Hello, looking for some advice please. I am building up a BFe, will mainly use for all mountain stuff – with some climbing involved on the downs. I have seen some Rockshox Sektor RL’s, however I think 150mm travel might be too much for what I am generally going to use the bike for. Does anyone have experience of this frame/fork combo? If not, what would people recommend? Budget wise c£200 for a used pair of forks.

It’s on the longer side but you can space them down easily if they’re the air ones. If they’re coil springs then you’d need to buy a shorter spring. With a short stem and flat/low rise bars, very few/zero spacers under the stem, and a straight seatpost then you can run long forks without the Cotic geometry ending up all out of whack, as long as you’re prepared to work harder to turn the bike on flat stuff or keep on track on steep climbs.

I ran 140mm floats on one I had and it was fine.

I built mine up a few weeks ago.

150mm revalations, only been ridden a couple of times, but it doesnt seem to handle like a pig & gobbles up the rough stuff

There is a reasonable amount of bob when hammering the pedals, but then if you were after a long distance bike you’d have bought the soul and be after 120mm’s right…

build it up big, and ride it like you stole it!

If you want the bike to handle well, then no more than about 130mm. More is not better.

Different people have different opinions. I personally felt my old BFe was much better with my Coil U-Turn Pikes set at around 125mm of travel. At 140mm it felt a bit lazy and wandery to me. Also remember that longer travel slackens the seat angle and raises the BB (as well as slackening the head angle), both of which hamper the bikes climbing ability.

I say what you have is a great fork for the bike, so just stick them on and try riding it. I suspect you’ll then want to space them down to 130mm or so.

I’d suggest u-turn/2-step if you can, I had 150mm u-turn Revs on mine and I wouldn’t have wanted to live with it full time at 150- but it was good to have on tap. It’s not that it’s terrible at 150mm, it’s just often better at 120/130mm.

Thanks for the replies so far, looks like a 130mm fork is where I want to be then. Any specific fork recommendations, around £200 used? Cheers!

Had a 150/120fox talas on mine the longer set up never relly hindered climbing for me but I’m a slow plodder up hill anyway but do have to say the few times I used it at the shorter setting and forgot to pop it back up it was a flying machine downhill you could literally fly round trees and through stuff it did indeed Mach it a much more involving bike to ride that was for sure.
So yeah I recon your 130 set up would be a great compromise great frames too.
Bats.

Thanks for the replies so far, looks like a 130mm fork is where I want to be then. Any specific fork recommendations, around £200 used?

Don’t you like the Sektors?

Nick, I’m on my third bfe, don’t ask! I have just fitted a sektor rl air and I really like it. I changed from a 160 travel fork and this feels better, it has a 70mm stem and a 5mm spacer under bars with a 30mm rise.
So far I have tried a 50mm with flat bars on 160 fork not great at climbing. 70mm and it’s better, slight riser bar improved further and now the 150 seems better still. Also running tubeless which has improved the feel I get from steering.
If you can , experiment with your set up and try not to heed all advice about fork lengths on here. Pikes are an excellent solution in my opinion (good value 2nd hand) but the sektors cost me £240 new from Germany, delivered in 3 days.

Ive said it before and I’ll probably say it again. I cant imagine any better spring to have on my BFe than a 95-140mm RS U-Turn. I have a Pike on my BFe and while its a bit heavy and the damping isn’t all that the spring (travel and adjustability) is perfect. Can you get a Sektor Coil U-Turn? DPC/A might be a good substitute but for me I want to run the forks on my BFe at both 140mm and ~100mm depending what I am using it for.

Thanks again. I don’t own any forks yet, still just a frame/bits, just seen some nice Sektors which made me investigate. Just a bit reluctant to try 150mm really, as I can see it being a bit of a pig on the climbs albeit fun coming back down!

How about dual position revs ? 150mm – 120mm best of both worlds.

If you think 150 forks are going to be too much for your type of riding, you should probably have bought a Soul instead…

Lad I ride with runs a BFe and 150 Sektors – certainly suits him.

I’ve got 150mm Revs on mine. It’s built up with 1×10 for dicking around on as much as “proper riding”, and as such I have to spend a fair amount of time climbing out the saddle on it, at which point the extra length of the forks is less of an issue.

DH, it’s pleasantly slack, although the BB is perhaps a touch too high. Not near as slack as when I had Lyrics on it though! (which was ace in the Alps, but overkill for anything less)

I also have a Soda with 120mm forks on – much better uphill (6lb lighter!) and arguably more balanced, but not nearly as capable when hooning down the stupid stuff.

If you think 150 forks are going to be too much for your type of riding, you should probably have bought a Soul instead…

Makes no sense.

I’ve got a Pike u-turn air on mine. I realised that the only time I was running it at anything less than 140 was if I found a pump track. Subsequently, since the last time i serviced them, they’ve not even had a u-turn nob re-fitted.

Would go for something about 120mm on the BFe, feels about right.

140mm Revelations on my mk2 BFe. Not been out on it a huge amount as I only finished the build recently but I’m loving it so far. 70mm 0 deg stem with a 5mm spacer underneath and a set of low rise EA50’s. I had thought that I might shim the forks down to 130mm but never quite got around to it. It seems to climb well enough as it is, so I’ll probably just leave it as is for now.

Have 150mm Coil U-turn Sektors on mine. 150 is great for going down on steeper stuff but i tend to run them at 130mm most of the time, especially if riding Surrey Hills, N Downs etc where its more undulating.

Mixed opinions so far ha! Out of interest, are the 2011 RS Sektor RL’s travel adjustable with a spacer removed? 130-140mm might be good..

Get some u turn pikes. Dead cheap and you can have whatever travel you want. 100mm is pretty good fun.

BB drop isnt great with long forks, Surge or Slackline are more suited to 140+ forks.

Run my XS BFe with 150mm Marz 44s. Haven’t felt the need to space then down to 130mm as for all-round riding I don’t feel the forks currently hamper my riding (a little wandery on steep switchback climbs but I’m slow on those anyway). FWIW I run a 55mm stem with no spacers under it and mid-rise bars.

sv >>> BB drop isnt great with long forks, Surge or Slackline are more suited to 140+ forks.

For what it’s worth, there’s bugger all difference in BB height between the 3.

Thanks, have posted a wtd for some Sektor U turns, I am tempted to try the 150mm Sektors though as they’re clean….Can always change them I guess if they were really horrid.

I’m building mine up with some oldish 130mm travel Z1’s, low rise Answer bar and it feels pretty good. Being an XS, I don’t think I’d want a longer fork on it.

It’s not finished yet, so I can’t comment on how it rides yet. I’ve only just rolled up and down the road on it and it feels pretty good. I’m building it up just for mucking about on.

All these people saying 120mm-`130mm travel baffles me ?

Surely the Bfe is designed for longer forks like 150mm !!

otherwise arent you better off with a soul ?

davidtaylforth – Member
Get some u turn pikes. Dead cheap and you can have whatever travel you want. 100mm is pretty good fun.

Cannot agree more. I set mine at 100 when jumping or at the BMX track, sometimes I accidentally leave them there’s and the bike is so lively. Doesn’t suit my riding style tho I plow through things too much.

EDIT: Depends on what your riding renton, some people like the reassurance of stronger frames but only want short travel.

100mm christ on a bike !! wouldnt that put to much wieght over the bars ?

Na its fine, just a little bumpy over the rough stuff for me.

I had 140mm forks on mine and always felt that i could go longer.. not much mind perhaps to 150mm.

its all relative though as sag comes into the equation somewhere!

I must admit I am tempted to try my Lyriks on it and take it to the peak, should be fun.

What you have to do is try and get the right sized frame to start with.

I wish I had gone for a smaller frame and a longer seatpost tbh !

just built mine a large with 150-130-110 Fox’s, tbh still trying to find the right set up. The first ride I set it at 150mm and it was great on the really steep stuff and jumps, on the 130mm setting it tracked well on normal trail conditions, when climbing I had it at 110mm but it does my back in so I put it up to 130 and 150 and just mashed on the pedals ( i am running a 1×10 st up)

stem 60mm
bars 785mm

I’m currently leaning toward the 150mm set up. I think if you get an adjustable fork like the U-turn etc it might help

If y’r around Surrey Hills y’r welcome to try my rig…

Tuskaloosa, thanks I’m in W Sussex but may take you up on your kind offer if I get stuck. Mine’s a medium frame, does anyone know if a 175mm fork steerer is suitable? I don’t have the frame to hand at moment to measure.

Nick, talk to Cy or Paul at Cotic itself they will put you on the right track wrt sizing of steerer’s etc..

for a large it is 187mm min

also the steerer tube should be cut to 3mm below the top of the stem once all your spacers and headset parts have been assembled