Hardseven 5 fork upgrade

[steevwatson]

I've been offered a good price on a choice of 3 forks to upgrade the standard Suntour ones that came with my bike. A set of RockShox 35 Gold RL Forks with 160mm travel, a set of RockShox 35 SILVER TK with 120mm travel or a set of Rock Shox Judy Gold BOOST bit with only 100mm travel.

What ones would you go for? The best deal is on the 35 Gold but would the 160mm travel be ok on my bike? The stock forks are only 120mm

Thanks

 

[Ian986]

I've been offered a good price on a choice of 3 forks to upgrade the standard Suntour ones that came with my bike. A set of RockShox 35 Gold RL Forks with 160mm travel, a set of RockShox 35 SILVER TK with 120mm travel or a set of Rock Shox Judy Gold BOOST bit with only 100mm travel.

What ones would you go for? The best deal is on the 35 Gold but would the 160mm travel be ok on my bike? The stock forks are only 120mm

Thanks

I had a set of rl gold on my bike as standard to honest think they are a nice fork but do suffer from a little bit of sticking on the stantions

how much are you paying for these forks ?

 

[steevwatson]

I had a set of rl gold on my bike as standard to honest think they are a nice fork but do suffer from a little bit of sticking on the stantions

how much are you paying for these forks ?

The RL gold would definitely be my choice as they are basically new only been ridden once. A friend got them as stock on he's new bike and upgraded straight away. He's selling for £100 the other 2 are £90 each both used.

My only worry is going from 120mm travel to 160mm would it cause any issues?

 

[Ian986]

I think you could 10 to 20 mm no problem as you are ajusting the geo on your bike by having longer travel. You may be able to adjust the travel On the fork to closer to what you are running now.

I am sure that someone on here will be able to give you better advice than me. But if they are only 90 I would be tempted to give them a try, and see how they feel.

 

[Sander23]

I wouldn't go more then 20 mm up. I went from a 100mm to 130 mm and the bike doesn't feel right then. Changed it back to 120 and that feels perfect

 

[Ian986]

I think rock shox you change the length quite easy I know you can on other models I think they said about 40 when I looked into it

 

[CJaMTB]

The previous posts are correct; you should really only increase the travel by 20mm absolute max, ideally just 10mm if you have to. Anything more than this will really screw with the geometry of the rest of the bike - things like seat post angle, BB height, and reach - all negatively, with not enough benefits to outweigh them. On top of that, you will invalidate any frame warranty with such a massive increase in travel. I teach suspension mechanics to professional mechanics, so can speak with authority. You can adjust the travel of the forks by changing the airspring, but I don't know if you can reduce from 160 to 120, the stanchion lengths change from shorter to longer travel forks, so would be worth checking that with someone like TF Tuned or Rockshox themselves.

 

[steevwatson]

Thanks for all the replies guys. I think to be on the safe side I'll go for a set that have the same 120mm as the stock forks.

 

[djdan00]

Have you installed? I'm going to get 130mm Rock shock Judy Silver TK for my hardseven. The stock Suntour ones seem to rattle for me and not impressed with them.