I might as well post up (again) with my thoughts. They pretty much agree with what you've learned. I'm also 5 10 on a medium Epi and a 90 by 5 degree stem. When i first bought the frame in 07, i put my old 02 Vanilla on it, set at 125mm and all was good (cept the fork was worn out). Then i finally got my hands on the previous model year's (06) Vanilla, which had 130mm travel, and this was great handling-wise but the fork had several issues (creaking crown, malfunctioning compression damper, clunking at the end of rebound). Fox replaced it under warranty with a Van 140. Nice fork, but i felt like crap on my Epi. Steering was slow and floppy, bike felt 'stilty', couldn't keep the front wheel planted on steep climbs. I was dismayed to learn that, for the first time since its inception, that the Vanilla's travel was no longer internally adjustable. STUPID!
anyway, I finally swapped the Van 140 for my U-turn Pike on my 'freeride' bike and all has been great ever since (except for the loss in front end stiffness on my other bike). I run the Pike (which is an awesome fork) generally at 120mm which is pretty much the same a-2-c as the Vanilla 130. Sometimes i will make it a little higher for extended technical downhills and i lower it for the really, really, really steep climbs that i love trying.
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anyway, I finally swapped the Van 140 for my U-turn Pike on my 'freeride' bike and all has been great ever since (except for the loss in front end stiffness on my other bike). I run the Pike (which is an awesome fork) generally at 120mm which is pretty much the same a-2-c as the Vanilla 130. Sometimes i will make it a little higher for extended technical downhills and i lower it for the really, really, really steep climbs that i love trying.
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