Mountain Biking - installing rigid forks on frames designed for travel.

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BMonei
03-19-08, 09:59 AM
Is anyone familiar with taking older frames designed for front travel and putting rigid forks on them? Obviously, it all depends on what was on there originally, what's going on, etc. My only concern is completely screwing the geometry up and having a nice frame that rides like a clown bike. If it helps, here's the frame I have, and fork I plan to use:

Trek Bike Junks (http://www.trekbikes.com/us/en/bikes/2003/archive/elite98)

And the fork. (http://bikedoctorwaldorf.com/page.cfm?PageID=55&action=details&sku=FK0001)

rydaddy
03-19-08, 10:44 AM
You should be fine. The fork is suspension corrected.
pinkrobe
03-19-08, 12:14 PM
That Surly fork has a axle to crown length of 416mm. Compare that to a Sid [stock on that model of Trek] at ~440mm, and you're going to get an effective increase in head angle. It won't we huge, but you may notice it. Justsayinknowwhatimsayin?

never
03-19-08, 12:27 PM
In the Surly lineup, you'd be better off with this one to maintain similar geometry:

http://www.surlybikes.com/forks/Instigator_pop.html
pinkrobe
03-21-08, 11:30 PM
Yah, 447mm axle to crown. You can also get carbon for 3x [or more] the price but close to half the weight.
deraltekluge
03-22-08, 08:47 AM
That Surly fork has a axle to crown length of 416mm. Compare that to a Sid [stock on that model of Trek] at ~440mm, and you're going to get an effective increase in head angle. It won't we huge, but you may notice it. Justsayinknowwhatimsayin?Are you taking into account the static compression of the suspension fork? Don't they typically compress by about an inch just from the load of the rider? If so, that'd make the two just about equal.
pinkrobe
03-22-08, 11:50 AM
Are you taking into account the static compression of the suspension fork? Don't they typically compress by about an inch just from the load of the rider? If so, that'd make the two just about equal.

If I run an 80mm SID on a hardtail, it's going to be set up stiff, likely in the 0-5mm sag range. On my TALAS I run more sag, but I don't think I'd run 25mm of sag unless the fork had 6" of travel or more. YMMV...