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So I have a 29er xc bike with a 44mm headtube which was a bit twitchy so I fitted a Slackerizer which has calmed it down nicely. The unfortunate side effect being that the steerer is now 10mm too short.
The forks in question are some 32mm stanchion Manitou Towers with 100mm of travel which I believe are the same as the old Minutes but with different lowers.
In the shed I have a pair of 26" Nixons - again with 32mm stanchions which are 145mm travel and have 15mm more steerer.
So do we think it's possible to swap the lowers from the Nixons to the Towers and even if it all goes back together will it explode in my face?
I expect the travel to be reduced by around an inch which would bring it to around 120mm - which shouldn't be a problem handling wise for the frame.
Can you use a lower stack height stem instead? No idea if the forks idea would work.
Stem is already low stack - I could get maybe 5mm back but still too short really
Yeah, I had to change my stem when I fitted a Works headset… the one I got isn't available anymore, but the the DMR Defy looks like it would do the job.
No idea about fork internals compatibility… sorry.
Actually that Defy stem might just do it - need to find one that's at least 60mm long though
The stanchions will probably not be the smae length in a 100mm fork versus a 145mm one - so they might be too long for your damper/springs to work without bottoming out on something internally. You might be lucky and find that they're the same length, if they are then I'd go for it.
Fair point George not thought about the stanchions hitting something in the lowers - the towers need a service anyway so I'll drop the lowers and take a look at the weekend
Not sure if would fit but I recently used cane creek slamset headset for a fork with a short steerer (combined with a low stack stem). Worked well and even needed a small spacer in the end.
I could put the old headset back in and all would be well steerer length wise but the slackset I've put in to tame the handling a touch has changed it from zero stack to external cup which is where the reduction in available steerer has come from.
Currently the top of the steerer is level with the middle of the top pinch bolt of the stem which is borderline for me.
If I could find a stem 70mm long with a 35mm stack height I think it would be fine, current stem is 40mm stack height
Funn Funnduro Stem? 32mm stack height but just 60mm length though.