Howdo,

Ive been a cyclist for 20 odd years and always bought MTB’s off the peg. Im a road cyclist more than anything else tbh.

Anyway, after searching on here, I have managed to source a nice frame that should build into a good bike for the foreseeable. Ive been used to short travel forks, like 80mm, XC type bikes so this frame, Voodoo D-jab apparently takes a 140mm fork.

I am going to source the relevant groupset bits from Germany I think. I have the finishing kit save for a seatpin, so the reason for the post is to ask about the wheelset, where to buy? the fork especially.

Being honest I am a novice builder, the disc brakes frighten me!

Re the forks I dont really know what to put on it do I need 140mm can it be adjusted? What is meant by the axle diameters when looking at forks? I thought they were all the same!

Any advice you might impart would be genuinely appreciated.

Cheers.

Hi theres a good review of the ti- d-jab here and it covers a few differences between long & short travel forks on hardtails.

http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/category/bikes/mountain/product/review-voodoo-d-jab-08–30986

When it comes to buying forks, there are now quite a few variants to consider.
As you mentioned there are various axle designs. You will need to order a wheel with hub to suit the fork axle. Most long travel forks are using a 15mm(fox) or 20mm(rockshox) through axle.
Standard 9mm dropouts can still be found but are not as stiff in use as a through axle.

Then there is steerer tube spec. The bit that comes up through the frame to meet your handle bars! There is a few versions of size now. The old standard was 11/8″ And i expect that is what your frame will take, but do check. There are also some 1.5″ steerer forks available but these seem to be loosing appeal and wont fit 11/8″ frames. The newest spec is tappered steerer tube. Its 1.5 at the bottom and 11/8″ at the top!

Find a fork that you think suits yor riding and fits your frame….
Then be sure to get the correct headset to fit frame & fork…

Now on the left lower leg wll be a brake mount…you need to get a brake calliper to fit the mount. Most commom now is post mount but check if your buying a used fork that your brake will fit. The brakes can usually be swapped between mounts with various adaptors but that sometimes means a different rotor size!

Fork travel length will effect the geometry of the bike and the bottom bracket height. if your used to a short travel more XC type hardtail you may feel it rides fine with a 130mm fork but if you go much shorter than the length of fork it was designed for it will compromise the intended geometry.

Sorry if that was all a bit long winded but there are a few pitfalls to be aware of with all the variations of sizes etc.

NCB’s said a lot of good things. An adjustable travel fork like a Rockshox U-Turn (Pike, Revelation, Reba, Sektor?) or a Fox Talas will give you the joy of long travel for the fun bits and shorter for getting back up the hill. I really like Rockshox Pikes, in their air sprung version you can drastically change their performance with a pump and they’re pretty tough. The 20mm Maxle is nice and stiff. Revelations are very similar but a smidge lighter. Fox forks are too expensive for the likes o’ me, I hear they’re good but the anodising is delicate.

As for wheels, Hope hubs are awesome. The axle adapters are interchangeable and they are completely rebuildable using CNC bodies, cartridge bearings etc etc.

I’ve bought a number of Pikes and Hope wheelsets from the classifieds/ebay/pinkbike (pinkbike is a bit dodgy!) to finish builds.

If it were me and I had the money to afford the following; I’d get an SLX 10 speed (double) groupset, a 2nd hand Pike and a 2nd hand set of Hope wheels.

You can get a used Pike for under £150, and a pair of Hoops for about the same (I got a pair for £120 from here once…with tyres!).

Put up a wanted ad, you’ll get responses quickly.

I appreciate the pointers chaps.

Id kind of decided on an SLX group, hadn’t thought about double tho’ in retrospect its probably a good shout.

I also looked at the Sektors, Id be willing to fork out for a new pair, see what I did there:) Its the axle diameters that are freaking me out a bit.

I like the look of these; but what is a 20mm maxle lite?

Fork

I like the idea of being able to adjust the travel for the conditions. Why the hell are forks tapered?!

I take on board all the points, especially wheels.

Thanks

Maxle is the axle in the fork. You need wheels with hubs that take 20mm axle. lots of hubs can be fitted with reducers like the hope pro2 Evo hubs. When you order wheels most places give you the option of which reducer set you need for your axle size.

The Sektor looks good, but is a 150mm fixed travel fork. I recommend staying inside the 140mm limit as it’s a hardtail, too much and the handling will be a bit off as well as climbing compromised. Unless you want it for mainly attacking things (drops etc) and descending.

As for tapering, it allegedly makes the front end stiffer (easier to control in the rough/at speed).

20mm axles will either be Maxle/Maxle lite (Rockshox), 15mm (Fox) or Marzocchi’s 20mm axle. The fork comes with the axle.

Is there a RockShox 140mm adjustable travel fork available new for around £300?

When I did my first build in dec, I got fox talas forks off here for £190 and hope wheels which were nearly new also from here for £140. Just make sure you collect the items in person or use PayPal, as there are some scammers on here.

Also go a Slx groupset for £180 from actionsports de
Some the german sites and merlin sometimes do some good deals on fox forks.

I’d recommend searching the classifieds for hope wheels I got dt Swiss 4.2s but crest, flow, arch etc are meant to be better, they should be around £140-£180.

I’d start out buying cheap and near-enough-what-I-want kit from classifieds, and get your bike on the dirt. Once you’ve lived with it for a while and got some miles in, your idea of what you want will sharpen up, you can upgrade kit and recycle the un-needed back to classifieds.

Experimenting and swapping bits about is part of the fun for me, and I find it sharpens my sense of what the bike is doing too.

Hactually, I’ll be selling a rear Hope Pro2 wheel on a WTB rim next week for £70 posted (QR adapters). You’d be able to get a 20mm Pro2 front wheel for about £50 from the classifieds

Email me if you’d like pics: shameer AT gmx.co.uk

Check my history, I’m not a scammer. But I am a compulsive parts swapper I’ve had to rebuild my Dialled PA 69er in 26″ form to sell it and have bought a pair to replace the previous wheels, hence the imminent sale.

Fork wise I stand by my Pike, Revelation or Sektor U-turn suggestion. These are however outside of budget new. Fixed length isn’t a bad thing, U-Turn takes about 13 winds of the adjuster to drop all the way so I only use it on fire roads when at trail centres not my local loops. Coil is meant to feel nicer (more progressive response) but has a weight penalty.

If you do use classifieds (which would give you a better spec for the cash) pay by paypal goods not gift and check their history before committing. You can see if they’ve bought sold etc.

The fork thing is frying my brain now. I am watching ebay and the classifieds but ok, say I want a new Sektor/140mm which one do I go for?

Merak – that Sektor from Merlin you linked to originally comes with spacers in the package to reduce to 140mm and 130. That would need a bit of diying or an lbs (the spacers fit inside) but they are great forks (at a great price).

Cheers couldashouldawoulda but after much surfing I feel sure I want something I can convert from 140mm to 100mm or thereabouts for ascents. I would like a lock out on the crown as well.

Im getting my head round this but the choice is confusing do I go for air or coil?

Cheers

Air’s more easily adjustable, coil’s meant to be smoother. I like air.

A scuffed stanchion on an air fork is a big problem, less so on coil.

Sounds like you want a Sektor Dual Position Coil, which have 30mm of travel adjust, so 140mm-110mm. The RL version has lockout, whereas the TK version doesn’t, but is a bit cheaper.