Mountain Biking - Fork upgrade

I have a '97 Rocky Mtn Cardiac. Nice light cromoly frame (2.1 kg), and I would like to upgrade the front forks. This bike came with either a cromoly fork or a Rock Shox with 48 mm of travel). Any advice on the effect of fork length on frame geometry would be appreciated. I presume it is best to keep the fork travel to a minimum, but most forks I look at seem to have somewhere between 80 and 100mm of travel. Any thoughts of the effect of 80 mm of travel? Thanks.

I have a 150 mm travel fork on mine now. It came with a 120 mm. It changed the stand-over height about 1½" making it tough for me to stradle the bike on a hill. It also raised my riding position somewhat, which I considered a good thing, since I don't have bar ends installed.
I'd go with a good quality fork in that range you mentioned 80-100, unless you want to get into jumping. Any fork can work for you as long as you don't mind a little change. Sometimes for the better....

An 80mm fork would be overkill for a bike designed around a 48mm travel fork.

Do you know of any good forks that would be appropriate?

I have a 150 mm travel fork on mine now. It came with a 120 mm. It changed the stand-over height about 1½" making it tough for me to stradle the bike on a hill. It also raised my riding position somewhat, which I considered a good thing, since I don't have bar ends installed.
I'd go with a good quality fork in that range you mentioned 80-100, unless you want to get into jumping. Any fork can work for you as long as you don't mind a little change. Sometimes for the better....


Is that a RM Cardiac you have that came with a 120mm fork? What year is it?

Is that a RM Cardiac you have that came with a 120mm fork? What year is it?

He owns a Haro.