The BTR ranger is exactly what I’m looking for, but at more than twice the price I’m willing to pay. I’d be happy with a Stanton switchback, but still a bit spendy for a hard tail for me. For the price to build one up I could just buy a canyon full suss and be done with it.

People have made short travel slack hardtails before but they either didn’t catch on or people put long forks on them anyway because slacker and more travel is always better… apparently

The other way to do it is to change the spring rate curve on a longer fork, so it feels the same as a shorter fork through the first 120mm of travel and then instead of hitting the bump stops it has another 20-40mm of ’emergency travel’. On my Soul I don’t go past 120mm of travel unless I’ve screwed up, and when I do I have 20mm of safety. If I ran 120mm forks it would be a degree steeper, I’d need the bars higher and I would bottom out hard far more often.

Like this:

The spring rate thing would do the trick, I expect that pikes with the tokens in would be bob-on on something like a bfe or 456, however, I have very little to spend on bike bits, and everything I can afford tends to be fairly linear.

Tokens are available all the way down to sektors, so its not really a cost of fork issue.

Yes, and it doesn’t have to be tokens either – chuck some oil into the air spring of any fork and it’ll reduce the volume and cause the rate to ramp up more quickly. My Soul has old Fox 32s which behave like this.

I didn’t realise you could use the tokens in sektors, that is interesting. I’d forgotten about the BB height issue though, staying high up in the travel is going to leave the BB high up all the time isn’t it? But still, I’d rather that than spend a grand on a BTR

Slacketst nu skool @ 130 is probably Whyte 905.

A fork should be set up to work well as suspension, not adapted to make up for shortfalls in what i’d like in terms of geometry.

[rose tint] Oh – and it wasn’t so long ago that 120mm travel was long travel & all this was fields…….. [/rose tint] 😉

Stiffen the forks up, if you blow through travel too easy.

This.

I’m running 140mm RS Revs on my HT but on a typical trail ride it only ever uses about half the travel…which seems about right, why would you want a bike (even a full suss) wallowing in all of its travel for fairly tame trail riding?!

The fork tends to use full travel (or a few mm short) on uplift days only, that’s with the air pressure put in that RS recommend on the fork leg, no buggering about with tokens either….I’m slowly coming round to liking air springs and their ease of tuning….i had similar performance from my old coil spring Sektor but that involved swapping the OEM medium spring out for a firm spring from TFtuned…which was obviously more hassle than just playing with a shock pump.

Tokens are now available for some 32mm stanchion forks like the Revelation but I wasn’t sure about the Sektor but that’s good to know as it’s a good fork that performs better than it has any right to for the budget price.

Not having 29ers is the only reason I’m not looking at Bird 🙁
29er are perfect for your local stomping ground Ben.

I didn’t realise you could use the tokens in sektors, that is interesting.

You have to buy 32mm ones just to be clear… you cant use Pike ones, but the principle is the same.

Cheers Ben, I’ll bear it in mind, not even got any RS Forks at the mo! Still got my crappy suntours

Thing is cokie I have some 29’er prototypes, and try as I might to love them, they just don’t set my world on fire.

Sounds like you want some U-turn Lyriks, just dial in the travel you want between 115mm and 160mm. Performance stays broadly the same (ace) at all travel settings. The great news is they’re available second hand for buttons due to the fall from grace that’s hit 26″.

I recently put some Totems on my Jekyll, set the rear to 95mm and the front to 135mm (2-step airs) and it made for a pretty cool setup, short travel, but ultra stiff. Too heavy for a hardtail I’d think, but the performance was exactly what you’re after.

Yeah Paul, but what I want is the slackness that you’d get at 140/150mm at 100/120mm too. I’ll have to blag a go on some aggro hardtails at varying degrees of slackness before I splash out.

but what I want is the slackness that you’d get at 140/150mm at 100/120mm

+1

How slack is slack ❓

2016 650b Orange Cloclwork 120 is 67′ HA, which is the same as 2015 Crush (in an XC friendly unburly aluminum frame).

Isn’t that what the angleset was invented for?

Angleset also lowers BB by X amount, in the current climate of low, that may be a bit too much pedal wackage.

Depends on the headset, if you currently run a ZS56 (The most common) then an Angeset will raise the BB a touch as the +10mm or so of the EC headset is bigger that the extra slack will cause in drop.

Qwerty, I want 66-67 at sag point, 74ish sta. there’s plenty of choice of 66-67° static head angle frames, but I was caught out by that with my bizango. My rock rider full suss was too steep at 70° And I thought a 69° ht 29er would be better, and it is, a bit, but I think that’s probably more trail than anything else, as soon as it points downwards sharply it gets a bit nervous, and the bars are already a bit high.

I can’t use an angle set either, I’m going to have to bodge it slightly to get some decent forks in if I decide to upgrade the voodoo rather than replace, which I might because it’s pretty bloody good for the money.

Well, I would consider taking one off your hands for a prolonged period!! If you don’t get on with them then maybe I can make use of them 😀 ! Email in my profile 😉

Steel is certainly real with the new P7! A full reynolds 525 butted CroMo tubeset is backed up with a 65-degree head angle, 430mm chainstays and comes in 4 sizes, all of which sport some fun-loving geometry.

– pinkbike –

Oooooooo, I like it!

The blue one please. 8)

Ooooooooo a blue one to replace my blue one. Even better 😀

Wow…i likey!

Any info on price,launch date and if there will be a black one on sale as shown last year??

…no front mech cable stop ??? 🙁

Gar, hadn’t noticed that. 😐

…no front mech cable stop ???

Say what?

From MBR:

Like the DMR Trailstar, Orange’s re-launched P7 is also made from butted steel tubing and features 27.5in wheels, internal dropper post routing, ISCG 05 tabs to mount a chain device and is corrected for a 140mm travel fork.

The key difference is the P7 has the facility to mount a front derailleur, which is handy if you want a wider gearing range or you’re considering buying a frame and building it up with an older drievtrain.

Orange will be offering the P7 at £1,450 and it will share the same basic spec as an Orange Crush S.

I still really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really want one to replace my existing P7.

But after my recent Cannonade Trigger purchase, getting it past the committee may prove difficult 😳

Good price and great…who needs a front mech! 😀

Hmmm the MBR story is dated Nov 2015 so price could be a guess.

From The Riders Guild on Facebook.

Caption for this was

P7 S coming in at £1450 what a bargin beeing such a weapon!! Can’t wait to ride one of these!!

WTF are those cable guides?

That blue version is absolutely drool-worthy.

I reckon a shiny burgundy colour would probably necessitate me having a cold shower………….

Blue is the RS version with a dropper post hence the cable plus Rental fat bars,only differences i can see

None needed. Front mech cable can share the downtube routing and then use a Side-swing mech.

Way Over priced for Reynolds 525.