Giant XTC Composite with 120mm Fork?

kevincabral

I've been trying to get a hold of Giant recently regarding if my frame can handle the 20mm extra travel. Seems they've been dodging me or something. The Giant dealers have been giving me mix answers. Yesterday I called and asked if my bike would handle the 20mm extra travel, the guy on the phone was very certain it would and won't void warranty. Then I called today just to make sure again, someone else was so anti extra 20mm. Was saying no it will void warranty this and that. So I don't know what to believe. Last year I did speak with Giant on facebook though and asked if my bike can handle the 120mm fork.

They replied with this: "To answer your question, yes it is possible to run a 120mm fork on that bike, it may affect the handling though as the geometry will be altered. The frame is designed to take both sizes, as long as you don’t go over that you shouldn’t have any problems with regard to your frame. Cheers!" This was back in May. I tried to contact them again recently through facebook to be 100% sure, no replies yet. So what do you think they mean with the message I got back?

I understand my bike is a XC racing style bike. Although I use it more for trail riding. Riding along my local bike trail and rock gardens with small drops maybe a foot or 2 high? The bike seems to handle it good. Hopefully 120mm will be fine. It's going to be installed on to my bike next week.

This is my bike: http://www.giant-bicycles.com/en-us/bikes/model/xtc.composite.29er.3/11512/55870/

kevincabral

Hopefully someone can help me out. Thanks in advance.

rockmonkeysc

I had a 120mm Reba on my 2010 XTC aluminium frame. It rode quite nicely until I snapped a chain stay (nothing to do with longer fork)

kevincabral

Oh ok good, thank god. Thanks for replying. I was just concerned that's all. Glad to hear 120mm will be fine I don't race with the bike anyhow, it's more of a trail hardtail bike for me.

How did you snap your chain stay? I'm curious.

rockmonkeysc

My riding style is not suited to light weight XC bikes. It had seen more than its share of jumps, drops and big rocks. To be honest im surprised it lasted as long as it did.

kevincabral

Damn that sucks :? . What bike did you decide buying next? Or did you just buy a frame and installed the parts you current have to that new frame?

rockmonkeysc

I bought an Anthem frame to replace the XTC. I really liked the Anthem but then I saw a very heavily discounted Nukeproof Mega TR frame at Christmas. ...

kevincabral

Niceee frame! Is it carbon? I take it as you put back all the old parts from the XTC frame to the nukeproof frame? Eventually when I become more experience with the technical trails at my local trails, I'll make a purchase for a FS bike. Unless of course, my XTC frame gives out on me in the near future, then I'll purchase a FS frame. For the time being, I love my XTC composite, I'm sure the fox talas 120mm will make the bike much better. Although I'm sure the handling and climbing of the bike will be slightly altered now, but that's okay. 8)

rockmonkeysc

Have you already got the fork?

kevincabral

At the moment no. I ordered it last week from 'Cycle Solutions'. They told me this week most likely tomorrow or Tuesday they'll receive it at the store. So most likely Wednesday or Thursday I'll have to drop my bike off to get it installed. Supposedly I need an adapter to fix the new talas into my headtube. I thought the Recon Gold TK was tapered, but supposedly it's not so I need the adapter now. I just want the fork installed already lol! Excited to see how it performs with my carbon frame.

The Rock Shox Gold TK 100mm sucked. Dampering on the thing wasn't the greatest. Didn't take the bumps when I would trail ride last year well. Or maybe I didn't have it set up properly, who knows.

rockmonkeysc

To be honest I would rather have the Recon than the Talas. It has better damping.
The Talas isn't a very good fork.

kevincabral

Oh no way really? Fox supposedly updated the dampering in their 2014 lineup. Maybe they corrected any issues?

This is the 1 I ordered from Fox and going to be installed this week: http://www.ridefox.com/product.php?m=bike&t=forks&p=32702&ref=filter

97th choice

It's personal preference, some people like them some don't. Talas does take a bit of setting up to get right though, personally I think CTD hasn't improved things.

rockmonkeysc

Talas forks have never been good and CTD has only made the entire Fox range worse.

kevincabral

Damnnn! I had no idea the fork was terrible . Hopefully it doesn't give me problems once I ride it. I personally thought the CTD would be a great feature automatically adjusting the compression of the fork and such. If I run into problems, I can just return it no? Maybe I'll keep my Recon to the side in case I run into any issues. What issues has CTD created with their lineup?

rockmonkeysc

CTD has taken away adjustment and reliability. You can only return them unused.

kevincabral

Hopefully I don't run into problems then. I've been doing research of their 2014 lineup. So far I haven't heard any news about them. I'm hoping my fork is fine *crosses fingers*

Thewaylander

They aren't a bad for now if im honest, But the rockshox are as good(in terms of the pike better) and cheaper. Fox has alot of paying for a name which is expensive.

kevincabral

Once I get them installed and ride it I'll report back with my thoughts on the fork. Again, hopefully I don't get a lemon of a fork.

Quick question, is it worth going to a 180mm rotor for my front brake? I do notice when I hit the trails my XT caliper heats up real hot. Not sure if that's normal or not? Don't want the rotor to warp due to excessive heat. Last year I was testing out the xtc bike going downhill and that's when I noticed it being real hot. The bike did come with avid brakes and I never noticed the heat issue. Maybe it's because the avid brakes sucked! lol

rockmonkeysc

Are you dragging the brakes? That would be the usual cause of them overheating.
If you are, bigger discs won't really help.

cooldad

Touch any rotor at the bottom of a steep bit and it'll probably be hot enough to burn you.

kevincabral

I'll look into it see if the pads are rubbing, hopefully not.

I was on another forum also asking if 120mm is a bad idea. This 1 guy was so anti 120mm for a XTC bike. Saying it's a racing bike designed for 100mm or less. Then I'm like, listen I don't race I hit the trails and if I do any drops it's 3ft or less. He goes off saying I chose the wrong bike which annoys me simply because I may of put $2,000 extra to the bike and to hear that bothers me. I wanted a FS bike, but didn't like the idea of so much maintenance that goes with it. so a HT is what I chose. Plus this xtc composite had what I wanted... it's light, quick, and looks damn nice! Yes the geometry to the bike is designed for racing, I basically changed it slightly to a non-racing style. 8)

rockmonkeysc

It's more racey than trail geometry. A 120mm fork makes it more relaxed to ride and less twitchy. It's still not great for harder riding and will let you know if you push too hard. I enjoyed mine for really long rides.

kevincabral

That's totally fine with me. Even if the racer geometry gets slightly altered to a relaxed feel, I'm cool with that. If I lived out of the city where there's rougher trails, than the xtc bike I own would of been useless. I live in Toronto so there's more cross country riding than anything else. The trails I ride has barely any large jumps. Usually I encounter roots and rock gardens to ride along. Sometimes there will be large bumps to go over... Other times there will be roots and maybe 1-2 ft drops. I rode it and nothing happened to my bike. I'm looking forward to having the 120mm installed on to my bike.

This might be the first and last Giant bike I will own. Not happy with their customer service.