Fair questions. I am 6’1” 180lbs kitted by my best guesstimate right now (don’t dare the scale in quarantine!). This fork is on an XL Levo SL (~40lbs - heavy for a bike, light for an ebike ;) ). One other tidbit is that I am about ~1400miles south of you in San Diego, CA - so my trails looks a bit different. I primarily ride hardpack or loose , rocky steeps, gravely, dry (though it’s been pretty rainy/tacky lately). I do love flow trails when and where I can get them. I tend to prefer supple suspension given the terrain, but I don’t like it wallowly by any means. Perfect setup for me is supple enough to reduce high speed chatter, have ample traction, and lively mid stroke with a soft bottom out.
Reasons why I stuck with 160mm for now are the following:
1) STA is fairly slack on the SL at the stock 150mm fork length. HTA is 66 deg, which I slackened already a bit with an offset bushing. Running the fork too much higher would inevitably produce an even slacked STA
2) Stack is higher than I have ridden in the past. I am concerned about going too much higher on stack.
3) Reach is a comfortably 480mm stock (why I went with an XL), and I don’t really want to shorten that too much. Granted, going to 180mm over 160mm won’t do that much, but it still a consideration.
4) Lastly, this is going to be my main “trail” bike, and I don’t really want this to be single minded in intent. My other bike right now is 180mm F/R. I may end up selling that, but it remains to be seen.
I haven’t yet ridden this fork too much outside of my backyard given I am weather and waiting on some other parts, but I am eager to give it a real test this week. I will definitely report back my findings.
Love the site BTW! Even relevant down here :)
April 20, 2020, 10:11 p.m. - Jcmonty
Fair questions. I am 6’1” 180lbs kitted by my best guesstimate right now (don’t dare the scale in quarantine!). This fork is on an XL Levo SL (~40lbs - heavy for a bike, light for an ebike ;) ). One other tidbit is that I am about ~1400miles south of you in San Diego, CA - so my trails looks a bit different. I primarily ride hardpack or loose , rocky steeps, gravely, dry (though it’s been pretty rainy/tacky lately). I do love flow trails when and where I can get them. I tend to prefer supple suspension given the terrain, but I don’t like it wallowly by any means. Perfect setup for me is supple enough to reduce high speed chatter, have ample traction, and lively mid stroke with a soft bottom out. Reasons why I stuck with 160mm for now are the following: 1) STA is fairly slack on the SL at the stock 150mm fork length. HTA is 66 deg, which I slackened already a bit with an offset bushing. Running the fork too much higher would inevitably produce an even slacked STA 2) Stack is higher than I have ridden in the past. I am concerned about going too much higher on stack. 3) Reach is a comfortably 480mm stock (why I went with an XL), and I don’t really want to shorten that too much. Granted, going to 180mm over 160mm won’t do that much, but it still a consideration. 4) Lastly, this is going to be my main “trail” bike, and I don’t really want this to be single minded in intent. My other bike right now is 180mm F/R. I may end up selling that, but it remains to be seen. I haven’t yet ridden this fork too much outside of my backyard given I am weather and waiting on some other parts, but I am eager to give it a real test this week. I will definitely report back my findings. Love the site BTW! Even relevant down here :)