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Old 07-24-10 | 05:52 PM
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BCRider
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Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 5,559
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From: The 'Wack, BC, Canada

Bikes: Norco (2), Miyata, Canondale, Soma, Redline

Yep, something is messed up in the specs you read. Besides, 65cm is only 25.5 inches length. That's not anywhere near long enough to be an overall length.

To get back to your fork replacement measurements...... There's two imporant sizes to be concerned with. First is to measure your present steerer length from the upper base of the fork crown to the top of your stem. That, less about 2 mm, is the absolute minimum steer tube length you need if buying a used fork. Do NOT be tempted to go with a shorter one unless you're SURE you will be comfy removing some spacers and leaning forward more. The second one is the crown to dropout measurement. Measure your present fork from the top of the crown where the lower bearing race is pressed on down to the center of the wheel axle. You do not want to deviate more than about 10 to 15 mm from that measurement or funky things will begin to start happening with your steering. Mountain bike frames are designed to work with a particular length of fork leg. The more the travel the longer the leg. But if your frame is not intended to work with that length of leg then the steering geometry will be affected. Typically folks want to go to a longer travel fork. Doing so by more than a small amount will produce a tendency to want to flop into a turn at slow speeds and stand the bike up and a slow to turn effect at higher speeds. To avoid all this you want to stick to the overall travel and length of fork that the frame was designed to handle.
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