Is a 20mm axle overkill for 29er trail bike?

hard-rider

Ok. I guess I'll have to call the store and ask so I can order the spacer if required.

jairaj

I've lost track of which exact forks you're talking about.

But note the new solo air forks cannot be lowered with spacers. It requires a new spring assembly.

rockmonkeysc

29er Revs are proper flexy whatever axle they have.

benpinnick

FWIW I would seriously consider some XFusions for around the same price. Ive been testing some Velvets for a month or so and I am impressed.

hard-rider

jairaj wrote:

I've lost track of which exact forks you're talking about.

But note the new solo air forks cannot be lowered with spacers. It requires a new spring assembly.

These were the ones I'm leaning towards at the moment. They are 2012 models. Does the new spring assembly apply to these too?

hard-rider

benpinnick wrote:

FWIW I would seriously consider some XFusions for around the same price. Ive been testing some Velvets for a month or so and I am impressed.

Thanks I'll take a look at those.

RockmonkeySC wrote:

29er Revs are proper flexy whatever axle they have.

Rockmonkey, do you speak from experience? I didn't really notice them flexing on the demo bike I rode that had them on but then it I was only on the trails for around 90 minutes so probably not enough time to really feel it as I was mainly concentrating on the frame I was testing.

jairaj

hard-rider wrote:

These were the ones I'm leaning towards at the moment. They are 2012 models. Does the new spring assembly apply to these too?

Dual Air ones can be reduced with the addition of spacers but double check with CRC they are not a weird OEM version.

I've not tried the Rev in 29er format but I have a 26er version and its far from flexy for trail riding. It might not be the stiffest in the world but I would not describe it as flexy. I'm not super light and don't have a super smooth style but I find it fine and I do ride it hard at times. Unless you really intend to give it a battering I think they'll be fine. But then if you really intend to give it a battering surely you want a longer travel frame/bike?

milfredo

.blitz wrote:

hard-rider wrote:

I currently ride a 100mm Recon and haven't found any problems with flex

You probably won't because it's what your used to. I was the same - it's not until you ride something that goes exactly where you point it that you realise you are doing all the right things at the bars but the front wheel is doing its own thing because the forks aren't controlling it. It's not even a question of riding hard it simply allows your bike and suspension to perform as it should without smearing and pinging off every obstacle whether its a big drop or a simply a rutted stretch of doubletrack

imho you have nothing to lose by going for a 20mm axle you won't regret it.

What forks do you use? I've got some revs with 20mm axle and have noticed some flex since getting my much stiffer wheels. I've heard the Fox 32 150 are even worse so was ebbing towards BOS.

Northwind

20mm is never overkill, it's the best of the axle standards, for all but superlight XC forks (and even then it's marginal). No real drawback- tiny weight penalty (people tend to forget that you need to compare a 20mm fork + axle with a QR fork + QR and that narrows the gap to around 40g over QR. Most years, 20mm Maxle Lite was lighter than Fox QR15, people just fell for "smaller is lighter". And though the hubs can be smaller with QR, if you use a changable hub it's all the same.

But whether it's worth the drawback of hub compatability is a different question.

As for noodliness of forks, I've not used the 29er Rev but comparing like with like the 26er one is massively stiffer than the 32 equivalent.