Hey,
I’ve got a dilema, I’m running a 15″ Re-Issue Orange Clockwork with Reba WC’s [100mm] and for some niggling reason am thinking about swaping them for some Fox Vanilla’s [130mm] – What would it do to the handling?

The problem i’m having is after playing on the full susser, I’m getting a little too carried away and flying into stuff a little to energetically and with too much speed for the Reba’s to cope

If the answers learn to ride a bike properly then i’ll happily take the abuse that follows ;o)

I ride a 17″ reissue clockwork and have fox talas (90-130mm travel) on it. I find it best at around 100-110mm travel for most things. 130mm just seems to alter the geometry too much for me. I sometimes use the full 130 mm setting for long downhills so that I can pin it a bit more. However, I couldnt live with the forks at 130mm permanently – the bike slackens up far too much for the climbs and most normal trail riding and this slows me down a lot…

So, either get travel adjustable forks (latest fox talas 32 are supposed to be great but not cheap!) or see if your forks can be tweaked a bit to handle the bigger bumps + higher speed compression a bit better?

get a decent bike?

Cant you take the spacers out of the Reba fork and up it to 115mm. Best of both worlds without the cost.

Thats how i run my pipedream sirius.

Bomberman – that was constructive – well done you!

I think you know the answer…

My personal take would be to adapt your riding style to the bike you’re riding. Learn to unweight the bike a bit more on larger stuff and ride to the capabilities of the bike. I go through this learning curve every time I hop on a rigid bike from a hardtail. You realise that you generally can’t go as fast but you can adapt your style to absorb a more of the trail yourself. If you tend to put the work in, then the forks won’t have to work as much and you’ll be able to go faster. Of course this approach will knacker you out quite quickly hence a lot of people choosing to ride full sus. It becomes a lot more effortless.

add more suspension

After spending a couple of months last summer alternating between a rigid and a 5″ travel full sus, I found the rigid a good opportunity to work on my finesse and floating over things, whilst travelling at the extra speed I’d fooled myself into thinking I could go at by riding the same trails on FS. Then back onto the FS where I’d then go even faster having gone nearly as fast on a rigid, so figuring I “must” be able to go faster…

So if I was you I’d keep it as it is and enjoy the “moments”.

However, if you’re not liking the effect, just up the travel. I don’t think 1″ (or 3/4″ once you’ve taken out the sag) will make a huge difference to the feel of the bike – it will be noticeable but not completely different. I’m sure you’ll find there’s plenty bikes out there that would still have much slacker angles than that. If you’re concerned though put adjustable forks on and if you end up finding it doesn’t bother you then just leave them fully wound out.

I’m getting a little too carried away and flying into stuff a little to energetically and with too much speed for the Reba’s to cope

I seriously doubt you’re pushing the rebas to their limits!

Thanks for the advice – dont get me wrong I love both bikes, my full susser’s an Intense 6.6 [bomberman is that a proper bike? ;o)] which is my alpine, uplifty, general hooligan bike. Unfortunately thoose tendancies come out when i’m riding the Clockwork, hence the question…

Removing the shims is an awesome idea – I can see some fettling coming on! In the mean time up the rebound speed and learn to ride all over again…

…failing that yea, add more suspension!

set up the forks stiffer to take bigger hits, and ride more smoothly, i would suggest.
more travels not better, its different, totally different riding style required imo

100-130mm adjusajustable? old style revelations?

We’ll upgrade your riding for £55. http://www.allbikedup.com

I strongly doubt that the difficulty lies with the forks. Also, I wouldn’t screw up a good bike by sticking a longer fork on it – especially since it won’t solve the problem!

Wiredchops – Member
My personal take would be to adapt your riding style to the bike you’re riding. Learn to unweight the bike a bit more on larger stuff and ride to the capabilities of the bike. I go through this learning curve every time I hop on a rigid bike from a hardtail. You realise that you generally can’t go as fast but you can adapt your style to absorb a more of the trail yourself. If you tend to put the work in, then the forks won’t have to work as much and you’ll be able to go faster. Of course this approach will knacker you out quite quickly hence a lot of people choosing to ride full sus. It becomes a lot more effortless.

+1

I used to race XC Hardtails back in the day [The original clockworks were the ‘in’ thing back then – but then, so was Purple!], so know a little about ridng skills!

But you guy’s are right, I should stick with it, dial in the hard tail skills with the current set up and then pin it with the full susser next time i take it out…

I used to have an Orange Evo2 which is supposed to be 100mm max front end; i upgraded to some Bomber Marathons with 80-120mm travel and ran the bike at 120 everywhere except the longer/steeper climbs; it made nothing but a positive difference. I even rode them locked out at 120 for my commute, and that was pretty nice too.

You don’t have to buy Talas to get adjustable travel either chaps…(although they do look the best!)