80mm Fork and 100mm Rear shock, can it work?

[philip.maree]

 

I have heard that the rear and front travel should be similar. Why is this?

 

I have a 80mm Fork and I am looking to upgrade my HT to a dual sus but the rear travel on a dual sus frame is 100mm.

 

philip.maree2010-01-14 03:23:03

[AndreZA]

alot of 100mm forks you can just add a spacer and it will make it 80mm. Some 80mm might even have these in already so if you remove it it will be a 100mm.

[knersis]

alot of ROCKSHOX 100mm forks you can just add a spacer and it will make it 80mm. Some 80mm might even have these in already so if you remove it it will be a 100mm.

[philip.maree]

I have a rockshox reba sl 2008 80mm model.

 

What would the effect be of running 80mm travel upfront and 100mm travel in the rear?

 

[Ox_Wagon]

It will depend on the frame you?re looking at.  Some full sussers are designed for 80mm forks.  

 

The rule off thumb is that you will steepen the head tube angle with 1 degree for every 20mm that you drop in travel.  The effect is that the 100mm frame with a 80mm fork will be a ?bit? more ?twitch? (steer faster). 

 

So look at the head tube angle of the frame your looking at.  Most are around 69-71 degrees.  Hardtails are normally 71 degrees. So it should not be a problem if the frame you?re looking at has a head tube angle of 69-70 degrees. Only a Giant Anthem can get away with a 72 degree head tube.

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I build up an old Kona that feels like it steers slowly(wide) compared to my hardtail.  I later found out that it should have an 80mm fork instead of a 100mm fork that it has now.   

[philip.maree]

Thanks for the explanation Ox.

 

So it has more to do with the handling of the bike rather than the travel, correct?

 

[Bos]

Hey, My Santacruise Blur LT was probably designed for a 4 or 5'' fork, but I actually prefer the handling on 4'' the slightly steeper angle is much better for singletrack, I only put the fork on 5 for big gnarly DH

 

 

So ride the 80'' I recon It'l be fine

[timdm]

thanks for the question (and answers), was thinking of doing the same - my skareb 80mm fork can't be changed by spacers etc.

So which dually frame would work best with a 80 mm fork?