MOUNTAIN BIKERS I NEED HELP

[whiteboi]

So I ride a Specialized Camber 29er and the front fork has 125mm's of travel, and I want to add to that. I've been looking at the Rock Shox Pike RCT3 29er suspension in the 160mm option (it's what it used on the Enduro 29er's) but they're so damn expensive. Does anyone know of a cheaper option for a 29er fork that has 160mm of travel?

 

[byubound]

I would not recommend putting a 160mm fork on that bike. Not only will it totally screw up the geometry and make your bike feel like a chopper, but potentially it could put excessive force on the headtube and crack the frame.

 

[User1]

Why do you want 160? 125 is plenty

 

[spliff.Life]

Not only will it totally screw up the geometry and make your bike feel like a chopper

Yes that bike sounds scary almost being so far up

 

[tac0.slayer]

Yup, you can't put a 160mm fork on your Camber sorry. The bike was designed for a fork with around 130mm travel like it came with. The added travel would ruin its handling and void warranty.

 

[kung_powpow]

General rule of thumb is +-20mm fork travel. The 160 on your bike would lower bb significantly, slack HA by a few degrees, and put added stress on the headtube. Plus it would probably ride like shit

 

[special-J]

^don't listen to them. Switching a 125(130)mm fork with a 160 will slacken the bike by about 1.5 degrees taking it from 68.5 to 67 (current sweet spot for aggressive trail bikes), hardly raise your BB since slackening counteracts the added fork height, and if the frame breaks, put the old fork back on before you bring it to a shop or take pictures of it.

However, I would highly recommend not doing this at all and just sell your camber now. If you're interested in a 160mm fork you clearly want to ride well outside that bike's capability, and you'll get way more for it now than in a few years when the new slack, aggressive 29ers take over.

If you MUST just change the fork, stay around 150mm to keep a little bit of front-rear balance in rough sections and corners, and check out something from Suntour like the Auron. Their updated forks can compete with the pike and fox stuff for about half the price.

 

[kung_powpow]

^don't listen to them. Switching a 125(130)mm fork with a 160 will slacken the bike by about 1.5 degrees taking it from 68.5 to 67 (current sweet spot for aggressive trail bikes), hardly raise your BB since slackening counteracts the added fork height, and if the frame breaks, put the old fork back on before you bring it to a shop or take pictures of it.

.

Dude whatever you do, don't do this. This is wrong in so many ways and will end up with you and your bike being broken. If your bike miraculously doesn't break, then you'll want to break it yourself after riding all that fucked up geometry.

Also, there are more consequences to this then you would think. Geometry affects the riding characteristics of the ENTIRE bike.

-First off, warranty will be voided

-Added stress on HT through the back of it, rather than up it

-Slacked seat tube

-Higher standover height

-Higher BB will result in reduced cornering grip, and weight further back

-Worse performance on climbs, flats, technical sections, and slow speeds since it steers slower and has a higher bar height

The only good thing out of this would be your bike will handle much better on fast, straight descents.

 

[Tinga]

shit why stop at 160mm? Why not just throw a boxxer on it and call it good?

 

[special-J]

Dude whatever you do, don't do this. This is wrong in so many ways and will end up with you and your bike being broken. If your bike miraculously doesn't break, then you'll want to break it yourself after riding all that fucked up geometry.

Also, there are more consequences to this then you would think. Geometry affects the riding characteristics of the ENTIRE bike.

-First off, warranty will be voided

-Added stress on HT through the back of it, rather than up it

-Slacked seat tube

-Higher standover height

-Higher BB will result in reduced cornering grip, and weight further back

-Worse performance on climbs, flats, technical sections, and slow speeds since it steers slower and has a higher bar height

The only good thing out of this would be your bike will handle much better on fast, straight descents.

OK, not to get in an argument but let me just address your points here.

-True, but only if you are an idiot and take it to the shop saying "I put pike on it and this happened"

-Unless you're a total hack, that bike won't break at the head tube.

-seat tube is plenty steep on a camber, 1 degree slacker (w/ 150mm pike) is nothing. besides, no one cares about their seat tube angle anyways. slide your seat a little forward.

-standover varies by almost a foot between bikes. it's pointless unless you have midget legs

-OK, this one is legit. won't corner quite as well. but again, BB (w/ 150) is raised by about 15mm, which won't make a huge difference unless you can actually corner well.

-Duh, but I'd assume he's aware of what comes with a bigger fork/slacker bike.

I'll reiterate that it's not a good idea in the first place, but if you want to drastically change your bike to ride much more aggressively on a budget that can only afford a fork, then buy the fork. fun is fun