Originally Posted by Morbo

So, I've got an old frame, but I really like it. It's a Litespeed (titanium) hard-tail. Most of the components are high-end. I really like the bomb-proof nature of a titanium hard-tail frame. BUT.....here's my problem- the head-tube angle is 71.5 (like I said, old school) and the bike was originally intended to use a 80mm travel fork. Well, I'm running 100mm now...and have no problems. In fact, I used to run 140mm Fox and that didn't seem to be much problem either. The reason that I'm even bothering with this is because I recently went to Utah and did some fairly technical riding with a buddy. The really steep and rocky descents....to put it mildly....scared the ($(@# out of me !! I felt like the bike wanted to endo too often. I could feel the back-end wanting to come up a bunch of times (and it did once). Meanwhile, my buddies were bombing right through those spots with their modern head-tube angles and 140mm or 160mm travel forks, seemingly without a thought or concern.