Fork upgrade

slc123

I've recently upgraded the forks on my Cannondale. Removed the Suntour XCT and upgrade to some RockShox Reba RL's.

The RockShox were secondhand and were cut a bit short. However, managed to fit them by removing the spaces from the headset. It's tight but it does fit although the guys that fit them said another 4mm/5mm would have been ideal.

Ultimately, I've got to be a little bit careful before I start putting the bike through it's paces, but wondered if anyone had any experience in this area or can advise if I am storing up trouble.

Many thanks

The Rookie

The steerer should come ideally within 3-5mm of the top of the stem, certainly above the top pinch bolt centreline, as it stands your description is a bit ambiguous to know what you actually have, but 4-5mm lower than 3-5mm from the top of the stem sounds rather riskily too short for me.

Lower stack headset, no spacers or a stem with a shorter stack height can all be used to help.

slc123

Thanks for your comments, based on what you've mentioned there I think I'm safe enough as it seems to be above the centre of the pinch bolt. Good to know there are some options if there are any issues...

I was trying to work out whether there is actually any detriment to the setup or ride because it "could" ideally be longer.