how to lower my boxxer forks????

dirty face

I'm soon taking delivery of my new trek session 8. In some photos on the web of the bike for sale, its shows that some spacers are visible ABOVE the stem, therefore the forks are raised slightly. If this is how my bike will come as standard, how do I lower the forks so that there are no spacers ABOVE the stem, giving me maximun slack angle of the forks

(it looks odd with the steerer tube poking above the stem)

this is my first bike with dual crown forks so my description might be quite naive so any help will be great!

nicklouse

Err the spacers are nothing to do with fork length.

And is sounds like you are actually wanting to lengthen the forks? You can not. You can only change the psition that they are clamped in the crowns. BUT read the manual first about the tyre clearance and he crown clamping distance.

dirty face

here are a couple of pics of what i'm trying to say

in most dh bikes i've seen, the spacers do not stick up above the stem?????

386ka

It will make no difference to the angle...

dirty face

386ka wrote:

It will make no difference to the angle...

ok, thanks for the info, but can i still lower them to make the steerer tube/spacers flush with the stem?

dirty face

and will this raise the BB height?

benpinnick

As niclouse says, you can only change the angle/raise the bb by loosening off the crowns and pushing the stanchions further down, looks like you have about 3/4 of an inch you could play with - however, as the steerer tube looks short, definitely make sure you check the manual first incase this would put too much leverage on the stanchions. The stem spaces are only there in case you want to change stems and use a non-direct mount one, in which case you would need the extra length on the steerer - a little forward planning by trek.

dirty face

benpinnick wrote:

As niclouse says, you can only change the angle/raise the bb by loosening off the crowns and pushing the stanchions further down, looks like you have about 3/4 of an inch you could play with - however, as the steerer tube looks short, definitely make sure you check the manual first incase this would put too much leverage on the stanchions. The stem spaces are only there in case you want to change stems and use a non-direct mount one, in which case you would need the extra length on the steerer - a little forward planning by trek.

thanks, that makes sense as I too notice that there is a little bit of length to play with, my point is that i thought it looks quite odd having so much steerer tube above the stem. I will of course check the manual as you suggest.

386ka

It won't raise the BB height or anything. As said above, they are there if you choose to install non-direct mount stem. But if you don't, you can even cut the steerer tube to remove the spacers. I would leave it be.

sniper68

If it bothers you cut the excess off the steerer tube.Remove the fork measure and cut to length.
Rule is measure twice cut once.Cutting too short is a very expensive mistake :shock:
Once cut you cannot use anything other than a direct mount stem.

benpinnick

PS - love the bike.

nicklouse

dirty face wrote:

benpinnick wrote:

As niclouse says, you can only change the angle/raise the bb by loosening off the crowns and pushing the stanchions further down, looks like you have about 3/4 of an inch you could play with - however, as the steerer tube looks short, definitely make sure you check the manual first incase this would put too much leverage on the stanchions. The stem spaces are only there in case you want to change stems and use a non-direct mount one, in which case you would need the extra length on the steerer - a little forward planning by trek.

thanks, that makes sense as I too notice that there is a little bit of length to play with, my point is that i thought it looks quite odd having so much steerer tube above the stem. I will of course check the manual as you suggest.

The reason is because in is an integreated stem. Do you want to beable to sell the for on at any time? R use a normal steerer mounted stem? If yes then keep the spacers.

Remove them and cut the steerer if you want but I would use as is.

dusk

as above, they are doing nothing by being there but if you were ever to sell them your market would reduce in line with your steerer length (you wouldn't believe the trouble I had finding some triple clamps with a 200mm steerer!)

dirty face

thanks guys, if i can't lower the steerer then i will keep as is, just thought it looked a bit odd. But i read somewhere that you can lower the forks in the clamps.

dirty face

benpinnick wrote:

PS - love the bike.

thanks, but i havent bought it yet, that pic is from the web. i'm ordering next week and should have it in time for mis march, in fact, just about to book my first uplift at cwmcarn......can't wait!!

nicklouse

They hav nothing to do with the steerer.

Look at it and what it is attached to.

dirty face

nicklouse wrote:

They hav nothing to do with the steerer.

Look at it and what it is attached to.

not sure what you mean, please forgive my naivety, but surely the steerer is pushed up through the headtube, and the top crown is clamped to the steerer, then spacers added on top fllowed by the top cap. am i right in saying that i can remove the top cap, remove some spacers, lower the forks (and steerer) and replace top cap?

386ka

No. If I get you right, you want to put the spacers under the headtube to "lower" the forks? That can't be done, and isn't mean to be that way either!
Again, the excess of steerer is just in case if you want to install non-direct stem. As you can see, the handlebars are mounted directly to the fork crown, not to a classic stem.

dirty face

386ka wrote:

No. If I get you right, you want to put the spacers under the headtube to "lower" the forks? That can't be done, and isn't mean to be that way either!
Again, the excess of steerer is just in case if you want to install non-direct stem. As you can see, the handlebars are mounted directly to the fork crown, not to a classic stem.

ok, its prob just me being thick. thanks anyway. i understand the difference between a direct and non direct stem, but as i said, never seen one with so much steerer showing above the stem. i obviously got too much time on my hands to be concerned with stuff like that tho eh?

anyway, can't wait to get the bike!!! happy days

cooldad

All you can do by rearranging spacers is raise or lower the bars.
And looking at those, you have minimal adjustment.

nicklouse

cooldad wrote:

All you can do by rearranging spacers is raise or lower the bars.
And looking at those, you have minimal adjustment.

As he has not got the bike yet h does not even know how it feels or what may be needed to be done.

dirty face

nicklouse wrote:

cooldad wrote:

All you can do by rearranging spacers is raise or lower the bars.
And looking at those, you have minimal adjustment.

As he has not got the bike yet h does not even know how it feels or what may be needed to be done.

you're right, but as i said, i just thought it looked odd in the pic so wandered if it could be adjusted. obviously i will ride the bike before i decide to change anything. its a minor detail but it just stuck out to me, have a look at this pic and see the difference:

you can just about see the difference in that the steerer / spacers aren't poking above the stem as they are in the previous pics, which led me to believe that the forks could be dropped lower in the crown

benpinnick

Yeah, this One is running 2 spacers by the looks of it which means higher bars with steeper head angle.