Have I bought the wrong forks?

Garett

Hi, I have ordered some Rock Shox Recon Gold Solo Air forks for my girlfriends 2011 Specialized Hard Rock. They are 80-120mm and were set to 100mm by the place we purchased them from.

When measured from the centre of the axle to the bottom of the steering tube they are 40mm taller than the 80mm forks that came on the bike.

When I ordered them I thought having them adjusted to 100mm would mean that they would only stand 20mm taller than the originals but they will be 40mm taller.

So my question is will an increase of 40mm be too much and will it make the bike steer and handle any differently? Or have any negative effects on how the bike rides?

Ta

supersonic

The crown to axle length can vary significantly, even with the same travel.

Try it and see. Will make the steering feel more stable, but slower.

Garett

Thanks for the quick reply. I'm just reading up on 'slack head angle' now.

Do you mean crown to axle length can vary significatly between different forks of the same travel?

We were comparing them with my 80-100mm (set at 100) 2011 Recon Golds, these are the 80-120mm (set at 100) 2012 Recon Golds so I thought they would be identical....

supersonic

Not always depends on the chassis, crown design and so on.

Though check they are not actually 120mm in travel.

Garett

Very good point! I have just de-pressurised them and I compressed them a full 120mm before they hit the bump stops so it looks like they were not adjusted!

Now the question is if they are correctly set at 100mm, will the stanchion sit further inside the slider and therefore reduce the overall height from axle to crown? Or will it remain the same height as it is now and just the stroke will be shorter?

The Rookie

Garett wrote:

Now the question is if they are correctly set at 100mm, will the stanchion sit further inside the slider and therefore reduce the overall height from axle to crown? Or will it remain the same height as it is now and just the stroke will be shorter?

The former, it moves the rebound stop to stop them extending as far.

Garett

Thanking you both muchly kind sirs! It was what I believed to be true but I doubted myself and thought the supplier had done what they were paid to do. They haven't so I will be straight on the phone tomorrow to get this sorted!