Am i wasting my time

[jezrider]

Hi all,
Decided to get fit and enjoy some biking with the wife this summer, so rooted through the shed and dug out my 1995 Klein Pulse.

When i used to be heavily into MTB back in late 80's and early 90's, klein where the bike i always wanted. Fast forward to '95 and with a full time job i could afford one (just!). Fast forward to 2009 and the magic of google and i discover that the Klein frames were made by trek in this year and in general are out of favour - yes i have read the thread "Klein" on 3rd march.

Furthermore in my ebay hap-hazardness i have just purchased a set of RS Judy SL 80-115mm forks to replace the 60mm travel RS Indy C. Now i read that this affects the geometry and makes the bike handle crap.

i am only looking at doing some light XC work and enjoying myself, but have i started my project with a dud frame and i have made said dud frame even worse with my fork choice?


Cheers all

[anonymous-user]

i would not have thought that the Judys would make that much difference to the ride other than a bit more weight at the front. you can adjust the compression and rebound to suit your style.

i used to have a 95 cindercone with indy forks which was a great bike for liight xc stuff. just enjoy it. there is nothign like a good steel hardtail on a fire road!

[Sloe]

Your new forks maybe longer than those being replaced. If so, it will do two things, 1. slacken the head angle, therefore slowing down the steering and 2. raise the bar height. How much of an affect depends on the increased length of fork.

I had this with my bike two years ago when replacing 80mm SID's. I chose to use a shorter stem with a 0 degree rise to quicken the steering up a little and keep the bar height similar.

It not a perfect remedy but good enough for most situations I think.

Edited by Sloe for spelling on Wednesday 8th April 13:32

Edited by Sloe on Wednesday 8th April 13:33

[anonymous-user]

also have a look on www.retrobike.co.uk as someone else may have done a similar thing...

[jezrider]

Cheers for the advice guys. The forks turned up today, i would guess there is approx 30mm difference in them so i will change my stem and stuff which i no longer like anyway to accomodate this.

[mk1fan]

Why not just wind the forks down to 80mm travel? Then the A-C would be reduced down to the same as the out going forks.

[LRdriver II]

its not so much the travel that will dictate fork length, but the length from axle to fork crown race. Modern forks are pretty crap in that respect and tend to be very long as they must adjust the other way, short travel on a frame tweaked for longer travel.

[mk1fan]

Err... If you have a travel adjustable fork - ie: one with an adjuster that shortens the fork like U-Turn or Talas system - then as you reduce the travel you reduce the a-c height. This also applies to forks where you have to swap spacers round internally to change travel lengths - like Floats, Vanillas or SIDs.

If the a-c height measured by the OP at full travel (115mm) is 30mm longer than the old forks. Then by winding down the travel to 85mm they should measure the same a-c as the old forks. Thus retaining original geometry, gaining additional travel and the forks will be marginally stiffer due to the increased stantion overlap.

Also no need to change stem etc...

Simples

Edited by mk1fan on Wednesday 8th April 23:31

[Mr_C]

It'll ride fine.



Kleins are cool

[jezrider]

You have all made me feel better, i think i was reading too many forums and getting myself down, when i should of been on the bike riding the death out of it !!

New forks are now clean and cut to lenght, ready to rebuild the bike tonight. Can not wait!!!