Forks for an HL 5 Spot « Singletrack Forum

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Forks for an HL 5 Spot

33 posts & 13 voices | Started 2 years ago by funkynick | Latest reply from khani

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funkynick - Member

Am having dilemmas over what fork to get... I currently have a set of Z1 FR's on there which I do like, but they are just soooo heavy, and have been having a look round for something else...

Now, I've seen the 32 Floats on the On-One site, and am sort of tempted, but I worry they might be a little on the flexy side, especially when compared to the Z1s! Plus would probably need to drop them from 140 as the a-c is a little long for the older 5 Spots...

Or, maybe go for some Revelations... but then what about QR or Maxle? Plus would still need to drop the travel...

Any other ides? And any decent deals seen out and about?

Posted 2 years ago #
coogan - Member

Had Pikes on mine. Suited it poifectly.

Posted 2 years ago #
Russell96 - Member

Like a lot of 5 Spot riders after 3 years of trying various forks, Floats, Marz AM's, Z1's, I found U-Turn Pike's set at about 130mm travel to be perfect. Well until I bust my frame last week

Posted 2 years ago #
funkynick - Member

Yeah.. kinda thinking about Pikes too, but they are all coil sprung now aren't they? I thought the Revs took over from the air sprung Pikes...

Posted 2 years ago #
pedalhead - Member

The 2009 Revs are essentially the same as the air 454 Pikes (I have both...and a HL Fivespot incidentally). Both are excellent on the 'Spot imho, though I do have the Push rockers which I think are more appropriate than the stock rockers for 140mm forks. As mentioned above, if you're running stock rockers then go for some u-turn Revs/Pikes and dial them down a bit.

Posted 2 years ago #
ditch_jockey - Member

Got a set of 130mm travel u-turn Revs for sale if interested. Ran them on my HL 5spot and really liked them

Posted 2 years ago #
Turnerfan1 - Member

Been running my Horst link Spot with some 2009 Fox Float 32 QR15 set at 130mm.Standard rockers.Been perfect!
Thanx Max

Posted 2 years ago #
heihei - Member

Get the longer rockers then run some 150mm forks - awesome!

Posted 2 years ago #
MartynS - Member

got coil pike 454's on mine set to 130ish and a romic rear shock. Had fox vanillas on it for years before. Got to be honest I preferred the feel of the Vanillas. The pikes are fairly heavy and I do notice it a bit, but they are good!

Posted 2 years ago #
Scienceofficer - Member

Literally 2 days ago I put a set of maxle reba 120's on my 2005 spot.

After 20 Quantock miles and nearly 4000ft of climbing, I can't honestly say it felt any different from the pikes I had on it last year, before I sold them.

If anything, it climbed a bit better and was a little more 'hop and pop'.

Posted 2 years ago #
funkynick - Member

I've kinda ruled out QR15 forks as I really don't want to be getting/building a new wheel, unless anyone knows where I can get a 15mm conversion kit for a Hope Bulb...

Hmmm, and the longer rockers would be nice, but am a little cash limited, so I have to be careful...

ditch jockey... I could be interested, are they the bolt through ones?

Posted 2 years ago #
funkynick - Member

Maxle Rebas? Oh dear... this really isn't helping make a decision!!

Posted 2 years ago #
ditch_jockey - Member

Hi Nick - they're the QR version with the bar mounted lockout. They predate the maxle option version.

Posted 2 years ago #
pedalhead - Member

My 2009 Rev Maxle u-turns will probably be up for sale soon. Personally I reckon Rebas would be a bit short on a fivespot, but they'd certainly make it a superb climber (it's pretty good anyway).

Posted 2 years ago #
Scienceofficer - Member

I was quite worried about it, but its turned out fine.

Theres only a couple of mm difference between the a-c of the Reba, and the original fox 125 that the HL spot was designed for.

Posted 2 years ago #
funkynick - Member

I'd love the 5.5 rockers, but I think my 5 Spot has the cable stop on the back of the seat tube which means that it can be hit by a tyre when running the longer rockers.

The Reba Maxle looks like it has an a-c of 493... so exactly 5mm less than the ideal 498 which I believe the original Fox 125 forks had... so yeah, I think a little lower than I preferable.

ditch_jockey... I'm really after some maxle ones if I can get them, so am gonna look into pedalheads offer, but thanks.

Posted 2 years ago #
Scienceofficer - Member

The 120mm Reba is 510mm based on my 'measuring rule and squint' technique.

I don't think I'm out by much either. Unfortunately I couldn't find a manufacturer quoted a-c for the 120's.

Posted 2 years ago #
toons - Member

I'd love the 5.5 rockers, but I think my 5 Spot has the cable stop on the back of the seat tube which means that it can be hit by a tyre when running the longer rockers.

Hack saw it off and go 1x9.

Posted 2 years ago #
midlifecrashes - Member

130mm Vanillas here, feels great to me, but I haven't had anything else on there to compare, RP23 out back, used to be a Romic coil, prefer the Fox.

Posted 2 years ago #
funkynick - Member

Scienceofficer.. I found a pdf on the SRAM website with the 2009 a-c heights on, and thats what gives the 493 figure, but that is +/-5mm. 510mm sounds high though...

toons.. I have a hard enough time getting up some hills with a 2x9 setup, I think a 1x9 would just about kill me!

Posted 2 years ago #
pedalhead - Member

I've got a brand new pair of 120mm Rebas here. Tape measure says 495mm from middle of maxle to crown.

Posted 2 years ago #
funkynick - Member

That sounds about right, it would be measured from the middle of the axle to the crown...

Posted 2 years ago #
pedalhead - Member

Yup dunno why I bothered adding the other measurement...I'll remove it.

Posted 2 years ago #
Scienceofficer - Member

Fair enough chaps. Any chance of a link to that pdf? It'd be handy for reference.

Posted 2 years ago #
funkynick - Member

It's here...

Posted 2 years ago #
Scienceofficer - Member

Thanks.

Posted 2 years ago #
johnners - Member

IMO you won't get better forks for a 5 Spot than Z1 FRs. How much weight do you think you can save, a pound at best? Pah!

Posted 2 years ago #
funkynick - Member

I reckon that I could save about 600g or so with a change in forks from the Z1's to something like the Maxle Revs... the Z1's do come in about 2.4kg or so!

Posted 2 years ago #
johnners - Member

I know what the Z1s weigh, I've got 2 pairs of the buggers! I really don't think they're that heavy for what they are, I've got some Pikes which weigh about the same but aren't anything like as plush, useful for the u-turn though.

Posted 2 years ago #
funkynick - Member

The thing is, I'd be a lot happier with the Z1's if I could actually change the springs for something softer, but 'zocchi in their wisdom decided they wouldn't make any different springs for that fork... the only other option I found was to remove the right hand spring, but I wasn't keen on how they felt after doing that...

Posted 2 years ago #
Scienceofficer - Member

Ever curious, I've revisited my 5spot and measured the Reba's in much better conditions, and I've come up with 498mm, so I guess I have a 'long' set.

This is what the head angle looks like with them on. Not bad IMO. The ground is level by the way. Sorry I don't have an angle finder.

Posted 2 years ago #
khani - Member

looks about right to me, one thing i have noticed on my frames is the 08 front triangle has much longer gussets for the seattube pivot to reinforce it for longer rockers, on the earlyer models the seattube pivot mounts are a lot shorter so older models are prone to cracking on the seatube pivot when fitted with longer rockers
old one 03

new one 08

Posted 2 years ago #
khani - Member

on the subject of front cable stops you can saw/file the old one off and fit a band on stop offset to the drive side to clear the rear tyre http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Clamp-Bike-Brake-Gear-Frame-Cable-Stops-34-9mm-/170463924859?cmd=ViewItem&pt=UK_sportsleisure_cycling_bikeparts_SR&hash=item27b071127b
like this

Posted 2 years ago #