Opinions Y'All- Suspension Fork 27.5'er 160mm / 29'er 140mm

NJ Gator

NJ Gator

Active Member
Hi All:

I have a RSD Midlde Child which is built on a 140mm 29er fork (551mm axle to crown). The bike came with 27.5+ tires but I am running 2.6's- just like them better as a preferance. I have a 27.5 140mm Pike gathering dust that I was thinking of converting to 160mm to run as a backup. I would probably add the max volume spacers to reduce any additional compression dive but overall I think this would work (especially as a backup). Any thoughts to the contrary? I ask because I am bringing the 27.5'er fork in to get serviced and thought if I was going to get the 160mm air shaft swapped in- now would be the time.
 
1) not a fan of 160mm travel on a hardtail. The head angle changes get kinda crazy unless you are riding something like a Elroy or ESD with really slack head angles.
2) they no longer sell 160mm pikes for a reason, they get really flexible when they are extended that far. Get a Lyric or Zeb if you have to have 160mm.
 
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scott62 said:
they no longer sell 160mm pikes for a reason, they get really flexible when they are extended that far. Get a Lyric or Zeb if you have to have 160mm.
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This is probably true if you’re riding hard af and railing blown out corners. I run a Pike at 150mm and it feels great. Probably very different geo tho.

If you are comfortable changing an air spring yourself (it’s really easy) it’s cheap enough to play with different travels. What’s an air spring these days…like 40 bucks? I have three different air springs for my Lyrik. Sometimes you just know you’re gonna need 180mm of forgiveness lol.
 
Thanks all! Glenn agreed- it won’t run 27.5+ but has enough clearance for a 2.6 on iw 30mm rims. Also not looking for 160mm of travel per se more looking to retain the axle to crown length for the geo. But if the fork would be prone to flex (I am heavy) and compression dive the cons start to out weigh the benefits. I was just considering this because the fork in its current setup isn’t being used. I may just sell it. I was just thinking if I bumped it to 160mm I would have a working back up fork for when I needed to swap out the 140mm 29’er pike currently on the bike. Realistically the frequency of that would be pretty rare.
 
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