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100mm vs 120mm rear travel for endurance race bike

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keifla123

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Discussion starter · #1 ·
I am working through the details of having a custom full suspension frame built for the 2017 race season. I currently am racing 6 hour events on a Stumpjumper carbon HT with a 90mm travel fork. My plan was to have a 100mm travel full suspension frame built up to replace the hard tail as I would like to gain some headroom for descending along with just being more comfortable on 6 hour and 100 mile races if that is a thing.

I had a good conversation with the builder today regarding geometry and travel amount. He suggested a 120mm travel frame but I am worried that will be overkill for my purposes. At the same time I don't want to be wishing for more travel as soon as I build the bike.

Assuming a single pivot rear suspension design using the RS Monarch XX with hydraulic lock out what are the thoughts from those far more experienced that I with regard to rear travel?
 
#2 ·
Who is the frame builder? I think the suspension design/shock tuning has much more of an influence than simply travel, 120mm bikes can pedal well. If i was building an all out endurance race bike without some of the high tech stuff like specialized brain/trek reaktiv or complex suspensions (dwlink) i would go 100mm. XX locks it out sure, but many times it's nice to climb with the suspension active(think rooty or chunky climb). Modern geo might make the bike better at descending than simply adding 20mm of travel as well (look at the asrc)

Does the builder have a demos you could?
 
#4 ·
Why do you want to buy a custom bike in this category of bikes that has so many amazingly good options? It kind of seems a bit absurd to me really unless it a unique fit situation.
 
Discussion starter · #7 ·
dfishdesign said:
I totally agree...but I'm sure he has his reasons
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In short there is no bike on the market that offers all the features that I am looking for. If I waited another year or two there very well maybe the perfect bike that is an off the peg offering as things are moving in the direction that I am looking for both in terms of geometry and tire clearance.

If I wanted to tolerate the longer travel trail bikes there are options that come pretty close but I really do not have a need for the extra travel. In the end the custom frame will weigh a bit more but cost no more than an off the peg carbon frame and that is the main reason I am considering it.
 
#8 ·
I'm a 120 guy all the way (Fuel EX with Reaktiv rear shock).

IMO, in your situation, you should either stick with 100 in back and 120 up front, or go with a 3-position rear shock (CTD or whatever the nomenclature is these days).

With a single pivot rear end, there are going to be a lot of places on a lot of endurance race courses where the middle position will be best.
 
#9 ·
kosmo said:
I'm a 120 guy all the way (Fuel EX with Reaktiv rear shock).

IMO, in your situation, you should either stick with 100 in back and 120 up front, or go with a 3-position rear shock (CTD or whatever the nomenclature is these days).

With a single pivot rear end, there are going to be a lot of places on a lot of endurance race courses where the middle position will be best.
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Looks like Walt includes either a CTD or RS Monarch in the base price, 100 upcharge for the Cane Creek DBInline. Any of those will have perfectly good platform.

I'd go with 120 as kosmo does. But that said, I'm currently on a bike with 100mm rear 120 front and I'm super happy with it.

I don't think you can really go wrong with 100 or 120, but be aware that a slightly longer travel rear end isn't going to add much (any?) weight, and with platform you can totally manage how much it actuates. If you want it tighter for some particular day you could just put 20 or so extra ft pounds of air in the shock.

Good luck!
 
#10 ·
I would go with 120mm. Walt made a bike where you could change out the rocker arms and change the travel. Giff's Switch-hitter
Changing the travel on that bike seems to be tied to also changing the wheel size, but I don't think it would necessarily have to be. I think you could put adjustable dropouts on in way that you could change the travel and keep the bottom bracket height close.

I really like the suspension on my 120mm full suspension Waltworks, but I'm running a 1x11 drivetrain. If you want to run 2 chainrings then I don't think the single pivot would work as well. And there are other geometry and clearance compromises if you have to run a front derailer.
 
#11 ·
Riding steel hardtails forever, I finally got a 100mm FS bike for racing a couple years ago. It's been great and I've been happy with that amount of travel. 100 or 120mm should be fine, I'd think about how smooth vs rough your trails are and how much you value pedalling efficiency vs traction/comfort/DH fun. A well designed bike with either 100 or 120mm should work fine for what you're looking for.

Definitely worth making sure the shock is custom valved for the bike geometry, your weight and riding style. Frame builder should take care of that with you.

Getting a new bike is always fun, good luck!
 
#12 · (Edited)
Single pivot 120mm bikes can be just as efficient and effective as a short link bike (dw, vpp, fsr). It's all about pivot location, saying that a DW link or VPP or (insert your favorite here), pedals better than any other is absurd. It's all about the implementation of the fundamental design.

Sooo..if the pivot location lends to good pedaling performance, I'd go 120mm...if not, then I'd go 100mm, where the short travel limits your losses and keeps the geometry where you want it when the trail pitches up. But don't put all VPPs, all DW-Links, or all single pivots in the same bucket.
 
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