fallzboater
09-28-2004, 02:51 PM
Has anyone switched their trail bike from a TALAS 125 to Maverick DUC32? If so, I'd like to hear what handling differences there were in various situations (climbing, descending, low and high speeds, etc.). This is for aggressive trail riding, but no real drops.
I'm running the TALAS fork at 125mm almost all of the time, but occassionaly crank it down to about 100mm for smooth steep climbs. I can't really go lower because of pedal clearance (180mm cranks). The bike has a fairly steep head angle (about 70.5 deg with the TALAS) and is twitchier than I'd like at most speeds. I have a 38"+ inseam so I have a very high center of gravity on the bike, which might be part of the problem (not much to do about that, though).
Using the specs on Mavericks comparison chart and doing some simple trig, the DUC32 will raise my BB about 4mm and make my head tube about 0.5 degree slacker (based on a ride height increase of about 1cm). I expect this will make steep climbs a little trickier but improve moderate to high speed riding and descending. I don't think I'll be able to use the 4" setting at all, since the ride height will be significantly less than the TALAS at 100mm. Too bad there isn't an intermediate setting or dial-down (although I hate the dial on the TALAS, too hard to do while riding). I'm using a 110mm stem and riser bar now, would use the 105mm Maverick stem, and maybe a flatter bar.
The weight savings would be nice too, but secondary. I just don't want to blow my wad on the fork and not feel like it was a significant upgrade in how the bike handles. What do you think?
-David
I'm running the TALAS fork at 125mm almost all of the time, but occassionaly crank it down to about 100mm for smooth steep climbs. I can't really go lower because of pedal clearance (180mm cranks). The bike has a fairly steep head angle (about 70.5 deg with the TALAS) and is twitchier than I'd like at most speeds. I have a 38"+ inseam so I have a very high center of gravity on the bike, which might be part of the problem (not much to do about that, though).
Using the specs on Mavericks comparison chart and doing some simple trig, the DUC32 will raise my BB about 4mm and make my head tube about 0.5 degree slacker (based on a ride height increase of about 1cm). I expect this will make steep climbs a little trickier but improve moderate to high speed riding and descending. I don't think I'll be able to use the 4" setting at all, since the ride height will be significantly less than the TALAS at 100mm. Too bad there isn't an intermediate setting or dial-down (although I hate the dial on the TALAS, too hard to do while riding). I'm using a 110mm stem and riser bar now, would use the 105mm Maverick stem, and maybe a flatter bar.
The weight savings would be nice too, but secondary. I just don't want to blow my wad on the fork and not feel like it was a significant upgrade in how the bike handles. What do you think?
-David