Fox 36 forks on chameleon

phonic73

Pondering on getting some better forks than my rock shox revelation 150's. I find the 150mm travel enough but fancy something beefier on my Santa cruz chameleon.

The way my bike handles present is great, so do I go for the Fox Talas 160mm and wind them down to 120mm and add a few spacers to bring stem up to the difference that it's at now, or the 180mm ones and wind them down permanently to 140mm?

Not sure which way would work better, any ideas?

nicklouse

what is wrong with the revs?

the first option will have a bike that feels nothing like now.

and the second is adding weight for no reason.

phonic73

I find they flex quite a bit under braking, that could be combination of my brakes too though I guess, avid elixir 5's. 185mm rotors front and back.
Thinking now though, maybe the 180,s may be overkill and yeah, a fair bit of added weight.

Chunkers1980

Brakes as such don't make things flex.

What axel do the revs have?

phonic73

Just on a 9mm quick release.

styxd

Your forks flex because they are very long. The best thing to do would be to adjust the travel to somewhere around the 100mm to 120mm mark. Not only will this reduce flex, your bike will also handle properly aswell!

phonic73

Thinking I can save extra weight elsewhere (ie me LOL) , but Im on the lines of thinking now the 36 TALAS 160 FIT RLC wound down to 120mm, failing that just stick with a 120-130mm fork. Might start looking at the DT swiss stuff now too.

styxd

Dont bother with the Talas if you dont need the travel adjustment. Just buy some floats and use the spacers to set them to 120mm.

Or get some Rock Shox Lyrik Coil Uturns.

The cheaper and better option for you though, is as you say, lose some weight.

phonic73

Lol, cheers styxd

To be fair, money isnt an issue, just a stiffer front end is what I'm after. Ooooer misses !!?
I'll check the lyriks out.

styxd

If you want travel adjust, get the Lyriks. A better option than the 36 Talas I think.

phonic73

Travel adjust doesn't fuss me too much to be honest. Ability to lock em out for climbing is important though.

styxd

Lyriks have the floodgate dial so you can effectively lock them out

supersonic

Most fore/aft flex comes from the steerer/crwon interface. Larger stanchions don't always help here.

phonic73

Hmm, food for thought. So ok, lets try another approach, what would peoples recommendations be for a better fork than my Rock Shox Revelations 150 RLC's, for a "do it all" Chameleon, All mountain, XC, dirt etc.

Looking for improved control, less flex, good weight although not massively important...

supersonic

If yyou want all round better stiffness then the Lyrik or Fox 36 with bolt through, but will be a pound heavier or so. Can you fit a Ragley headset and get a tapered steerer on your bike?

phonic73

supersonic wrote:

If yyou want all round better stiffness then the Lyrik or Fox 36 with bolt through, but will be a pound heavier or so. Can you fit a Ragley headset and get a tapered steerer on your bike?

My chameleon is a 2011 model frame, just plain 1/18th all the way, wont take tapered, well, as far as Im aware it wont.

supersonic

1 1/8th external or internal (Zersostack)?

phonic73

Hmmm, Id say internal, but im not 100% sure. I found this though on Evans cycles website about spec...

Headset:Cane Creek S3 1 1/8 or Cane Creek custom tapered

Hmmm

Shaggy_Dog

supersonic wrote:

If yyou want all round better stiffness then the Lyrik or Fox 36 with bolt through, but will be a pound heavier or so. Can you fit a Ragley headset and get a tapered steerer on your bike?

Chameleon has a traditional 1 1/8 head tube so a tapered steerer wouldn't be an option although I agree it would be the solution. If money isn't the issue, maybe consider buying yourself a new frame like an On-One 456 carbon and a tapered fork. It makes a big difference.

Dave_P1

I would stick with a 100 - 125mm fork on a hardtail, no need for anything bigger.

delcol

my brother just sold his chameleon frame and fork. had since 07 with 36 talas rc2.

in my opinion the chameleon was better with talas rc2's it slackend the headangle off nicely to make it a true trail singletrack bitch.... it still climbed well and descending was awesome.. and with the 20mm through axel it stiffend the front end nice....

you say recomend me a good fork and money aint really an object then you wont go wrong with a set of bos devilles on your chameleon...
my bro just stuck a pair of these beasts on his chromag.. they are the plush and i mean silky silky smooth...... the best forks i ever ridden.....

phonic73

Funny you mention the bos devilles, I was just looking at them, look pretty nice.

DCR00

phonic73 wrote:

The way my bike handles present is great

If it aint broke....

1mancity2

phonic73 wrote:

To be fair, money isnt an issue, just a stiffer front end is what I'm after. Ooooer misses !!?
I'll check the lyriks out.

Any 34-36mm fork with a bolt through axle will be stiffer, I had revs and found they flexed in the corners so I have gone onto 160mm Coil Domains with a 15mm axle, heavy,small bump sensitivity is pants but stiff as hell and take the hits and they are buttery smooth on the big stuff.

delcol

the devilles do look nice but feel even better,, i bet a set of 160 on the chameleon would bring it alive. for trail and am riding.... i just wish i could afford a pair for my chromag.. but that aint gonna happen just yet....

a piccy of the devilles on the chromag, to show you how sweet they look....
http://s258.photobucket.com/albums/hh27 ... G_3130.jpg

phonic73

Ooooh those Bos's do look rather nice. Highly tempted now. Cheers for all the replies and info onthis.

delcol

no worries.... go on get them you know you want to.........