I picked up a 14″ frame for MrsSPW3 last autumn and am just starting to build it. It’s the 26″ version in ‘rust’ colour.

We have a few fork choices and I was going to shove in a 120mm Reba, mostly bc its in the middle of the 4-5-6 range. But have since been having doubts.

Options currently lying against the garage wall are:

Old style 140mm Pike
Revelation air in 140mm
Lyric in 160mm
Or at a major push ( I can’t be bothered) a 140mm coil Lefty

Thoughts?

All of the above, see what you like?

Otherwise… which rev is it? Oldschool Pike is probably most thematically correct but most revs are better damped.

It’s a single air.

The whole point of the Summer Season was that you could run a short fork (100mm ish) and still enjoy a slack head angle. From memory, a 140mm fork will give you something like a 66° HA.

Reba gets my vote!

Hmmm, I may have misunderstood the point of the frame – I assumed it was for stuffing in a big fork and whizzing it down the side of hills in the Alps.

I ran a summer season with 100mm Recons, then 140mm Revs, then 160mm bombers. If I were to build that bike again I’d have gone for a 140mm fork with travel adjust for winching uphill.

Hope she likes it. I bloody loved mine and I keep toying with the idea of trying to find another.

Old school 140 Pikes on mine. I usually run them at full extent, but sometimes wind them down a bit. Gives all the options down to 95mm.

Oh, and 66 ha – very now.

I have a vague recollection the Pikes are u-turn. Never used it before but ran them on my Blue Pig so seemed to suit the bike at full extension.

As above – Brant designed it around a 100mm fork, Reba gets my vote too. I always felt 150mm on a standard 456 was too long.

I had very similiar (possibly identical?) geometry on my C456, with an angleset fitted, I reckon it rode best at about 140. No matter what I did with it, it was a pretty unimpressive climber but with a bit more fork it was better downhill. It got a bit too bargey with any more than that though.

i ran mine with a z150 out front in the alps – it was ace at hooning downwards nothing got in its way and it just continued where you went and where you pointed it.

when i came home i wanted to love it ….. but it was shit it climbed like a blind donkey front end always wanting to wander and lift so you would end up licking the front wheel just to hold it down , so i changed the fork to a 100mm as advised on here and it was better at climbing but always always always found the fork being a limiting factor when it got up to speed on the downs it just ran out of travel , the frame just wanted to go faster.

i set it up then with a 140 adjustable fork ….. and while it was better it just wasnt the bike i loved out in the alps it was just too crippled at going uphill when it was at its best going down hill

i then came to the conclusion it was just not the right bike for the riding i do round here id rather it was half decent up and down rather than being a mamil wincher.

Or alternatively it’s exactly the right bike for Mrs SPW3 and she’s going to love it…maybe.

Well, the Reba is already in it so it looks like I’ve just saved myself the effort of swping forks on Saturday.

Rumour has it the weather is going to warm up to a balmy 11 degrees in WestMidlandshire so we might even get to test it.

Given the hideous mix of parts bin components bolted to it I would like to extend my apologies to anyone unfortunate enough to clap eyes on it.

I think she’ll get on just fine with it! It’s a lovely frame. I have a standard 456 which is very similar; the SS is made of plain guage tubing as well as having the slacker HA. It’s been a faithful friend to me!

The only issue you’re likely to have is weight (which may, or may not, bother your other half). A conservative build is likely to come in around 32lbs ish.

I was wondering about this and did some googling – the words of Brant:

“I did a ride towards the end of February this year with a few local riders, and a few things happened on that ride that made me think about things in a different way. Just how bikes were diverging, what people were doing with them, and the problems they were having. Specifically one of the things I noticed was people running longer and longer suspension forks (one rider was out with 160mm travel forks on a hardtail), but when I asked them why, it was more to do with head angle, than bump-eating potential.

“I was riding my rigid forked bike and that was more capable in a few situations as the front end didn’t dive when I slammed the brakes on. It was that that got us talking about shorter travel forks – well not short exactly, but coming back down to say 130mm – and keeping the front end slack – with a slacker head angle.”

The end result is the Summer Season, a frame based on the standard 456. It shares the same geometry but with the all-important change to the head angle, reducing the numbers from 69.5° to 66.6° (when used with a 5” fork). Tubing is DN6 plain gauge chromoly and is finished with a clear coated matt finish, leaving all the welding clearly visible. There’s disc brake mounts, cable guides under the top tube, vertical dropouts and rack mounts. Frame weight is 5.4lb (2.44kg).

So, if you want a 456 with a slacker head angle, head over to http://www.on-one-shop.co.uk for more info.

Priced £125 and available in sizes 14, 16, 18 and 20″.”

mines got 125 vanilla on, and is a thing of great beauty

I ran mine with a uturn pike. 90% of the time wound down to 110, occasionally at 140 for downhills. Was a great frame.

From your list i’d go Pikes. Doubly so if they’re u-turn. Start with the lowest travel setting and work your/her way up the travel until you find your happy place. I run 36 Talas on my SS and much prefer the ride with lower travel (110-120) for all types of riding (even DH). It doesn’t handle that great at 150. It was even less great with weedy* 32mm stanchions unless i was doing the mince.

*Obviously your Mrs is a lady and likely a bit lighter and possibly less rad than me so will likely be fine on 32’s.

I met Ed on that ride. That was a good day.

Now I’m doubting again. Pikes on?

And yes, MrsSPW3 is definitely lighter than you Euro (she might be reading this…)

130mm Revelation on mine. I had an old 140mm Pike on it previously but it was a bit slack for climbing and too heavy.

Now I’m doubting again. Pikes on?

Yes.