Adjustable travel forks

Belv

Does anyone feel they really take advantage of this feature?

I have just been for a test ride on a bike with some and all it seemed to do was remove the last section of travel making it possible to bottom them out. Had it removed the first (softest) part, i could see the point a little bit more but wouldn't you just have them on full travel all the time anyway?

nicklouse

what forks were you trying as it sounds like they were poorly set up.

Belv

The forks were RST Gila-TC (<Travel control, clever eh?!). The whole machine was only £400 so i wasn't expecting too much but the 'feature' just seemed useless.

nicklouse

there is a Gilla with adjustable travel!

was not aware of one and can not find on in the 2007-9 products.

Are you sure it was travel control?

wordnumb

It's a useful but not essential feature. On longer rides with tough climbs late in the day's riding it feels good to reduce travel.

But yeah, they shouldn't bottom out on any setting.

Belv

nicklouse wrote:

there is a Gilla with adjustable travel!

was not aware of one and can not find on in the 2007-9 products.

Are you sure it was travel control?

Yep, written on the inside of the left leg is "Travel Change: 60-100mm"

And it's definitely not an 08 or 09 model bike, I assumed it was on 07 but obviously not.

grantway

Only time i feel adjustable travel is needed would be if it was a 160mm fork
and I was going up hill then Yer wind the beast down.

europeandy

I use the travel adjust on mine, helps keep the front down on the climbs

GT Destroyer

I agree with Andy - I have 140mm Pikes, I love being able to wind them down for the uphills, if I forget to do it the front wheel often lifts up off the floor when I'm climbing (only when its really steep) But I definately do use the travel adjust.

supersonic

The difference is with RS forks is that the spring rate alters as you change the travel - they get stiffer the lower they ore. Not so with RST - it just alters fork length and hence travel, but the spring feels the same.

stumpyjon

I love my TALAS RL 32s on my Stumpy. I'm always changing the travel on the climbs from 140mm down to 100mm. It's so easy to do whilst riding as well once you've got used to it.

That said I have 100mm fixed Reba Teams on the Kinesis and so far haven't done too bad on the climbs, seem to be able to keep the front down despite having no travel adjust. So maybe the rest of the bike also affects how useful travel adjust is (the Stumpy would be a pain without it).

clarkson

same with my 36's. on long climbs i wind them down to bring the front end out of the clouds, but woith my rebas theres no need. the head angle is steep enough anyway; just dial in some compressiion damping.

Belv

supersonic wrote:

The difference is with RS forks is that the spring rate alters as you change the travel - they get stiffer the lower they ore. Not so with RST - it just alters fork length and hence travel, but the spring feels the same.

Yes, that sounds like the problem.

Thank you everyone for your experiences. It sounds like it does have its place then.