Originally Posted by
queerpunk
Before getting my 2013 Specialized Langster Pro, I too had concerns about the 73deg headtube being paired with a 45mm fork, and was planning on getting a 40mm fork for it to bring it to a more common pairing (the felt TK1, iirc, is 73deg/40mm).
But, with the 45mm fork, the trail value is still quite reasonable - 57mm - and i found that i don't notice anything unusual, unreliable, or unpredictable about how it handled on 43degree bankings. in fact, i prefer it to the 75/75deg bike with a 28mm fork that i had prior.
Specialized's production and supply processes, on the other hand...
Yeah, I ride it on 42.5 degrees banking and it seems fine to me.
The TK1 is actually 73.5 and 40 in the size 55. Which yields a trail of 58. The Specialized (my model year, 2009) is 74/43, which yields a trail of 52. So I guess my bike should be really twitchy? It is a little hard to ride no hands, but other than that it seems to perform just fine for me. I do have to keep both hands on the bars in the corners though or it wants to flop around some. I guess that's probably not good, but skill should take care of that.