im running some 180 talas forks on my 2005 orange patriot which r fine in 180 mm but soon as i drop them to 140 for climbing or even just on the flat it seems a lot harder to pedal. iv moved the rear shock up and down for different angles and its still the same. any1 else had this problem?

Its all in your mind

My blur lt2 has the same problem… when I point it uphill it gets harder to pedal.

I found this with my ETA system on my MX comp’s a few year back… it’s the reason I dislike the idea of the newer 2 step RS forks & prefer the older infinite adjust U-turn. I tend to only use the first 10-20mm of adjustment on my Rebas and Rev’s, never the full option.
Seemingly I believe it may be due to the seat tube angle becoming too steep, whether this is true or not, I dunno.

was thinking its all in my mind! it does feel harder to pedal tho, shame really because its a much nicer position for climbing. thinking i should have gone for floats or vanillas now as the talas just doesn’t get used.

I noticed a similar feeling on my Nomad when dropping from 160 to 130 never tried 100, and on my 5 it feels the same when dropping to 130 from 150.

was thinking its all in my mind! it does feel harder to pedal tho, shame really because its a much nicer position for climbing. thinking i should have gone for floats or vanillas now as the talas just doesn’t get used.

I have 160mm forks on my SC Butcher, looked at the TALAS but went for 2012 Fox Van RC2 Kashimas, the bike pedals incredibly well up hill, so much better than my old Heckler with coil piles wound down to 90mm.
The Vans are a heavy fork, but I don’t notice one bit, easy to look after and seal kits are half the price of TALAS seal kits, they are a bomb proof fork and IMHO feel better than coil Lyriks.

With regards to the OP, a Patriot with 180mm forks wound down is never gonna pedal well!

its a 05 patriot 66 frame which i believe was capable of running 140 to 170 forks. when i first bought the frame i tried my 32s 150 mm on there and it rode really well up and down, obviously the 180 kashimas make it feel loads smoother coming down and it really does ride nice. my idea of lowering the front for climbing just doesn’t work well for me. seems like a 40mm drop is just too much!

I guess in the MTB world it is a trade off between a great climber & descender….. Yes a Patriot with 180 forks is gonna be pretty good coming down but a pig to climb.
That’s why I went for a 160mm bike, my Butcher climbs superb (low compression tune on my rear shock)’ probably not as good as a Patriot coming down but it won’t be far off.
I honestly think a 6 inch bike is all the bike you need for uk trails.

It happens to me too, i have 180 talas on a foes fxr 2010, as soon as i drop to 140 it gets harder to pedal, not all in my head, its the head angle and seat tube angle that makes the difference, i keep them in the 180 setting, they do work very well tho, but had i known this would happen i would of got the floats.