I'm between getting a Fox Vanilla or a Talus. I know I should go with the Vanilla to match the coil spring in the rear, but with my 4" fork I already run my bar high enough to make steady steep climbing a challenge. I know it will only get worse with a 5" fork so I'm tempted by the Talus so I can lower the front on extended climbs but I've never had a lockout or travel adjustment so I don't know if I'll use it. If you have a fork with travel adjustment, do you use it for climbing?
Do you use your Fork travel adjustment, Talus or other, to lower front for climbing?
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Yes
Kapusta
I have a TALAS on my Heckler and I do use the travel adjustment. If I am on a ride that is going to be climbing for an extended time an has steep sections, I will lower the fork. I don't generally bother for short climbs. I like the adjustment on the TALAS because changes the spring rate to match the travel.artnshel said:
Kapusta
I've owned several forks with adjustable travel and have never bothered. Had a Psylo SL and never bothered. Had a Z1 with ETA and never bothered with it. Now have a Minute 3 which I don't bother either. I guess I've always found it a waste of time to be messing with it or stop to make adjustments, ruins the flow. I just learned to shift my weight accordingly and just got used to it even on the steepest climbs. I'm also pretty tall though so even with a long travel fork my saddle tends to run pretty close to the bars even with risers. Its short travel forks I have problems with because the drop to the bars can be huge.
I'm 6' but with goofy long legs so my seat is always 3+ inches above my bars. I've never wanted a bike with a lockout or any other 'on the fly' stuff but I ride lots of steep stuff and find the higher my bars are the better I can decend, while the lower they are the better I can climb. The travel adj. seems like a path positions for good decending and good climbing, but it also seems like a gimmick.Hecubus said:
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143 Posts
Yes and No
I had a Manitou Black Platinum and never used the wind down travel. I didn't like the fact that I had to interupt the flow of my ride by stopping to wind down and wind up. I now have a Z1 SL and a Marathon SL and use the ECC5 all the time on steep/long climbs. This is because it is a easy half twist of a knob that can be done without stopping even on techical terrain or at high speeds.
Tequila!
I had a Manitou Black Platinum and never used the wind down travel. I didn't like the fact that I had to interupt the flow of my ride by stopping to wind down and wind up. I now have a Z1 SL and a Marathon SL and use the ECC5 all the time on steep/long climbs. This is because it is a easy half twist of a knob that can be done without stopping even on techical terrain or at high speeds.
Tequila!
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391 Posts
Travel adjust isn't just for climbing.
It's there to help you change the geometry of your bike too.
I'm sure most of you know that a bike with a head angle of 65" is going to turn very poorly in tight turns. THere's no way aorund it.
No use travel adjust and add 3 or 4 degrees to your head angle and your now able to turn on a dime, which is great for crowded city riding, tight single track, or wherever you need quick turning but not a lot of travel. Also, lowering the shock also helps in navigating uphill through rocks and roots, becasue the bike turns with more response.
I have an MX COMP ETA and use the ETA all the time. It's more than a climbing aid.
It's there to help you change the geometry of your bike too.
I'm sure most of you know that a bike with a head angle of 65" is going to turn very poorly in tight turns. THere's no way aorund it.
No use travel adjust and add 3 or 4 degrees to your head angle and your now able to turn on a dime, which is great for crowded city riding, tight single track, or wherever you need quick turning but not a lot of travel. Also, lowering the shock also helps in navigating uphill through rocks and roots, becasue the bike turns with more response.
I have an MX COMP ETA and use the ETA all the time. It's more than a climbing aid.
my take..
I can see the benefits of an adjustable fork, but I'm not sure I'd give up a coil spring for air. Also I tend not to like to interrupt the "flow" of a ride by playing with lockouts or adjusters. This sort of limits the adjustment for climbing to only the prolong grinder hills. In the rollers you end up with one setting or the over and I prefer to have the extra travel and work harder on the climbs. It's a hard call but if you don't think you'll mind an air fork the Talas gives you the most flexibility.
I can see the benefits of an adjustable fork, but I'm not sure I'd give up a coil spring for air. Also I tend not to like to interrupt the "flow" of a ride by playing with lockouts or adjusters. This sort of limits the adjustment for climbing to only the prolong grinder hills. In the rollers you end up with one setting or the over and I prefer to have the extra travel and work harder on the climbs. It's a hard call but if you don't think you'll mind an air fork the Talas gives you the most flexibility.
This is really the only reason I care about travel adjustable forks. I do change the geometry of my bikes fairly frequently depending of the trail or my riding mood. Its usually very usefull on bikes with rear travel adjustability too since you will end up either too slack or too steep of a head angle if you don't combine it properly with whats set in the back.BudhaGoodha said:
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Umm, to change your geometry 3 to 4 degrees you are going to have drop the ride hight of your fork 4-5 inches. Please do tell us how you do this with a fork that only has 4 inches to start with since it will be sagging 1 inch when in full travel mode to start.BudhaGoodha said:
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12,220 Posts
Nope.
I have/had 4 forks with travel features (Psylo, Firefly, and 2-Z150s) and don't use the travel adjust feature. The times I did use them I forgot about about them being on after the climb and was rudely reminded on the next severe downhill. When I'm riding, I've done all the suspension fiddling well before the ride that I want to mess with. I want to ride the bike, read the terrain, and just go. These doodads are pretty impressive engineering feats in my opinion, but I guess my mental status while I'm riding just kinda discards them. Today's forks work so well that I take them for granted once their set up to my liking, and I don't seem to use the external bells and whistles.artnshel said:
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I had an ajustable manitou black on my old giant and tried the whole change travel deal but I always forgot to change it back to full travel and found it so stiff on the rough decents.
I ride with a buddy with a Talus and he shortens it climbing and lets it out for decents.
I ride with a buddy with a Talus and he shortens it climbing and lets it out for decents.
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CDMC
I thought every 10mm of travel difference equals one degree on head angle change.
4 inches would add a lot more than 3 degrees i would think.
I thought every 10mm of travel difference equals one degree on head angle change.
4 inches would add a lot more than 3 degrees i would think.
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143 Posts
I've heard that it is 1 degree for every inch or 25.4mm of travel or am I drunk again?BudhaGoodha said:
I'm sure there are quite a lot of folks do not have 65 degree head angles. If someone is running something that slack, then yes, they need to shorten travel to quicken steering. However, they are probably pushing that 50 lb rig up the hill so there wouldn't be much bennefit of shortening travel for climbing.
I'm running 69.5 on my trail bike & 71 on my X/C and they handle perfect. The only real reason for travel adjustment is to keep the front wheel planted on steep climbs. Quicker steering side effect of this but it really isn't the main benefit.
Tequila!
I was all set to go with a vanilla but travel adjustmemt seems to work for lots of people and I think it would be useful as well. Now I'm looking for a good deal on a Fox Talus, darn they're expensive forks. Maybe I should wait for a nixon Elite coil. It'll be a bit heavier, 4.6lbs claimed, but it would be spring not air which would be good. The next Nixon up is the Super, it's air sprung, 4.2lbs and should have the cool bar mounted travel adjust but at $750 I doubt I'll bite.
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117 Posts
I dig my TALUS RLC ...
The travel adjust is great for climbs, it's light for a 5" fork, but my only beef is that with it is that with the 3mm clicks it takes multiple rotations of the dial to change from long to short travel. 3 or 4 settings would be ideal - so a rider could change the travel on the fly with a half turn's roataion of the top dial.
If you can find a TALUS for under 5 bills shipped, it's a deal - get it.
The travel adjust is great for climbs, it's light for a 5" fork, but my only beef is that with it is that with the 3mm clicks it takes multiple rotations of the dial to change from long to short travel. 3 or 4 settings would be ideal - so a rider could change the travel on the fly with a half turn's roataion of the top dial.
If you can find a TALUS for under 5 bills shipped, it's a deal - get it.
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