I’ve just acquired a 160mm travel fork which I probably intend to reduce for use on my good old 456SS, but veering towards the long end of the travel range has just crossed my mind…
Will it become the unholy Barge imagine? or is there some merit to having it in silly travel mode?
The SS is already slack enough, I have a Lyrik on mine but run it at 130. On the few occasions I’ve tried it with the forks fully open it just feels like a bag of spanners – BB too high and any slight incline has you popping the front up way too easily
I’m more just wondering what others general experiences of a 456/~150mm fork combo were, hoping people will push me one way or another.
The currently fitted fork is 110mm which is OK, I was more likely to go up to 120 – 130ish, but then having just about any travel / A-C figure available as an option ha me thinking.
The fork can be reduced no problem, I shall be breaking out the spanners to do it this weekend probably, if I decide on a travel setting…
160mm is 6.3″ – so technically you’d be over the six inches.
Yes, thanks I shall be reducing their travel, I have yet to decide what to…
This is how it looks at present:
I’ve been pretty much OK with that old pair of QR DJ3s set at 110mm for a quite while now, but they are a bit firm for the descents, getting on quite a bit, and I fancied trying to find a plusher 20mm axled fork…
So I’ve just acquired some “Fixer-uper” OEM AM4s with a 20mm axle (I think they probably came off of a Commencal), pretty much the same fork as the DJs, a basic open bath 32mm stantion fork but with more travel, and a piece of piss to space down…
Cheap frame, Cheap forks that’s just the way I roll…
The 456SS specifically was recommended for a shorter fork, because of the extra slackness – would probably be insanely slack at the upper end of fork travel in a way that the regular 456 ouldn’t
honourablegeorge – Member
There’s more than 10mm between a 32 stanchioned 150mm fork and a 36 at 160 too.
OK, but I’m replacing a 32mm Marzocchi fork with another, slightly newer 32mm Marzocchi fork which I will be adjusting the travel / A-C on as required… so that’s not likely to be a problem I’ll face…
Here’s mine I built up to do last years Sam houghton challenge. I thought it rode really well. Descending was great fun, and to be honest the climbs weren’t as bad as I thought they’d be.
I did sometimes, tbh I didn’t like it, the extra slack was nice but the extra BB height and loss of control/extra suspension movement was less nice. And it’s hard to make use of all that travel to be frank! 140mm worked well. (I eventually slacked mine off with a works headset, best of both worlds IMO)
Just taken 120mm Rebas off my Ti456 and replaced with RC41 150mm, as I felt it was a bit under forked with the Rebas. 150 might be a bit too far though, hard to tell till the water subsides a bit.
I made the mistake of putting a 160 Van R on my steel 456, and it was horrible. Hard to pedal well, and on any climb hard to stop the front wandering and lifting. I’ve also run it with a Fox 100 RLT, and couldn’t get on with either, found the ride hard and unforgiving. Its now has a 130mm coil Tora on it and it’s much more pleasurable to ride…..
The 36 Talas on my SS go up to 150mm but the novelty wore off after one ride at that height. The bike really doesn’t need that much travel to bomb down hills so i keep them low (110) most of the time but go up to 130 on occasions. I’d go with 120 on a non adjustable fork.
I run some 2009 rev dual air u turns on my 456. Pretty much leave them in 140mm travel all the time unless it’s a long uphill climb then I lock them out or if it’s a technical climb I wind them all the way down too. When the revs are in for service I run a set of marazochi 55Rs. A bit weighty and no lockout but equally as much fun on the descents.