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Nice!! It looks pretty close to reaching its full potential.
I've been looking lots more at trail and front end geo as im working on a functional fork for retro mtbs, so its all starting to make sense.
I feel like having a low trail bike is really rad, but only if you have enough bikes to swap between so it rarely needs to be ridden unloaded. Like in your case, this one is so specifically put together to carry shit, that it makes sense.
But lets say you're a 2 bikes kinda guy: if you consider how decent a mid-high trail setup actually handles with a front load, it would be a shame to put a low trail fork on your one do it all bike and spoil all the riding done with out a front load.
But then again, i dont own a low trail setup so cant really speak from experience.. but i do have lots of mid-high trail bikes i only front load, and they work just fine.
t0-ster-
1-1/8?
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My Pelago has 41 mm of trail with the 63mm offset fork, 73 degree HA and 35mm tyres.
It handles like a dream imo, but I also have more than a kilo on the front with the large Pelago rack, which weighs more than a kilo I think.I rode the my old Kona Lava Dome (around 70 mm trail, I think) with the same rack and I can definitely say the lower trail is an improvement on wheel flop, especially carrying a load.
A functional mtb fork would be good with more offset - something like 50-60 mm, maybe even as high as 70 mm..
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But then again, i dont own a low trail setup so cant really speak from experience.. but i do have lots of mid-high trail bikes i only front load, and they work just fine.
My 2p, even without a load, the weight of the rack alone still help, my low trail bike never been ridden without a handlebar bag as it's pretty much integrated to the bike (still be able to take it off and on), what nice is that you don't think "I can't wait to take off the bag so I can have fun" with that geometry.
nogk
MisterMikkel
edscoble
Unloaded it handles like a fat pig on stilts, although that also might have been caused by not enough pressure in the tires. Haven't ridden it unloaded since airing 'em up.
Did so to get a lower trail number for better front load handling. Loaded up it's pretty nice. Still different from a typical high trail bike. Other bonus is more room for a larger bottle underneath the DT, although not enough chainring/crank clearance to keep the Blackburn cage underneath for some Nalgene carrying.
Also, last rack and dynamo tail light fitted. This thing is prepped for proper carry everything touring.
Lots of bolts going on with the front end, and nearly every braze-on on the bike is in use. It's great.