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@Werner1976 what was the length of the travel one you brought?
Internally adjustable in increments of 10mm from 150 to 170.@Werner1976 what was the length of the travel one you brought?
The first thing to do here is to keep your changes to the minimum as you don't want your bike to suddenly have a completely different character and then not knowing where it went wrong. My changes are done and the comparisons are made on a large frame bike. It would be an interesting calculation to see what the comparative geometry changes will be and if so how much it would differ.@Werner1976 I will do this on my Trance E+ 3 (Small frame). I like the thought of the extended wheelbase as it moves the front wheel further forward by 3cms. Making the bike more stable on steering. This will help as my cockpit is a little cramped and can then afford to have a slightly longer clamp for the bars to give me a little more reach! If you have any tips on this or thoughts let me know?
I agree. That will probably give you the best result and after doing some gnarly trails day before yesterday with some steep climbs I'm leaving my seat at the back as well. For now I'm happy that I've got a very good feel and much improved confidence.@Wernher thats very kind of you to do that for me. I think as the cockpit is a little cramped I would keep saddle in current spot. It also has a good length to the rear wheel so should remain planted on the climb. Plus the weight with battery does have a slight forward bias
Man, that head angle on pic 3...wow!Recently I spent some time changing a couple of things on my Trance-E +2 to improve the front heavy low front end. Here's what happened.
First thing I did was to move my seat backwards as far as I could go. This gave my a lighter front end and strangely enough the bike is now much easier to ride no-handed. Previously it would feel nervous and like it would fall over when you moved your balance left to right. Stability therefore is now much improved.
Previously I replaced my standard handlebars with a Raceface carbon bar which gained me about 15mm. That lightened the weight on my hands marginally but not much more. I wanted to put a raiser stem on but couldn't find 37mm available everytime I looked and quite frankly I didn't look too hard.
After previously spending some time on tuning the Fox Rythm I felt that it would benefit the bike if I could lengthen the stroke to 160mm, so I decided to buy a longer air spring for the extra 10mm as in the SX Pro. Now it is important to note that many of the 150mm Rhythms don't actually have 150mm travel because they sag into some of their travel on their own weight. I did everything I could but just couldn't get my fork to stop sagging into it's initial travel on the weight of the bike alone even after burping the shock to get air out of the negative chamber. It looked like I'd have to strip down and remove some excess ghrease (a common reason for forks to behave like this). As I planned to increase the stroke anyway I decided to buy the longer airspring and do it in one go. This is where things got interesting. While looking for the right part number, I saw a Suntour Duramlux boost 29 for a really good price. I mean this price was so good I just had to buy it and based on reviews of the fork it compares very well with the Fox factory and Rockshox Lyrik in performance. It turns out to be the best upgrade ever. I gained 30mm height because of the increased axle to crown height alone and this changed the playfulness of the bike tremendously. I have much less weight on my wrists, more control on the steering and the bike feels generally more precise to handle with lighter steering. I've also gained the ability to increase travel all the way up to 170 if I wanted to without buying parts, all internally adjustable. The fork itself may not be a Fox Factory or a Rockshox Lyrik but performance wise it is amazing and the adjustability is awesome with high and low speed compression damping as well as high and low speed rebound damping. After fitting the fork I found the bike to be a beast going over and through obstacles like butter and the jarring ride over choppy terrain is history. I also have the option to fit a 29er on the front if I want to. I still maintain however that the 27,5 feels better for me personally, so I don't think at this stage that I'll consider it.
The change in the fork lightened the front so much that I now consider moving my seat forward a little again as I found that when riding no handed my bike feels a little nervous but it becomes very stable when I move my weight forward just a little. That is my next change weather permitting today.
The bike also looks much better and more aggressive now and it is very confidence inspiring. I'm adding some pictures.
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No, my rear shock is stock and no difference to the air pressure. The whole purpose is higher front, longer wheelbase and more stable handling. As you can see from the head angle, wheelbase and trail measurements, all are improvements on the stock bike. The only possible negative is the seat tube angle that is also more slack but on the Giant with the long chainstay this is not an issue as it still remains an awesome climber. Should you personally find this an issue, you can compensate by moving your seat forward. I am running my seat right at the back and still have no issues climbing. The bike is now really confidence inspiring and I have only good experiences after the new fork.Man, that head angle on pic 3...wow!
About to pull the trigger on a longer fork. Quick question- since the front end is higher than it was, did you have to compensate by adding more air to your rear shock? Have you noticed any changes?
Cheers! Thank you for this!!!No, my rear shock is stock and no difference to the air pressure. The whole purpose is higher front, longer wheelbase and more stable handling. As you can see from the head angle, wheelbase and trail measurements, all are improvements on the stock bike. The only possible negative is the seat tube angle that is also more slack but on the Giant with the long chainstay this is not an issue as it still remains an awesome climber. Should you personally find this an issue, you can compensate by moving your seat forward. I am running my seat right at the back and still have no issues climbing. The bike is now really confidence inspiring and I have only good experiences after the new fork.
When you fit a new fork make sure you measure the axle to crown distance. The standard fork on the Trance-E has a measurement of 550 and the SR Suntour Durolux 29 Boost is 580. This is where the higher front-end makes the difference.
As I said in a previous post, I would probably not have done this on another bike as it would not work on every bike, but it is as if this fork was made for the Trance-E and it transforms the bike into a beast.
I am retaining the 150mm travel for now as the front will lift even more if I extend the travel. I've had no reason to extend the travel as I don't bottom out and the suspension is very plush. I only removed one volume spacer to allow the fork to use more of its travel. Standing next to the bike you can immediately see the difference with the handlebars being higher and the bike really looks visually more appealing and impressive.
The ride is now really fantastic. I have a piece of trail where it is really hard to go through at speed because it is through a very fast sandy single trail with rocks and grass growing inbetween, making it a very unsettling experience. I now ride through there as fast as I can with perfect control without too much kickback through my hands. It had turned that piece of track into one of my favourite pieces of trail because of how it more than anything else showcases the transformation of the bike and I just love that feeling.
Thanks for all this! You seem to have gained more first-hand knowledge about Suntour forks as a result.As I said in a previous post, I would probably not have done this on another bike as it would not work on every bike, but it is as if this fork was made for the Trance-E and it transforms the bike into a beast.
I am retaining the 150mm travel for now as the front will lift even more if I extend the travel. I've had no reason to extend the travel as I don't bottom out and the suspension is very plush. I only removed one volume spacer to allow the fork to use more of its travel. Standing next to the bike you can immediately see the difference with the handlebars being higher and the bike really looks visually more appealing and impressive.
Thanks for all this! You seem to have gained more first-hand knowledge about Suntour forks as a result.
I was wondering if I can achieve something similar on my Trance E+3Pro without changing to a 29ner up front. Instead of going 29" 150 travel, I'm toying around with the idea of staying with 27.5" but increasing my fork travel to say 160 or 170.
I just don't know if my Suntour 35 Aion fork is internally adjustable to longer travel settings. Do you know if this is doable on that fork model and what internal parts would be required to achieve this?
Have you extended the fork travel as well? If not, then our bikes have probably similar bar heights.Hi tbh no I've got 40mm purely because I'm 6ft6 with long legs so seated my post is along way out I needed the lift I've just pushed seat forward and changed climbing technique I never use about setting 3 for steep climbs stops me lifting and with me been tall I center on the bike fine I font find the long chainstays a problem or lifting the front on logs or steps I'm finding this much more stable jumping than my old analogue bike ? but tbh everybody rides diffrent?
Remember if you raise your travel and you set your sag correctly afterwards, you should at least have gained the amount of travel that you added.Hi I've upped the travel to 160 fitted renthal 40mm riser bars and I've got a renthal apex 50mm stem to fit. Raising travel u only gain a bit cos of sag but tbh I find the fork pretty good as good as my yari it's no factory 36 or lyrik but fine for the moment once Xmas is over I'm ordering the new damper it's only £130 worth a try?
I can't see this. Your bars and stem raised only a couple of mm above the standard and you gained max 10mm on the fork. The 10mm on the fork is the only mod that changed the geometry of your bike that will have roughly half a degree effect on your seat tube. This is the same as on the Pro version that comes out with the stock 160mm front fork. You can actually see the geometry readings on Giant's website.I've upped my fork to 160mm and have a 35mm stem with 30mm Renthal carbon bars. I personally feel this is the limit for raising the nose. I was tempted to go for 40mm bars but I'm already of the verge of lifting the front end on tight switchbacks on climbs.
Don't forget that by transferring your weight further back from rasing the nose will put more pressure on the limited 140mm rear travel and make you more prone washing out the front wheel.
has anyone experienced this?
I can't see this. Your bars and stem raised only a couple of mm above the standard and you gained max 10mm on the fork. The 10mm on the fork is the only mod that changed the geometry of your bike that will have roughly half a degree effect on your seat tube. This is the same as on the Pro version that comes out with the stock 160mm front fork. You can actually see the geometry readings on Giant's website.
On my modification I lifted 30mm on my fork without increasing travel because of the increased able to crown height. I've measured my new geometry and did a lot of riding afterwards in the roughest terrain I could find. The result is all good. My front wheel is still as planned as ever, my front is lighter but not so much that I have a loose front wheel, in fact the front is still quite heavy compared to other brands. The rear still sticks tremendously in steep climbs but my confidence in all really challenging drops have increased tremendously. I don't think I'll really go higher than that because it might then start having a negative effect but only experiments will give the final answer to that. If anything my bike is now more stable. If you read my previous posts you'll see what I've done and how my geometry has changed. Remember any other changes do not affect your geometry and therefore your weight distribution. The only other thing that you can do to alter your weight distribution is to move your seat forward or back and the change will be minute. Lifting the bars in any way might lift the weight from your hands but very little else. You must therefore decide what you want to achieve and make your modifications based on your personal needs and the type of riding you are doing.
Not sure how you measured that. Only way is to let all the air out and then measure from full out to fill in. On Fox I found it to be slightly less rather than more.
The stem is standard on my bike. I'm using a Raceface carbon handlebar which gave me about 15mm additional rise on the standard bars and when I fitted the new fork I also used an extra spacer which gave me about 3mm extra. Apart from that my seat is right back to give me a bit more room.Are you still using the 'long' standard Giant stem?
I see you mention 55mm on your shock vs 52,5 on standard. I assume your replaced the shock? Couldn't find any posts from you mentioning that.That might just be the dead zone of travel that appears when the bike is suspended. Unless he's got a new shock (unlikely)
I calculated that the travel can be extended to just under 150mm
Standard: 52.5mm stroke = 140mm travel - therefore each mm of stroke = 2.66mm of travel
New shock: 55mm stroke x 2.66mm = 147mm travel
I know the travel isn't linear so my numbers might not be 100% accurate.
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