Hi there,

I consider using a 26er/430mm On One Carbon fork instead of the regular 29er/470mm On One Carbon fork on my Inbred 29er (16″ frame). As both forks are suspension-corrected I suppose the 26er would have enough clearance for the 29er wheels/tyres.

Geometry-wise I would expect up to 1.5° steeper angles (72,5 instead of 71 head angle) and a 10mm lower BB from the 40mm shorter forks. Effectively the top tube might be a little longer and the center of gravity slightly further towards the front.

Any thoughts or experiences concerning the effects on the handling, especially the steering?
Ruined? No difference noticeable? Too twitchy? Or just even more agile in a good way?

Many thanks and best regards
Hendrik

P.S.: In case you wonder – I’m quite happy with the neutral and fairly agile handling etc. but would like to make it even more agile to cope even better with the really twisty single track stuff. I’m a little worried about the effect on the steering.

P.S.:

http://bikegeo.muha.cc/ says 40mm shorter fork makes:
-> 2° steeper angles
-> 12mm shorter wheelbase
-> 6mm shorter effective to tube
-> but 20mm longer reach
-> 16mm less BB height

thus I could see me fitting a 20mm shorter stem and have agility (or twitchiness) galore!

Apart from the mighty steep angles it sounds not so bad to me!

Hendrik

Ok on road so long as you don’t pedal around corners or ride fixed.
May kill you.

Hi Brant,

wow, Feedback from the designer himself! Thanks!

Sounds like a bad idea then, right? At least for off-road cross-country single track fun.

As mentioned I love the balance and handling. Grip is phenomenal, too and if it breaks tractions, the backend steps out of line first, thereby tightening the line and allowing for easily controlled mini-drifts. Fun!

The only thing is that I have to manhandle the front end through tighter turns.
What would you recommend in order to improve on this?

– shorter stem?
– different bars?
– 26er Inbred?

See I’m 6ft and the frame is 16″ with Salsa low risers and a 100mm -10° stem.
A shorter stem might put me too far behind the BB for efficient pedaling.

Any ideas very welcome!

Cheers!

Hendrik

Bike sounds a bit small for you. Bigger frame and shorter stem is what you need.

Biggest problem is low BB height. Major nuisance in technical stuff.

I used a very short fork in a Scandal (with a fat tyre) and it handled beautifully apart from the low BB. It will feel different though and probably best to try it out carefully.

Rode mine with a 440 for a month or two til I got hold of a longer one Worked fine. Handling a bit sharp but otherwise OK. Was better with 460 fork though.

Many thanks to all!
Will try shorter fork and shorter stem depending on how easy I can get hold of them.

If it all doesn’t work out in the right way there might be a tikka-orange Inbred 29er 16″ up for swap for an 18″ one. Or a 26er Inbred…

🙂

Good night!

Hendrik

Update:
Got hold of a 60mm stem today (instead of my former 100mm):
steering improved, less hassle in tight turns, overall agility improved!
So that’s going in the right direction.

Only unwanted side effect: more understeer, I assume due to less weight on front-wheel/less traction.

An 18″ frame won’t necessarily deal with that problem, will it?

Cheers!

Hendrik

I have run my 18 inch Scandal 29er for a while now on a 26 inch carbon fork. No issues although I am running a shorter stem. Handling is twitchy on singletrack and although the reduced bottom bracket height affects some, I dont notice it.