Let's offroad / mountain bike / mtb / ride dirt

Anyone ridden a Specialized Carbon Camber? Mate has offered me a full 2017 bike less a fork for what I think is a good deal, I'd want to put at least 130mm/140mm forks on it but not sure what that would do to the handling. Might be trying to modernise something that isn't worth it as the HTA is 68.5

68.5 is fine imo unless you're some downhill rider

Nice! Is that replacing your Honzo?

Definitely not, it'll be a step up from the On-One 456 I currently have.

Yup. And the Chinese carbon parts bin build. Hoping it will satisfy both hooning and bikepacking. One-off paint test fame that just happens to match my Escapade. #tart

So, in a rare occurrence, #seller ?

Once I get my arse in gear, maybe.

HTA is 68.5

Unrideable by today's standards.

Not another Cotic FFS.

So I've heard. Just need to decide on a fork now. 29, non boost, 130mm ideally.

A 200mm fork might give you a more rideable head angle

Looks like a useful bike. Would not go longer than 130 with the 120 rear travel.

@Dexter @Howard

A fork with the head angle of 68.5° would need a fork that was 128.9° to match the rear being 120mm of presumably vertical travel, if you really want to get into it.

Something longer would give you approx 3mm rise in BB height per 10mm of suspension taking sag into consideration. If it's got a high BB already proceed with caution.

Another thing to bear in mind is that forks tend to be run more progressive and shocks more linear, so you might want something a bit longer with more progression so the feeling of both ends is more similar.

Hope that was nerdy enough for you.

My concern was with the balance of the bike - a 140mm fork with a 120 rear is gonna be weird

Longer forks also decrease reach and slacken the seat tube angle, albeit by small amounts.

My new one (according to the company itself, so possibly a barrow load of salt) is “a 135 rear that rides like 150”. It’s a fairly clever thing to say I guess as short of riding a bike with 150 rear back to back, how am I ever going to tell?

Yeah, because of the linkage it'll move in more of a straight line, albeit rearward, rather than say a single pivot such will arc around the pivot. So essentially the travel point to point is roughly the same just the path on the Pace is more direct.

Man, I need to get back to sarcastic answers.

This is a lot of concern about about the balance of a full sus, but there isn't such a concern about hard tails?

I've got 140 front and 120 rear, and the bike doesn't feel unbalanced, but it's fairly progressive on the front, the MRP ramp control is set to about 2/3.

Yeah, because of the linkage it'll move in more of a straight line, albeit rearward, rather than say a single pivot such will arc around the pivot. So essentially the travel point to point is roughly the same just the path on the Pace is more direct.

Man, I need to get back to sarcastic answers.

That's interesting. The shock is compressed from both ends, apparently, something I don't understand the impact of but those who do seem to find it important.

If the bike is designed for it, fine, but the Camber isn’t - it’s like my Habit, short and steep for all day riding with some trails thrown in.

Hardtails are a huge compromise and people making the choice to use them go in to them fully understanding the choice they’ve made :)

What did Guy Kesteven say about it? I'm sure he was positive?

There's a lot to be achieved with mountain bike suspension

1. Should pedal efficiently
   
2. Should be supple
   
3. Should move when climbing
   
4. Should reduce slowing you down
   
   

And the linkage provides some of these properties and the damper others, presumably Pace's is good because otherwise they'd use a different design.

Also add ‘should still function when hauling on the rear brake’ to your list :)

I'll add 'should still function when out of the saddle' as well for the old timers.

#urt4lyfe

I think you’ll be fine.

When I used to work in a shop (a fair few years ago) I used to find Giros fit fairly in the middle for head shape, Met suiting narrower heads and Bell suiting rounder broader ones.

You also get some different pads with the Proframe to tailor fit.

#urt4lyfe

If only it worked the other way round. Took Marin about 30 years to work that one out.