Lowering travel on modern fork (asking for a friend)

[ishaw]

Hi mate @ishaw , is there a specific travel on fork that would be best to buy and then shorten

Wouldn't want to say for certain, but 120mm or 100mm forks (the latter probably a better candidate). Some forks have markings on the forks designating travel, so keep an eye out for them. Just because it doesn't say 80mm on it does not mean it can't be done, some forks (older) don't have any markings at all.

 

[Lhatch4]

Some forks are designed to have travel adjusted, I doubt the manitou coil fork you used was designed for such things.

No it wasn't made for it. I had to get creative. It worked fine in the end. The poster said he doesn't have the fork yet. I'm just wondering why someone wouldn't buy the right fork to begin with.

 

[Beeewu]

No it wasn't made for it. I had to get creative. It worked fine in the end. The poster said he doesn't have the fork yet. I'm just wondering why someone wouldn't buy the right fork to begin with.

I’ve just had my eye on a few modern newer forks, which no doubt would work way better and weigh less than some of the older forks .plus lockout/remote features..the only problem was too much travel…until now

 

[Beeewu]

Wouldn't want to say for certain, but 120mm or 100mm forks (the latter probably a better candidate). Some forks have markings on the forks designating travel, so keep an eye out for them. Just because it doesn't say 80mm on it does not mean it can't be done, some forks (older) don't have any markings at all.

Thanks mate

 

[Lhatch4]

beeewu what bike it this going on? Pictures?

 

[Beeewu]

beeewu what bike it this going on? Pictures?

1995 team Marin..rigid at the moment.

 

[Lhatch4]

A Rockshox SID would work fine on that. Parts to service it are still available and it would have all of the benefits that you mentioned. I believe lockout was available on some of the early 2000's versions.

 

[Beeewu]

 

[ishaw]

No it wasn't made for it. I had to get creative. It worked fine in the end. The poster said he doesn't have the fork yet. I'm just wondering why someone wouldn't buy the right fork to begin with.

Too much travel in a modern fork for retro frames.

 

[ishaw]

I've been creating 32mm rock shox Sid's and rebas with 80mm travel for builds. These tend to have been available up to around 2012, possibly later and until the charger damper came along, havent changed much so parts are still around and service centres will still touch them.

For older frames with v braking requirements, it is more of a challenge as finding forks with rim brake lowers isn't as easy, but knowing that recon, Reba and Sid lowers are pretty much the same and can be interchanged can be useful knowledge.

The pre-2007 (28mm) Sid's are harder to get parts for and to find someone that will service them, not impossible though. I don't know much about lowering these though, suspect they need damper changes.