Got a 2008 Giant Trance 1 for a steal. It comes with a 100mm Fox 32 RL, but I fancy putting an adjustable fork on it.

If I could find one (and it wasn’t too expensive) I’d ideally go for the 2009 Reba Team U-Turn 90-120mm with a Maxle – but having checked, it doesn’t seem that Sram have released them yet.

So I’ve been looking at a 2008 Reba Team Air U-Turn 85-130mm, doesn’t come with a Maxle though and, having had one on my Pike, I’m a bit reluctant to go back to a normal 9mm skewer. Also hear the ’08 Reba is a bit flexy.

Also been looking at the 2009 Revelation 426 U-Turn 110-140mm with a Maxle. More pounds obviously and like the ’08 U-Turn it’s about a 1.5lbs heavier than the stock Fox.

The other question is though, I’m not sure if the Trance 2008 (4.2″) will handle 140mm worth of travel. I could buy it and run it up to 120/130, but feel that would kinda defeat the point of getting one.

Any thoughts, advice?

with a 140mm fork it’ll be a little slacker (around 1.5deg) and the BB will be slightly higher (1/2 – 3/4″ish) no big deal really, try it and if you don’t like it just run em at 100mm
I run a Pike at 95mm all the time on my hardtail, U-turn is nice as it helps with dialing in your preferred H/A, ride height etc. when you first set-up a bike but just because it has it doesn’t mean you have to faff about with it all the time. I even leave it at 95mm for DHing as I like how the bike handles better at that height (what it lacks in suspension it makes up for in handling IMO)

I run an old skool xc frame (designed for 80mm fork at a guess) with pikes 90-140 adjustable. You can feel the difference – at 140 mm its very stable and rather wheelietastic, at 90mm its a bit twitchy. So 140 for downhills, 100 for riding to and from the trails works fine for me.

It depends. What are you aiming to do with the bike in the future that requires it to have all that extra travel? If it’s just “I fancy a bit more travel”, then TBH 140mm is probably too much. personally (unless the bike was specifically designed for it), I’d go for an extra inch at most. Forks are expensive, it’d be a shame to spend all that money to find that you couldn’t use the extra travel because the bike felt out of balance, or it wandered all over the shop on climbs.

nick – how is it a shame to not use extra travel? do you think the 40mm of unused stanchion crys, feeling left out watching the 100mm next to it being caressed by the seals and stroked by the bushings?
Use what you need!
the chassis and damping performance is far more important more than amount of travel for your money.

GW, what a comedian. here all week?

“Reba Team Air U-Turn 85-130mm”

pre ’09 Reba U-turns were 85-115mm

I quite happily run 140mm forks on my 100mm sus frame, feels fine, yes its a bit slacker but you get used to it and with U-turn you have the options….

hell, if you can get away with 130mm on a hardtail with nowt but tyre out back then and extra 30-40mm on a susser really doesn’t make that much difference but it is true, quality of travel far out-weighs the quantity, I’ve ridden some horrible forks that hav made me scream out for a rigid….

just do it, see how it feels, worry about it later…or better yet, do it, see how it feels, then have a cup of tea and a piece of cake and dont worry about it at all

I’ve got an 08 Trance & it rides far better with 130mm fork on it than a 100mm one.

I’ve just built up a trance with air 66SL’s, taking your idea to the extreme. I’m running them at 120mm and the bike handles brilliantly. Also makes for a really stiff front end.

I had to borrow a Marzocchi fork last yr when I was in Spain as my Judys pished all their oil out one day. It was 130mm travel fork and made the front of my bike handle like absolute shite.
It was great on the descents, but on flat ground, the front of the bike felt really wandery and vague and even the slightest gradient had the front wheel popping up. Luckily it had a system where you twiddled a knob and pushed on the forks and they stayed compressed for the climbs – can’t remember what it’s called.

If you have U-Turn though, you can always leave it in a ‘sensible’ setting most of the time and then pop it open for descents and then twiddle it right down for climbs…..

i have a 2006 or 07 trance, adjustable fork, 90 for climbs, 110 for flat, 130 for downhill. 130 is a bit slacker alright so i wouldnt leave it at that on tight twisty stuff.

I’d start off by checking what the frame is warrantied for. Have the 09 Rev u-turn maxle-lites myself though and it’s a nice fork (bike originally spec’d with 120’s though so not as big a difference as you’re thinking about). I do wind them down to 100mm though for technical climbs as at 140mm the front end is very light.