I'm about to fit 140mm forks to my Trance to replace the 120mm forks it came with. Should I remove 20mm of spacers from under the stem to keep the bars at the same height or leave them all on?
I went through the same thing with my Trance X If kept the steerer long to start, with the bars high. The bike felt awful, so I swapped the spacers above the stem mid ride and the handling was transformed. I then cut the steerer accordingly. This was on a 26er carbon frame. If it helps, the steerer ended up 207mm long and the bike handled really well. I had an Easton Haven stem fitted.
Try it both ways, do whatever feels good.
Also consider tipping the saddle down a smidgen.
Do you have 20mm of spacers under there?
Try, see, experiment you will know not us.
There's 3 spacers under there, looks like 2 x 5mm and a 10mm.I'll have a play around over the weekend.Just wondered what the norm was,but it seems there isn't one.
Cheers for the replies
Compare the axle to crown heights and play around accordingly
I do this when I fit longer forks as it does stop the front end getting too high.
Assuming you're running around 25% sag, it would be more like 15mm to put the bars in the same position when riding.
Assuming you're running around 25% sag, it would be more like 15mm to put the bars in the same position when riding.
..and you're assuming the axle to crown measurement between whatever 120 mm fork he has and whatever 140 mm fork he's swapping to is 20 mm, which is unlikely unless they are the same model. 🙂
EDIT; As an example when I swapped from Fox 32's at 140 to Pike's at 160, it was an unsagged difference of 41 mm (plus an extra 10mm for the external lower headset cup that was required to fit the tapered forks).
Try it both ways, do whatever feels good.
Good advice. I'll try it on the mrs
..and you're assuming the axle to crown measurement between whatever 120 mm fork he has and whatever 140 mm fork he's swapping to is 20 mm, which is unlikely unless they are the same model.
You're right, I'm assuming the axle-to-crown measurement is +20 mm. The point remains though - the sag should be taken into consideration (as well as any a2c difference) if you want to get a measurement to put the bars in the same place.
All rather pointless though, as the best option (as most have said) is to just experiment until he finds the best position for him. Not exactly the most complicated or time consuming experiment.
there is no "norm"
pull all the spacers and put them on top of the stem, test ride, then put them all under the stem, test ride.
see which extreme you prefer and work from there towards some middle ground till you are happy or bored and go for a proper ride.