I’m thinking of sticking one of these on a Canyon Nerve AM
http://www.workscomponents.co.uk/new—10-degree-zs44–ec52—tapered-steerer-tube-headset—-canyon-fitment-260-p.asp

…which would slacken the head angle from 69 down to 67.5 degrees. But wouldn’t that be outside of what the manufacturer designed the bike for? (unless the nerve is allowed to take a longer fork – but I have never seen any figure relating to a max fork length for the frame).

So is it a good idea and how is it not going to break my head tube with the extra stress?

Also has anyone ever successfully managed to contact Works components, because I haven’t(!)

fork length is a factor of lever length.

your not changing the lever length just the angle surely.

Good point, hadn’t thought of that. Presumably a slacker lever is likely to take some bigger hits though? As the vertical force on landing a drop will have a greater component in in the levering direction, so to speak, and a lesser component in the compress-the-fork direction? I suppose if this was really a problem people wouldn’t use 63 degree bikes for freeride mind!

By slackening the bike you’re effectively reducing the length of the fork, for most concerns. The only consideration is, if it handles better you might end up riding faster and harder 😉

What breaks frames isn’t usually drops, it’s riding into things- you can hit a tree at 30mph but you’re not that likely to land to flat at 30mph.

your landing your drops wrong if your slamming the front end down at that angle.

drops to flat are for sillys

if it handles better you might end up riding faster and harder

That is the point I suppose 😀

Good products but can have crappy response times to e-mail. I find if if i resend it gets answered pretty much straight away. Busy small business i suppose..

I wouldnt worry about headtube strength – on-one rebranded these as their own and fsa versions come standard on plenty of giant bikes so they seem pretty much accepted by the bike industry – if your bike did break with one fitted i expect warranty would still be void though.

Mega coincidence they just replied this moment from a month back 🙂

Mega coincidence they just replied this moment from a month back

hah – i will add that one to my list of getting an e-mail reply – make a forum thread…

More worried about my bowels being voided than my warranty fwiw 😆

IIRC Cy mentioned in one of his lectures a criticism of the CEN tests which involve a test pulling the forks off the bike (kinda simulating a flat landing). The force is huge, 10’s of times gravity, and cycled thousands of times, hence his conclusion that CEN isn’t realistic.

Warrenty void, probably if you tell them (maybe ask them first if that bothers you), if your headtube falls off and you survive, just remember to knock it out before sending the frame back.

Works are a little company that have accidentally made 2 brilliant components that are just about impossible to keep in stock… It used to be easy to speak to them, now they’re busy busy.

If you like, you can buy a Cane Creek Angleset, it’ll cost 3 times as much and work less well but they’ll answer your emails 😉

Slight change of subject but as regular singletrack forum user who has just imported a thick thin chainring from the states, why have I never heard of Works Components when they do one for £35. Just a tad annoying when I had to wait 3 weeks for the one to come from the states.

http://www.workscomponents.co.uk/works-components-104bcd-thick–thin-chainring-alternating-thickness-extended-tooth-design-270-p.asp

I wasn’t being sarcastic when I said mega coincidence!

Got an official reply to the query about safety as well. Posted here for all to see.

Any extra stress the frame would recieve would be due to the slight increase in stack height (as if fitting a larger fork) and not reduction in head angle but this is only by a very small amount – imagine running 5mm less sag on your fork and this would be the equivalent to the extra height.

In over 5 years of retail, including making some pretty wacky 3.5 degree options for the Giant world DH team and Dirt Norco DH we have not had a single report of a head tube failure linked to one of our headsets and we have had our headsets in some bikes that have done over 3 seasons of full DH racing.