What is wheel travel?

portland_bill
portland_bill Posts: 287
edited June 2011 in MTB workshop & tech
I'm not really very clued up on suspension, but my forks are bottoming out far too easily, so I'm looking on the TF Tuned website, I'm going to ring them tomorrow, but their site has a spring calculator on it, but they ask for wheel travel... What the heckins is that?

Comments

  • JamieRa
    JamieRa Posts: 82
    what forks are they?
    travel means the amount of distance the forks can travel before bottoming out.
  • warpcow
    warpcow Posts: 1,448
    It's just how much suspension the fork has; i.e. 80mm, 100mm, etc.

    It's because some suspension designs use a shock that differs in length from how far the wheel can actually move, but it's not important for the overwhelming majority of modern forks.
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  • portland_bill
    portland_bill Posts: 287
    I thought that was shock stroke?

    They ask for that too.

    Forks are Rock Shox Dart 3. Think they're bloody awful myself, but my mate reckons all I need is a stiffer spring..
  • nicklouse
    nicklouse Posts: 50,675
    in your case stroke and travel are the same.

    the calculator is for working out the rear springs not the front.
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  • portland_bill
    portland_bill Posts: 287
    Ah, nice one. Phone call it is then...

    Cheers!
  • warpcow
    warpcow Posts: 1,448
    PDF chart of RS fork springs if that helps:

    http://www.sram.com/_media/pdf/service/coil_spring_chart.pdf
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  • getonyourbike
    getonyourbike Posts: 2,648
    Portland Bill wrote:
    Forks are Rock Shox Dart 3. Think they're bloody awful myself, but my mate reckons all I need is a stiffer spring..
    Might as well get new forks, they are awful. Clunky rebound etc. Don't go off what your mate says, if you don't like then, you don't like them.
  • portland_bill
    portland_bill Posts: 287
    To be fair, my mate's ridden at competition level for years and his theory is that the majority of shocks out of the box are sh1te so there's no point in paying out for a new set of forks only to find you've got the same problem.

    I've done a little research today (didn't take long to be honest) and think I should try the firm spring from my shocks first. At £15, it's a cheaper test than running out and spending £300 on a decent pair of forks.

    You are absolutely right about the rebound though. Really jittery. Loads of stiction. Both my mates' bikes are like armchairs in comparison, and what's worse, is I'm actually on my second set of them because the first ones that came with the bike had a problem with the chrome peeling off the stanchions after only a few months and not very much use. These ones had a couple of big days just before winter last year, have been parked up over most of winter, and had about 4 or 5 big days, and I'm already seeing traces of oil on the left stanchion. :?

    Anyway, I'm gonna give the firm spring a shot and see what the difference is, and if not then I might consider getting different forks.

    I'm looking to buy a road bike first though, so they'll have to do for a while.

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