After doing Passportes du Soleil last year on her Kona Stinky Supreme (which weighs pretty much the same as a bull elephant) my nicer/better half asked me if perhaps a lighter bike might not be in order.

As I’m such a nice chap, I went about converting my Horst-Link 5-Spot into a worthy Alpine steed* for her to use in this year’s event (I’m using a Patriot). So off came the in-need-of-a-service DHX5 Air (which had never worked all that well anyway), to be replaced by a nice new PUSHed Van RC. And the well-worn Pikes came off, ‘cos they need a total rework as well. This is where the problem comes in. I happened to have a set of 36 Vanillas lying around the garage, with suitably soft springs for my wife’s somewhat minimalist weight. A few minutes later, they were on the bike, and Mrs Nickf was looking very pleased with the result.

Thing is, the frame was never designed to be run with 160mm forks, and I don’t want to run the risk of snapping it. I’m slightly concerned that the additional leverage of the forks will cause damage to the bike; I don’t actually think this is the case, given that it’s been ridden by me (same weight and level of finesse as one of the previously mentioned bull elephants), albeit on 140mm forks.

But am I wrong? Will Judith shear the headstock off the bike on the first DH run? She’s very good, but perhaps not at SurfMatt levels of awesomeness, so I’d hope that the bike will hold together. Given that I’ve stuck vented Moto V2s on, there’ll be a lot of braking forces to contend with….

So put my mind at rest and tell me that I’ve not set up a bike to kill my wife. Or you could take the piss, obviously. Your choice.

*It’s a Friday. A cliché or two can surely be allowed.

if it does break and kill her, new bike, new wife. win win i reckon

Cheers for the understanding RD, I knew I could rely on that sort of caring attitude.

she’s light
what could possibly go wrong ?
will you kill her? worth considering IMO 😕

Just check her life insurance doesn’t exclude mountain biking ‘accidents’.

I would ask the mods to delete this thread as it may invalidate her life insurance.

Don’t worry, insurance is up to date. And I’ll make sure the will hasn’t been changed.

increase value of life insurance in case you want a better bike afterwards?

The headtube will Probably be ok
The chainstays however………

I ran this for a brief period, first with 150 36’s then for short time with talas 160’s headtube was fine, the chainstay wasn’t,
Luckily I had a spare set, but I’m not doing it again…chainstays are like rocking horse poo now

Bung a spacer in to reduce the travel if you are bothered about it ?

Personally I reckon it would be fine 🙂

I’ve seen HL 5 spots with 160mm forks on them on MTBR – sure they were ridden by someone heavier than your wife. Maybe ask over there or do a search as someone will have asked about it there.

Cheers Bazzer; as you’re giving the answer I want, I reckon you’re the most correct.

You can’t reduce the travel on 36 vanillas with spacers, you have to saw the spring down amongst other things
Sorry to piss on your chips…

You can’t reduce the travel on 36 vanillas with spacers, you have to saw the spring down amongst other things
Sorry to piss on your chips…

In that case I prefer Lucas’s answer……..

So do I,
I feel like the harbinger of doom, so’……it’ll be fine 😀

I had forgotten about that 🙂 Its not the same as a float is it !!!

Anyway, there’s probably 20mm of sag as soon as she sits on it, so really they’re only 140mm forks. Probably.

why do you have to cut the spring??. dont you just lob a spacer under the top out spring? or are the internals such that this is not possible? you run a bit of preload on hte spring but thats not that big deal.

I run my 2007 Reign (designed for 140mm) on 160mm Lyriks – no problems at 15 stone

A friend of mine has a horst link 5 spot which he has Lyrics on, he cracked the top tube just behind the weld at last years Mega Avalanche.
I guess you take your chances really.

It will be fine, but does she like how it rides with the longer forks?

Passportes isn’t the Mega and if you are asking this I doubt She is a bike breaker anyway.

I run my 5 spot with a talas 36 on the front, its an 03 and so far its been fine, i’m not particularily gentle on the bike either so for a weeks riding in the alps it’ll be fine in fact it will probably be fine for ages and ages and ages!!

I know its wrong but

rOcKeTdOg – Member

if it does break and kill her, new bike, new wife. win win i reckon

LOL 😀

I misread the thread title… I thought it was “Will Should I kill my wife?”
🙄

Yes you will kill her and due to the premeditated nature i.e. posting your dastardly plans on interwebs in advance, will go down for a long stretch.

Oh. I thought this was a game show.

Disappointing.

Woohoo at last my compulsive hoarding of bike parts has born fruit, I’ve got some Rocking Horse poo 🙂