SF8 Raidon lod coil Travel/Banshee 09/10

chili85

Who knows the real fork travel of the raidon coil lod on 09/10 carrera banshee?
It's billed by halfords (groan) as having 140mm but the stanchions are only 150 and there is no way that i can get anymore out of it than 125mm with the compression wound right off and i'm 16 stone!!

I want to replace it without f'ing the geometry up so need a definitive answer and it isn't forthcoming from you know who.

nicklouse

measure the axle to crown length as that is more important than travel.

chili85

Cheers Nick, thats what i figured in the end but after a pair on ebay and its a pain in the arse asking every potential seller to measure. I want to run a Fox 32 or similiar from another brand but obviously 130mm not enough unless Halfords have got it wrong and it is only 125 in which case it would be cool.

supersonic

The forks have 140mm of travel.

chili85

Seriously? Have you had hold of a pair?
Reckon the only way to get that much out of them would smash them to pieces in the process.
I've gone down the route of asking for axle to crown measurement as i read the techy forum thread on those and the axel-crown length varies a fair bit for the same amount of travel. Is nothing standard?

supersonic

Yes. The full displacement is 140mm - many forks do struggle to reach max travel with dampers and springs in place though. And stanchions are generally 5-10mm longer than the max travel.

chili85

Ah i see, cheers for that. Explains why not the full travel and why it measures a whopping 545mm axel-crown.

supersonic

Yeah, that's pretty tall for a fork of that travel! Every 25mm change results in a 1 degree angle change - if you want a faster handling front end, maybe consider a shorter fork.

Anonymous

If you could compress the forks to full travel with just your weight, they wouldn't work on the trail. Any drop will magnify your load into the suspension.

chili85

supersonic wrote:

Yeah, that's pretty tall for a fork of that travel! Every 25mm change results in a 1 degree angle change - if you want a faster handling front end, maybe consider a shorter fork.

I know!! but i measured it correctly (about 6 times)
I take it thats 25mm in travel
If i went for a uturn 130mm travel then i could get away with it with faster handling as long as the axel-crown wasn't a dramatic difference?
Damn confusing just to upgrade a fork??

chili85

yeehaamcgee wrote:

If you could compress the forks to full travel with just your weight, they wouldn't work on the trail. Any drop will magnify your load into the suspension.

Yeeah, its after hard rides and slamming it not just pressing down.

supersonic

It is the axle to crown length that determines the angles - as you change travel, the a2c changes too on most forks.

Rockshox Tora 130mm forks have a a2c length of 510mm, so the static angles of your bike will be over a degree slacker.

Of course what sag you run has an effect how things feel on the bike, and how easily it compresses.

chili85

Spot on, thats the type of thing i'm looking for! Now how serious a change in turning is that going to make and also i dont want to feel like i'm going over the bars.

I fancy r.shox 426 dual air with 140mm travel and the a-c is 517. in your opinion is this a decent option? No point in upgrading if its going to make things a pain.

supersonic

Very nice fork, highly tunable and lightweight. Good option.

chili85

Cheers for all your help Only just got back into riding after 5yr break and first time i've been on here so its well appreciated, cheers