duke SL
U-Turn which has a travel range of 63-105mm. My experience agrees with
his. I do have the sag set to the maximum recommended, and I may find
out that there may be times when less travel would be better, like on
challenging uphills, but there are advantages and disadvantages to
everything. It's all a matter of taste, and the differences can be
subtle. I don't think you should lose any sleep over the difference
between a 63 and 80mm fork.