[john horscroft]

I hate Spec tyres, but there you go.  You pays your money, and gets punctures.

Must be the way you ride Norton old chap.  I haven't had a puncture in months - ride like a butterfly, crash like a bastard, that's me............

[john horscroft]

It currently rides way better than I do. [/quote]
Bloody hell, don't they all Joe!!

Don't know about max and min fork heights, I'm guessing it's very much down to personal taste.  From my experience, I'd say go for it.  Friend of mine's just bought some Pikes and put them on his Orange P7 - loves it.  They're adjustable, so you can play around until you get the right 'feel'.  And after all, it's only money and your bike is the most important thing in your life, isn't it?

[cofe]

I hate Spec tyres, but there you go.  You pays your money, and gets punctures.

Must be the way you ride Norton old chap.  I haven't had a puncture in months - ride like a butterfly, crash like a bastard, that's me............

First puncture in 18 months on Monday. Picture the scene; me, staring blankly at wheel, spare tube, tyre levers and pump........

[Norton Sharley]

Hi all money spending time, maybe... I have seen some Pike 456's for 350 sheets. They have 95 - 140 travel. Now two things:
1 my current forks are Manitou blacks with 90-120 travel will the extra travel fuck up my geometry?
2 Are Pikes any good?

What are you riding Joe?  I went from 130 Manitou Black on my Scott MC50 to 145 Nixons and it was a major improvement.  Slackened the head angle a bit and stopped the bike being so twitchy.  Doesn't mean it'll dio the samd for you obviously, hence my original question.  How's your current rig ride?

Its an '04 Enduro. It currently rides way better than I do. The extra travel will as I read it slacken the head angle at full extension and tighten it up at the other end. The question is for a given head angle what is the maximum ridable fork height? I realise in asking this that to some extent this is personal but there must be maximums and minimums.

20mm additional travel will feel different, but not enough to be seriously detrimental to your bike's handling, probably.  33% or so of that 20mm will get used up in sag (the amount the forks drop when you sit on the bike) so the front will only be 10mm or so higher than previously having taken into account the sag and the  head angle - you don't add 20mm of height by adding a 20mm longer fork.  You may want to get a new stem or bars to reduce that back to get the same ride position with the added benefit of spending more dosh on your steed 

An '04 bike is likely to have a slacker head angle than a modern bike anyway so upping the fork length by 20mm should be fine.  The question is whether the frame welds can take the extra load imposed.  You'll soon know whether this is the case or not 

I've got an old set of 130mm Vanilla's you are welcome to bang onto the bike to try.  As usual installation costs could be repaid in the Rising Sun 

[chappers]

any one got any views on the hand built wheels that chain reaction cycles turn out??

[Joepicalli]

Hi all money spending time, maybe... I have seen some Pike 456's for 350 sheets. They have 95 - 140 travel. Now two things:
1 my current forks are Manitou blacks with 90-120 travel will the extra travel fuck up my geometry?
2 Are Pikes any good?

What are you riding Joe?  I went from 130 Manitou Black on my Scott MC50 to 145 Nixons and it was a major improvement.  Slackened the head angle a bit and stopped the bike being so twitchy.  Doesn't mean it'll dio the samd for you obviously, hence my original question.  How's your current rig ride?

Its an '04 Enduro. It currently rides way better than I do. The extra travel will as I read it slacken the head angle at full extension and tighten it up at the other end. The question is for a given head angle what is the maximum ridable fork height? I realise in asking this that to some extent this is personal but there must be maximums and minimums.

20mm additional travel will feel different, but not enough to be seriously detrimental to your bike's handling, probably.  33% or so of that 20mm will get used up in sag (the amount the forks drop when you sit on the bike) so the front will only be 10mm or so higher than previously having taken into account the sag and the  head angle - you don't add 20mm of height by adding a 20mm longer fork.  You may want to get a new stem or bars to reduce that back to get the same ride position with the added benefit of spending more dosh on your steed 

An '04 bike is likely to have a slacker head angle than a modern bike anyway so upping the fork length by 20mm should be fine.  The question is whether the frame welds can take the extra load imposed.  You'll soon know whether this is the case or not 

I've got an old set of 130mm Vanilla's you are welcome to bang onto the bike to try.  As usual installation costs could be repaid in the Rising Sun 

I shall take you up on that Norton. I'll see how she runs with the longer forks and then make an informed purchasing descision.

[fatdoc]

I'd go for the 32 vans..

I've broken every set of air Pikes I've had.. fair weather forks. ( 3 sets in as many months IIRC)

coil pikes are awesome.. but noticably heavy. I have a set unserviced for 4 years.. work fine!
Coli forks work better, feel better and if you tolerate the weight you'll get a bargain of norton... however factor in a quality service to your budget.

only air adjust forks i'd consider are Fox Talas.. which have sky rocketed in price and are rarely seen for sale second hand.. unlike Pikes.

[Bubba]

I've broken every set of air Pikes I've had.. fair weather forks. ( 3 sets in as many months IIRC)

coil pikes are awesome.. but noticably heavy. I have a set unserviced for 4 years.. work fine!
Coli forks work better, feel better and if you tolerate the weight you'll get a bargain of norton... however factor in a quality service to your budget.

I've not used air Pikes but my coil ones are going fine after at least 2 years fairly constant use with no servicing so would echo the Doc's recommendation for coilers.

[Norton Sharley]

And another reason we all like coil sprung front ends is that with a linear spring rate the front end doesn't dive as much on initial compression effectively holding up the front end so you are less likely to go over the bars due to the dive.  (Forget this if you own Talas allegedly 'linear' air springs).

Would Mr Picalli and Mr Barker please form an orderly queue for testing.

[fatdoc]

Talas. ESP the 2008 and even better the 2009 ones don't dive like other air forks. By god you pay for it mind..

[cofe]

anyone got any particular brake recommendations? i'm getting hacked off with mine (hayes nines) and LBS seem to think trying to sort them is more hassle than it's worth. they're no good for endos. no good.

shimano saint any good? hope? avid? my riding style is basically flashdance fused with mc hammer shit, if that helps.

[Bubba]

Shimano Saint's on my DH bike are exceptional, but they've been on for a few years now and are the old 2 pot versions. Even for a fat lad like me in the alps, they were still fine for 1 finger braking near the bottom of runs (203mm front rotor). Extremely low maintenance requirements and don't bind/seize/need bleeding anywhere near as much as the Hayes on the Chameleon)

Not tried the newer 4 pots but they sound good.

[john horscroft]

I second Bubba's call on the Saints.  Mate of mine's got them and rates them.  In fact, any shimano brakes as far as I'm concerned - I've had a set of bog standard Shimano Deore on mine for five years.  Easiest brakes in the world to bleed, no maintenance issues and they work.  Compare that to my missus experience with Avid's, (two different versions of the 5's) which have been a nightmare............

[fatdoc]

norton & I use Hopes.. so does fbsf.

I hve destroyed them ( as near all else) in the past.. however the rebuild on Hopes is well easy.

the new v2s have the best lever adjust /  never going to rip the lever off & spill oil design out there. I recently combined them with Hope Ti 6 calipers.. most modular brake I've ever used. Not like hayes / avids.. not on  / off.

recommended, esp with your 18bikes discount 

[cofe]

groovy. i'm going to spend a bit of time educating myself but hope or shimano do seem to be the way to go...