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Or is it just fork envy because friends have put them on their 5 spots? Got 140 revs
Won't one of them let you have a go so you decide for yourself?
yes/no
I don't think that an extra 20mm will make a huge amount of difference, think about how small that is. At least this is what I've been telling myself so I don't have to splash out on a set of Lyriks for my BFe 😛
Probably not, JonTaylor off this forums faster than me and his forks are a wopping 10mm less travel than mine (about 2" shorter mind you, '09 Pikes Vs my '07 Z1's).
I've got fairly old 140mm Pikes and am thinking about 150mm this year, slightly more travel and much lighter. 140 to 160 is going to be a fairly big change in geometry most likely.
Just put a pair of 160mm forks on my DB Alpine instead of 140 Pikes. It is a bit too snowy here to test but it does feel a bit gate like. Not sure if I am going to like them. 140 was totally enough travel I just picked up nice forks and thought I would give it a go. Unless you are always bottoming out I would stick with smaller forks.
I don't need them but my bike rides better with 160mm forks in than 150mm. It's not just about travel.
It's all about the a2c when you're talking about geo changes, a fork would have to be a full 25.4mm longer in static to produce a slacker HA of around 0.75deg, and slight rise in BB height.
Once you take into consideration sag @ a given 25% you'll end up with 15mm more travel. Is that going to make a massive difference to the ride of your bike, or will it be the inevitable 36mm/35mm dia stanchions that make a difference due to increased stiffness of the 32mm of your current forks
If I wind my 140mm forks down to 120mm, my bike climbs completely differently. Stands to reason that if I increased 140mm to 160mm that could have a similar effect on the way the bike rides, regardless of any trigonometry.
If I did go for 160mm I'd make sure I had u-turn or 2-step (if I thought it was reliable enough).
The extra weight of bigger forks might off set the detrimental effect on climbing though, if that's a worry?
My pace RC41 fighters (150mm) were to same axle to crown height as my old Fox RLC 125's.
So as long as you go for short forks, long travel is a perfectly viable option with out upsetting the bike geometry
Think I may stick with what I have and spend the money going abroad to ride.