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  • Help me CX my Kaffenback
  • holmes81
    Free Member

    I’ve got the bug to tweak my MK1 Kaffenback from original spec to a CX type ride.

    Which largely focuses on the forks, the choice of which is:

    MKM 35 forks (700c)

    Or

    Kinesis DC 37

    The DC37 Are close to original fork specs I think and have mudguard eyelets.
    Yet the MKM will raise the BB a bit which will tweak geometry to more CX style.

    What are the thoughts of STW hive.

    Cheers.

    paulosoxo
    Free Member

    I had the original tea coloured one, and you could just say get a 32mm conti twister in there with 0 mud clearance. Just so you know.

    simon1975
    Full Member

    Yeah it’s gonna be tight at the back with anything over 30mm.

    I presume the reason for your new fork is that you want to switch to a disc brake. I have a “Pompetamine” fork on my Pompino for that. Didn’t they do a Kaffenback fork with canti bosses as well as disc tabs? That would be ideal if you can find one. That MKM 35 will be too long unless you don’t mind awful slow handling!

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    mattsccm
    Free Member

    Wot he said . I tried different tyres though.
    Do you want a CX bike though or a bike for riding off road with 700c tyres.
    CX usually means a mud tyre to cope with sticky playing fields etc.
    Riding around the gravel and woods is happily done on a nice thick touring tyre that won’t puncture. Tread is largely irrelevant.

    lunge
    Full Member

    The Mk2 Kaff had disc brakes, you may be able to find a fork for that. It won’t be light though.

    And as above, I squeeze a 33mm tyre in my MK2 version but there is almost no mud room, it’s fine for tow paths and the like but not good for any real CX, trust me, I’ve tried!

    I use these On-One Gravel Road tyres and they’re fine.

    dovebiker
    Full Member

    I had an original Kaffenback – the blue one. One of the reasons I got rid was the lack of rear tyre clearance. Put a titanium disc fork on mine which was pretty unusual in 2003. As long as the fork isn’t longer than 420mm, doubt you’d notice.

    holmes81
    Free Member

    There are a number of reasons. I don’t live near enough to the trails I ride and like riding to them round a route and back. As the ride is mostly road to get there and there are a lot of bridleways en route the CX or gravle type bike appealed to me.

    I commute on the kaffenback and would like to put discs on. So thought that I could use the Kaffenback to go exploring on too. The idea being that if I don’t like drops and skinny tyres off road then I still have a useable disced commuter. If the bug takes, then I can just swap the bits over to a new frame.

    mattsccm
    Free Member

    My Kaff’s were fine for that. Bear in mind that we have a trend for wide tyres. Stick something like a 30mm one on with stacks of puncture protection and you will have the same but tougher that we were using decades ago for rough stuff riding.

    matts
    Free Member

    Sticking a 490mm fork in the kaffy would make the handling awful. The BB is already high, and it would make the steering flop-tastic.

    Also, you should give your bike a thorough inspection around the BB and stays before you start hammering it around off road. My original Kaffy gave up the ghost a couple of years back – the chainstays completely rusted through and the back end detached itself when I was doing some hill repeats!

    holmes81
    Free Member

    Cheers Matt will do.

    Also looking on ebay for CX deals. . .

Viewing 10 posts - 1 through 10 (of 10 total)

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