Right, long story short:
Have some Rockshox Recon RL 120mm - they're f***ed.
Cost of repair £100+ (forget it!).
Bought some Rockshox Recon RL 100mm - cheap, but missing 20mm of travel.
Now, they'll sit on a Marin Nail Trail 6 that I bought, basically, so I could pull wheelies on my commute. So the shorter travel isn't a problem in terms of big impact (unless jumping off kerbs count?).
I do, however, wonder what difference it'll make to the riding position. To maintain the same 'sort of' position, could I just leave an extra 20mm on the steerer tube when I cut it to size? Or have I missed something? I bet I've missed something, haven't I?
I know I could adjust the travel, but if it's not 100% necessary, I prefer not to.
Anyway,
Thanks for reading!
Most RS forks can have their travel adjusted, either by adding/removing spacers or swapping the air spring, so you may be just need a youtube video and half an hour in the shed to modify the new forks. (Rebas need spacer taken out, I think)
20mm on the steerer will keep your bars the same height, but there'll be subtle geometry changes... head and seat angle about a degree steeper, bottom bracket a little lower. Maybe irrelevant for just commuting.
That's basically what I wanted to hear 🙂
I have a road bike project on the go that will eventually replace it as a commuter. At that point, I'll mess about with the travel and make it trail-focused.
It'll give me a chance to practice on the forks I took off; which are shot-to-sh*t!
Thanks!