Bicycle Mechanics - Going to longer travel fork questions.

Hello all, based on a post in the MTB area I have a question that I hope can be answered here. I have a '97 GT Zaskar that currently has a Rock Shox Judy XC fork with 63mm of travel. I am looking at upgrading to a new fork in the next year and was wondering how bad the handling would be changed by going to a longer travel fork. I am undecided between a 80mm or 100 mm fork. My main concerns are if going with the 100mm fork will place to much stress on the headtube and thus damage the frame. One of the forks that I am looking at is the Rock Shox Reba U-Turn fork that I could change the travel on from 85mm to 115mm. Any thoughts or experiences with this kind of upgrade it would be great to hear from you.


Scott

Going to an 80 would produce minimal issues but going up to 100 will lift the front and can alter the front end geometry enough that the steering feels odd. Part of this will depend on the new fork's rake offset compared to the old ones and what this does to your front end trail measurement. Finding out how this will change will require some fancy measuring in volving extending the steer tube axis to the ground intercept point and measuring back to the tire's contact patch center point for each option and comparing that to stock.

But generally I'd suggest that you should stick with forks that are close to the original and you'll be OK. 63 to 80 is not even a 1 inch rise so the changes will be minimal.

BCRider,
That is kind of what I figured. I just wanted to see what others have experienced in regards to going with a longer travel fork.

If anyone else has anything to add I would be glad to hear from you.


Scott