Hi all

I have a 2009 Wolfridge with 140mm pikes, the 2010 version is now running Lyrics with 160mm travel, and lots of people seem to have upgraded the 2009 models to 160mm travel.

The Lyric axle to crown is 545mm, and the new 2011 Fox 36 Talas 180mm travel is only 565mm axle to crown.

Bearing in mind I want to slacken the bike even further at the front for the downs, and can use the 140mm setting for climbs(will be shorter than the current Pike at 140mm), and I accept if I rip the headtube off eventually, can you see any big issue with running the Fox 36? Will the 180mm front / 140mm rear travel be too mis-matched?

Many thanks

nowthen

It will slacken off the angles but also raise the bottom bracket and increase the wheelbase, bike may handle well at speed but will be pretty nasty when travelling a bit slower. 160mm seems more than enough, any reason you need 180mm forks apart from wanting a slacker head angle?

mainly because they look so damn cool!

Not on a Marin they won't….

rofl!

140mm at the back and 180mm at the front? Mate, seriously that would be a ridiculous combination, no offence meant, but it would be a daft thing to do and it would ruin the bike; it wouldn't even make it feel better downhill because you're going to raise the BB by quite a bit.

Remember that most manufacturers will adjust their bikes from year to year to accomodate longer travel forks so while the amount of rear wheel travel may not have changed from 09 to 10, Marin may well have adjusted the geometry to accomodate a longer fork. If that is the case, then you're going to really mess up your bike by going from a 520mm A2C Pike to a 565mm A2C Fox36.

But apart from that, the massive imbalance in travel would not gain you anything in terms of performance; the back would be overwhelmed by what the front is able to deal with.

Maybe adding a 160mm fork will get you where you want to be; it would reduce the HA by about 1 degree, which isn't going to really change very much to be honest but it might give you more confidence.

the back would be overwhelmed by what the front is able to deal with.

how on earth do hardtails cope then…

+1 how on earth do hardtails cope then…

Hmm, 36's on my 456 – massive 'imbalance'

I run Lyriks on my Wolf Ridge. It's already pretty slack at 545mm ATC. From memory I figured it to be 65.5/66 degrees or thereabouts. In my opinion (and Marin's I suppose) this is at the slack end of what the bike will work with.

Much past that and you're into downhill bike head angles on a trail bike. This is not a good thing and as others have said, it'll bump up your bottom bracket height which will affect your cornering, descending or otherwise.

I have a 36 Talas as a replacement on a Talas Attack Trail and, well, I reckon its fine. Wind them down to climb, let them out to descend… to be fair, dont know if they are 180… may be more like 160 ….

HTH

"geetee1972 – Member

140mm at the back and 180mm at the front? Mate, seriously that would be a ridiculous combination, no offence meant, but it would be a daft thing to do and it would ruin the bike; it wouldn't even make it feel better downhill because you're going to raise the BB by quite a bit.

But apart from that, the massive imbalance in travel would not gain you anything in terms of performance; the back would be overwhelmed by what the front is able to deal with."

Someone had better tell Cotic! The Hemlock is useless!

Seriously, the front and back suspension does a different job, hardtails show this and bikes like the Hemlock and I think the ST4, and no doubt others that I've never heard of, prove it works in FS too. Lots of people run Lyriks on Pitches and Wolf Ridges and are not killed.

Still, I'm not sure about this one, isn't the Wolf Ridge designed for up to 160mm?

Why not get the Float and limit travel with spacers?

If you talk to some well respected hardtail frame builders, such as Curtis for example, they will tell you it's pointless having more than 4" of travel on a hardtail because the changes in geometry from static to fully compressed are so extreme that the bike becomes difficult to handle.

I'm not saying I neccessarily agree with that as I ride my Soul at 140mm, but it does highlight the issue of there being a big difference between the front and the back.

And yes they are doing different things, but I still don't reckon that a 180mm front paired with a 140mm back is even remotely beneficial.

"geetee1972 – Member

If you talk to some well respected hardtail frame builders, such as Curtis for example, they will tell you it's pointless having more than 4" of travel on a hardtail because the changes in geometry from static to fully compressed are so extreme that the bike becomes difficult to handle. "

But you know from personal experience that this is total, total cobblers 😉