[Closed] Fork offset make much difference?

In that case, and assuming the 'very reasonable' cost is acceptable to you then I'd definitely go Pike Ultimate and Deluxe upgrade.  The Pike Ultimate is a great fork and the shorter offset will match the frame geometry better.

As i understand it, shorter offset forks help to prevent that 'floppy steering' feeling with slacker head angles.  I felt this on my old Banshee Spitfire when running 160mm up front (dating to before short offset forks being a thing), at low speeds when climbing, the front wheel keeps feeling like it's trying to fall right or left.  Shorter offset.... erm... offsets that. 🙂

They won’t feel odd, they’ll just feel slightly different.

It’s not that one geometry suits short offset and one suits long, there are bikes with near identical geometry from one company using short offset and from another company using long offset.

I put short offset forks on my 29” full-sus even though that’s “designed for” standard offset - and apart from the BB height the geometry is v similar to the Stage 5 (the Orange is super low!)

“As i understand it, shorter offset forks help to prevent that ‘floppy steering’ feeling with slacker head angles.”

They don’t, although some spin claims that! Shorter offset forks initiate turns quicker (more wheel flop) but are more stable at speed, and fractionally better when it comes to weighting the front tyre.

Cheers both. The additional cost is less than the forks would cost and I can sell the decent Fox forks I have for a fair chunk of it so would be affordable.

I'm going from a 68 degree head angle to 65 so quite a change.

I've recently built up an Orange frame and in the process was trying to find forks with the same offset as the full build version. I phoned Orange who were really open and honest and full of good advice. Straight from the horses mouth, their advice was that the mountain biking world/internet was making a big deal of it at the moment. Their own advice was to get a fork with offset about the same as the ones specced and not to worry about a few mm...

As for the steering feel I went from a 50mm stem to a 35mm with these forks and it really stuffed up the steering so changed back. 50mm with 51mm offset feels very controlled and predictable on my current bike if maybe a little slow.

What exact Fox forks do you have now? Do they feel awesome or just ok?

There have been a few articles by those in the know saying it makes very little difference so not worth spending any additional money on.

Handy article by some biker journalists I've never heard of...  😉

https://singletrackworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/what-is-fork-offset-and-why-does-it-matter/

The forks I plan to use are Fox 36 Performance Elite Fit4 and I really like them. Miles better than my 2014 Pike which sets alarm bells off.

Ta for the link, I will check it out.

Well if it ain’t broke...

The forks I plan to use are Fox 36 Performance Elite Fit4 and I really like them.

Bypass the FIT4 damper, go for the GRIP2... You can thank me later! 😉

As for the offset thing... Despite my preferences for shorter offset forks, almost universally now (no, my name is not Chris Porter!), I'm still prepared to admit that fork offset is more of a "nuance" than it is an absolute rule when it comes to both designing and speccing a bike. And you can definitely go too far, reduce the offset too much and you can make a bike very slow to steer although it will be incredibly stable.

Personally, I think 42mm from Rockshox was a bit of a knee jerk reaction, a 9mm reduction in offset is quite pronounced. 44mm from Fox has been around ages, Rockshox's stock 29er offset used to be 46mm though which was less of a shock to people coming from 51mm. It all depends what kind of bike you're building, and how you want it to behave though. If you want an XC race bike that needs to be agile through the twisties, climb like a mountain goat, and it'll never be descended in real anger, then a 51mm offset fork is still going to be preferable to anything shorter.

But yeah, for most of us, riding modern trail bikes... Shorter offset rocks!

what is the upgrade cost?

A normal rider will not notice the difference.

I have two Oranges which I have tweaked so they have very similar geometry to the current Stage 5. Both have 51mm offset forks with 35mm stems and handle great.

They might be marginally better with a shorter offset fork, but it's nowhere close to being essential.

To address two things you've said OP...

- I wouldn't necessarily make a link between fork offset and stem length, I think there's a much stronger relationship between frame reach and stem length. So if you're getting a longer frame, a 35mm stem will go fine with a 51mm offset fork.

- The Pike Ultimate will feel very different to your old Pike, Rock Shox forks now feel much better over small bumps and hold up better as well. The Pike and SuperDeluxe option sounds good, but I'd question Orange about whether they feel the SD is a good match for the frame.

Well it made a huge difference going with a longer fork on my bike, but that's an XC bike with a 70.5 degree HA which had been designed for 51mm. And it dates from before fork offset choice was a thing. So that won't apply to your slack bike.

Thanks for all the replies gang. I am most definately a 'normal' rider so doubt I'd notice the difference so will stick with the Fox set up and spend the extra on pop and crisps (or a new hard tail frame 😉 )

Interesting that the Grip2 damper will be so much better as I think my current forks are ace!

With this being the case will my 51mm forks feel odd or will it make no real difference?

As I tend to reply to these with the same point. I have 2 sets of Fox 36's, identical other than one is a 51mm offset & the other is 44mm.

Without actually looking at them & putting the code into the Fox site, I can't tell which is which & I certainly can't tell which is which on the bike.

Which reflects to most peoples comparisons when testing. Its meaningless.